An emergency nurse from Orange, NSW, is swapping hospital scrubs for resort robes after winning one of Australia’s most tempting travel jobs.
Emily Sutherland has been named Luxury Escapes’ first Travel Tester. She beat more than 30,000 applicants.
For the next 12 months, she will test Luxury Escapes holidays as a normal customer. She will stay, dine, tour and travel. Then she will report back on what worked and what could be better.
It sounds like a dream job. It also has a clear business aim.
Luxury Escapes wants a fresh view of the whole customer trip. In travel, small things matter. A smooth transfer can start a holiday well. A poor check-in can sour it before the bags reach the room. Food, service, tours and room quality all shape the final view.
So this is more than a clever prize. It tests whether the product lives up to the sales pitch.
From emergency ward to world traveller
Sutherland has worked in emergency nursing for seven years. She is also a keen traveller. So far, she has visited more than 20 countries.
“I’ve been an emergency department nurse for seven years and I absolutely love it,” Emily said. “Travel has always been a wonderful release during my time off, it’s a different kind of busy and I love experiencing the many ways other people live.”
Her own tastes should suit the task. She likes comfort, good food and local life. She does not want every day spent inside a resort.
Now she gets to test that mix.
The prize includes Luxury Escapes packages worth about $50,000, with travel for two. The trips cover the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bali and short breaks around Australia. Luxury Escapes has publicly confirmed the itinerary and the prize’s approximate value.
In the Maldives, Sutherland is due to spend five nights at a five-star resort. Snorkelling and all-inclusive dining are on the list.
Sri Lanka brings a guided tour through temples, tea country and the coast. Bali offers a week in an all-inclusive villa in Nusa Dua. Back home, she will test wine-country retreats, coastal escapes and city stays.
There are worse ways to fill a roster.
30,000 Australians wanted the job
Luxury Escapes co-founder and CEO Adam Schwab said the response showed how much Australians wanted the job.
“We knew Australians loved travel, but receiving 30,000 applications to test holidays for us was an extraordinary response,” Schwab said.
He said Sutherland stood out because she brought an outside perspective from the travel trade.
“There is a serious side to the role, too. We want Emily to experience Luxury Escapes exactly as a customer would and tell us what she loves, what she doesn’t and where we can do better. That honest, unfiltered perspective is incredibly valuable to us.”
That may be the best part of the exercise.
Travel buyers now have more choice and more reviews than ever. They can compare rooms, prices and extras in minutes. A great pool photo may win the click. Poor service can lose the customer just as fast.
For travel sellers and suppliers, the lesson is simple.
The promise matters. Delivery matters more.
Sutherland’s nursing background may help. Emergency work calls for calm thought, close attention and sound judgement. Those skills should be useful when checking whether a luxury trip delivers what was promised.
Her hardest task may be deciding who gets the second ticket.
Each package is for two. Friends and family may suddenly take a very close interest in her leave dates.
More than a publicity exercise
For Luxury Escapes, the next year should show whether a Travel Tester can bring useful customer feedback as well as good publicity.
That has real value for a travel business. Genuine customer feedback can expose the irritating little gaps that marketing departments and product teams sometimes miss.
Was the airport transfer smooth? Was check-in simple? Did the inclusions work as promised? Was the tour well paced? Did the five-star label feel five-star when the guest arrived?
Those details decide whether customers return.
Luxury Escapes describes itself as a Melbourne-founded travel company specialising in handpicked premium holidays, hotels, tours, flights and experiences, with millions of members around the world.
Its decision to put a traveller into the field as a secret shopper therefore makes commercial sense and generates a rather agreeable headline.
For Sutherland, meanwhile, it means five-star stays, guided tours and a great deal of holiday homework.
After seven years in an emergency department, few will begrudge her the assignment.
And if the minibar is empty, at least she knows how to handle an emergency.
By: Maysa Punchanit – © 2026.
Read Time: 3 minutes.
Author Bio:
Maysa Punchanit has never waited for life to become easy. She’s far too practical for that. Instead, she’s built her path the way many strong women do, step by step, job by job, learning something useful everywhere she’s been.
Her working life has taken her through hospitality, sales, beauty therapy and the fast-moving world of social media, where she partnered with some of Thailand’s best-known companies. Along the way, she discovered a steady voice for blogging, warm, direct and grounded in real experience rather than marketing spin.
Being a single mother sharpened her resolve rather than slowing her stride. If anything, it gave her purpose.
Now with Destination Thailand News and Global Travel Media, Maysa arrives not as a newcomer, but as someone quietly battle-tested, resilient, capable and ready for the next chapter.
