New eDreams Odigeo chief executive to implement turnaround plan

The co-founder and chief executive of Barcelona-based OTA eDreams Odigeo, Javier Perez-Tenessa has stepped down.

The co-founder and chief executive of Barcelona-based OTA eDreams Odigeo, Javier Perez-Tenessa has stepped down.

Chief operating officer Dana Dunne, previously chief executive of AOL Europe Sarl and EasyJet’s chief commercial officer, has stepped up to take the reins.

At the same time Phocuswright founder Philip Wolf, a board member since last April, has been named as non-executive chairman.

Pérez-Tenessa, who founded the company in 2000, assumes the role of honorary chairman.

Dunne’s first priority is to turn around the company’s business performance through expansion in new international markets and existing ones, including the US.

A 10-point turnaround plan includes investing more in mobile, focusing more on hotels and dynamic packages, and putting more resources into customer relationship management.

Dunne told Skift that eDreams faced several “market challenges” in 2014, including changes to Google’s algorithms, which adversely impacted eDreams Odigeo, and overly aggressive tactics that “were not necessarily economically rational” by well-funded competitors, especially in France and Italy.

“Competitors in some big markets were very aggressive and have done things that I don’t think were necessarily always playing by the rules,” Dunne said.

European private equity house Permira became the company’s majority shareholder in 2010. A year later, eDreams merged with Go Voyages and acquired Opodo and Travellink to found the Odigeo group.

The company went public last year but suffered when British Airways and Iberia removed their flights, citing an alleged lack of transparency on air fares.