Solanki starts on September 1, reporting to UK managing director Helen Webb. He fills a role vacant since Carl Lyons left in March to join Capital Radio.
He joins from Shazam, the mobile phone-based song recognition service, which is now hunting his replacement as marketing director. He joined Shazam last year from IPC Media, where he was marketing director for its music and men's titles, such as NME and Loaded.
Solanki will lead efforts to bolster lastminute's 2.5 million-strong UK subscriber base and boost loyalty with an ongoing customer segmentation campaign.
He said he had no immediate plans to review the site's agency relationships.
It uses a number of creative shops on a project basis while PHD handles media.
Separately, lastminute.com has made its group head of sales and marketing Andrew Windsor commercial director, reflecting the increased emphasis of his role on striking global commercial deals.
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