Interview: eDreams Odigeo CEO Touts the Road Back From Post-IPO Nightmare
Photo Credit: Dunne, the chief executive of eDreams Odigeo since 2015, has previously been chief commercial officer of EasyJet and chief executive of AOL Europe Sarl. eDreams Odigeo
Skift Take
In his first Q&A with Skift, eDreams Odigeo CEO Dana Dunne says the travel company has made large gains since he took it over a couple of years ago. True. But more changes are needed before a conglomerate such as Ctrip would seriously consider buying it.
In January 2015, Dana Dunne became the chief executive of online travel company eDreams Odigeo and began trying to turn the troubled company into a positive direction.
Today, critics continue to accuse eDreams Odigeo's portfolio of consumer-facing brands of not innovating and mostly copying others — sometimes literally.
Dunne will have none of that, saying instead that, "in Europe, as a whole, we're number one for flight bookings, on average, among online travel companies…. And our innovations in mobile have led us to be number one in mobile sales, putting us ahead of rivals." He says in an interview that travelers make more than 30 percent of its flight bookings via its mobile websites and apps.
He also says his team is cutting the cost per booking that it spends on marketing while growing revenue at more than 10 percent a year.
Dunne and his team have had their work cut out for them.
Three years ago, eDreams Odigeo was floated on the stock market as a public compan
