Overview
Unplugged is a London-based hospitality scale-up that offers digital detox getaways throughout the UK. With remote team members based across the Philippines and Bulgaria, they were already comfortable with offshore hiring - but needed a different kind of support hire as they entered the next stage of growth.
The challenge
Unplugged planned to double in size by the end of 2025. That growth put increasing pressure on their customer service function.
The team already had support coverage in place, but escalations were landing with the customer service lead, who had become a bottle neck - simply because there was too much sitting with one person.
To solve this, they needed someone who could step into an existing team as a leader, proactively handle customer issues, and help build out the brand’s support playbook as they went.
Unplugged had already tested the South African market themselves and saw real potential. But after receiving more than 420 applications and narrowing the pool down through multiple stages, they still didn’t find anyone they were excited to hire. For a full-time leadership role, “good enough” was not enough.
Our approach
Finding the right Customer Service Manager
MDT worked closely with Unplugged to define the shape of the role beyond the job title. This was not an entry-level customer service role: they needed someone with managerial experience and the confidence to step in and lead an existing team.
We screened for candidates with patience, emotional intelligence, and a strong sense of agency. We treated familiarity with property management systems as a nice-to-have, but ultimately prioritised those with the capacity to learn quickly,
Out of over 700 applications, MDT presented three top candidates - resulting in a hire who could both lead a team and execute day-to-day operations.
Scaling the operations team
Based on the success of that first hire, Unplugged partnered with MDT again in February 2026 to hire a dedicated Operations Coordinator in South Africa.
This second role was highly varied and heavily execution-focused. They needed someone outgoing, proactive, and relentless in their ability to track and solve problems related to logistics and day-to-day management of Unplugged’s properties. Before coming to MDT, they had hired someone onshore in the role - which ultimately didn’t work out.
We helped them define and fill the role within a month, with someone who could take ownership of the detail and keep things moving.
Our impact
MDT helped Unplugged expand their offshore team, filling two high-leverage hires at a critical point in the company’s development.
The partnership delivered:
- Expanded customer service capacity, unblocking a bottleneck of escalated issues that had been sitting with the team lead.
- Offshore operational support that delivered better results than a local hire in the same role.
- Overall cost savings of 63%, compared to the average cost of London-based hires.
For Unplugged, this partnership was about making sure they had the right team in place to support their exponential growth - an investment that continues to pay off as they save on costs and continue to scale.
