Serving more than seventeen million customers per year across five brands and forty-five markets, the work of eDreams ODIGEO, one of the largest e-commerce businesses in Europe, is truly outstanding.
Overseeing and understanding all of the work done is no easy feat, and that job falls upon the shoulders of CEO Dana Dunne. An inspiring leader and a keen businessman, Mr Dunne is featured in this issue of CEO Monthly having won the title of CEO of the Year, 2020 – the United Kingdom.
The five leading brands of eDreams ODIGEO are Opodo, eDreams, Go Voyages, Travellink, and Liligo, and each have been instrumental in ushering in a new era of travel as the one-stop-shop that offers the widest choice of travel products and services to savvy customers. Technology is empowering consumers to take greater levels of control over every aspect of their lives, including how they travel. eDreams ODIGEO puts this technology to work on behalf of consumers, creating tailored travel plans so that customers can get the best prices at their greatest convenience. Currently, the business provides access to over 274,000 different flight routes and more than 2.1 million hotels across the globe, allowing for a multitude of booking combinations that cannot be found on any other platform.
At the head of the business is CEO Dana Dunne, an impressive businessman who has steered eDreams ODIGEO into a new era of success with his sage guidance and expert decision-making.
Mr Dunne has been CEO of eDreams ODIGEO since January 2015, having originally joined the firm back in 2012. What Mr Dunne brings to the table, besides strong leadership, is a real blend of technology and travel expertise that builds on his previous position of Chief Commercial Officer at easyJet. Before that, he was at AOL for four years as both Chief Executive of AOL Europe and Head of Company Transformation. Mr Dunne’s wealth of experience and expertise has no doubt played a key role in the continued success of eDreams ODIGEO, with the firm’s technological expertise in particular differentiating the business from others in the industry.
Alongside an unparalleled offering of content and leadership within the emerging world of artificial intelligence, eDreams ODIGEO outshines the competition. The company’s complex algorithms currently make over 48 billion predictions every day to anticipate traveller needs and offer the ultimate breadth of choice to customers.
It is clear that the firm is leading in technological innovation within its sector, and Mr Dunne’s leadership has been a crucial factor. A key example of the business’ thought leadership is the creation of Prime, a truly revolutionary product that is the very first subscription programme in the travel industry. Prime is hugely valuable not only to the business of eDreams ODIGEO, but also to the firm’s customers and business partners as it allows for a deeper customer relationship, garnering loyalty. Technological insights have long been a staple of Mr Dunne’s experience, and this latest innovation truly shows that. Another example is a recently launched AI-powered travel trends service which is currently being utilised across the globe by tourism boards, policy makers and local governments.
Like many businesses, eDreams ODIGEO has had to pivot during the COVID-19 pandemic; a challenge that Mr Dunne has faced head on. His focus during these unprecedented times has been on three key areas: the teams, the customers, and the business. The business’ remote working programme has been a success throughout the last year, keeping teams engaged and highly motivated despite the challenging external environment. On the customers side, the pandemic has forced many travel providers to alter or cancel their services entirely. eDreams ODIGEO, however, leveraged its tech capabilities once again to quickly launch an enhanced version of its self-service online tool so that customers could easily manage their own bookings, including changes and cancellations, without having to call the firm.
Ultimately, it is Mr Dunne’s leadership as CEO along with the business’ fantastic workforce that has seen eDreams ODIGEO navigate the pandemic in the best way possible and emerge stronger from it. The business entered the pandemic with high levels of liquidity and a strong balance sheet and have managed to keep a strong cash position throughout this period.
Flexibility and agility are core to Dunne’s plans for the business in the future, with Mr Dunne believing that businesses that cannot fold this into their offering will struggle to remain relevant in 2021 and beyond. In the meantime, as COVID-19 continues to be a part of our lives for the foreseeable future, Mr Dunne will continue to lead with clarity and conviction.
For more information, please contact Dana Dunne at eDreams ODIGEO via www.edreamsodigeo.com
For business enquiries, please visit: https://www.edreamsodigeo.com/partnership/
