Matt Casey

Chief Executive Officer | Ever Lodges - Experience-led tourism leader shaping place-based stays through story, culture, EQ-based training models & human connection

Sandford, Tasmania, Australia

About

Matt Casey is a respected Australian tourism leader with a career dedicated to shaping experience-led hospitality grounded in place, story, and human connection. As General Manager of Tourism for the Federal Group, Matt oversaw the vision and evolution of Saffire Freycinet, The Henry Jones Art Hotel, and MACq 01 Hotel. Together, these properties set new benchmarks for immersive, narrative-driven hospitality and played a defining role in repositioning Tasmania on the global stage - appealing to travellers seeking depth, authenticity, and meaning, rather than conventional notions of luxury. Complementing his operational leadership, Matt was a long-standing board member of Luxury Lodges of Australia, where he contributed to elevating Australia’s most distinctive lodges collectively and helped shape national thinking around experience-led, place-based tourism. A thoughtful strategist and values-driven operator, Matt believes the most powerful travel experiences emerge when people feel genuinely connected - to landscape, culture, history, and each other. His approach centres on creating environments where curiosity, learning, adventure, and personal reflection can unfold naturally, guided by deep respect for local communities and the environments in which experiences take place. Now serving as Chief Experience Officer at Ever Lodges, Matt is focused on shaping the next generation of immersive Australian stays - experiences that privilege meaning over materiality, story over spectacle, and transformation over transaction. Known for his calm leadership, creative clarity, passion for people and reverence for place, Matt continues to influence how experience-led tourism is conceived and delivered across Australia.

Experience

  • Chief Executive Officer at Ever Lodges
    Nov 2023 - Present · 2 yrs 8 mos

  • Federal Group (Full-time · 11 yrs 5 mos)
    • GM Luxury Collection - MACq 01, The Henry Jones Art Hotel, Saffire
      Jun 2020 - Dec 2023 · 3 yrs 7 mos

    • Operational General Manager - The Henry Jones Art Hotel and MACq 01 Hotel
      Jul 2020 - Jan 2021 · 7 mos

      Business Unit General Manager for the Federal Group Tourism Portfolio encompassing Saffire Freycinet, The Henry Jones Art Hotel the MACq 01 Hotel and support services. In addition this role also has an operational hotel general management accountability for The Henry Jones Art Hotel and MACq 01.

    • General Manager
      Mar 2014 - Jun 2020 · 6 yrs 4 mos

  • General Manager at Saffire Freycinet
    Jun 2009 - Aug 2012 · 3 yrs 3 mos

  • General Manager at The Henry Jones Art Hotel
    Jan 2004 - Jul 2009 · 5 yrs 7 mos