EDreams

eDreams is a leading online travel portal operating from Spain and Italy founded in 1999.

Corporate structure

eDreams is a leading online travel portal, with headquarters in Barcelona, Spain and offices in Milan, Italy. The company offers an online service at www.edreams.com, and at its websites in Spanish www.edreams.es, Italian www.edreams.it, French www.edreams.fr and Portuguese www.edreams.pt. [Freyer, Walter: Tourismus: Einführung in die Fremdenverkehrsökonomie, 8. Aufl., Munich/Vienna, Oldenbourg 2006. (German)]

The CEO and founder is Javier Pérez-Tenessa de Block. James Hare is the co-founder and Managing Director. [http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/people.asp?privcapId=92093 Portfolio] (Last checked: 26-07-2007, English)]

Corporate history

Founded in March 1999 in Silicon Valley by Javier Pérez-Tenessa and James Hare [http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=92093 online report businessweek] (Last checked: 26-07-2007, English)] with the financial backup of a group of European and American investment and private equity companies (Doll Capital Management, APAX Partners, Atlas Venture and 3i Group).The company completed the first ever eCommerce LBO in Southern Europe in November 2006, when management and TA Associates purchased eDreams from prior shareholders

In 2000 eDreams launched businesses in Spain and Italy. Four months after the launch the company was ranked within the top ten European businesses in the B2C (Business to Consumer) sector and ranked 26 out of the 100 top performing e-commerce companies in Europe. [case study of The Sunday Times and KPMG, published 2000]

In 2003 eDreams completed a takeover of the Italian company "www.travelonline.it" and became the leading online travel portal in Italy.

Today, eDreams holds the first position in the audience rank for the online travel sector according to Nielsen//NetRatings, and has the largest amount of flight sales in Spain and Italy.

The company closed the 2006 business year with a 31,5% market share of the Spanish online tour operator sector (in terms of sales up until December 2006).

ervices

The company’s travel products and services are hotels, flights and also standard package deals. Their packaging engine follows the modular design principle, allowing users to adapt their packages to suit their needs. These are sold through their websites in Spanish, English, French, Italian and Portuguese.

The company also sells its products directly through their call centre.

Additionally, the websites host advertising campaigns of direct corporate clients and media agencies.

The company claims that more than six million customers booked their accommodations, flights and package deals since the launch. [http://www.edreams.es/edreams/espanol/pressroom/notas/fact06.pdf eDreams – press release] (Last checked: 26-07-2007, Spanish)]

It seems that eDreams is collaborating with some of the main airline companies, such as British Airways, KLM, EasyJet, Delta and American Airlines.

The operating mode is as follows: the company has access to computer reservations systems, like Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan were they compare, compile and resell travel offers. [Freyer, Walter: Tourismus: Einführung in die Fremdenverkehrsökonomie, 8. Aufl., Munich/Vienna, Oldenbourg 2006. (manner of operation of CRS) (German)]

References

External links

* [http://www.edreams.com/edreams/english/ eDreams in english]