Opodo: The Golden Years
There was a time when Opodo was going to brush aside all before it.
Below is the promotional video for the company's launch, back in 2001.
Look out for Esteban Walther (now of the Google parish) at 3m 01s, during a segment when a string of people from the company tell a mystery interviewer how fantastic Opodo will be.
"We intend to become the market leader in Europe in three years", says one gentleman in the clip.
Who are these people? Where are they now? Apologies, clip was made when our editorial team were reporting on non-travel issues in Washington DC or London's East End.
Kevin May, editor, Travolution
Technorati tags: opodo
10 comments:
HAHAHA. Those were the days.
Thant's great. The glory of YouTube! Lucky Esteban does not appear to have aged one bit in six years.
Jokes aside (and the video is very funny), what exactly did happen to Opodo?
They had a string of CEOs 9 four I think in four years - and clearly didn't come true on their promise to be the best in three years.
Very odd state of affairs. They are still on the scene but losing ground to Expedia, LM and the efforts of the verticals.
The ex HR Manager organised a reunion last week and over 90 people attended. The majority speak highly of Opodo and really enjoyed their time there. I know many of these candidates and their time at Opodo has given them a platform to go on to bigger and better jobs in the online world. Esteban is a prime example of this!
Gail: You are absolutely right. more recently Simon Vincent (to Hilton) and Chris Roe (to Virgin).
I am sure Opodo would rather be known as a top online travel agency rather than a breeding ground for other travel brands. :-)
Used Opodo from day 1. Think they are still one of the best online travel agents around....and offer some of the best hotel and flight deals - somebody who has gotten this packaging malarky right.
Remember the likes of Expedia have far deeper pockets so are able gain the higher ground.
Love the brand and site!
I wonder if my NDAs are still active....(although the companies I NDA'd with are long gone)
I did some work on the original Opodo site (hotel section release #2) back in 2002 - does that count for "golden years" history? Even had some JavaScript for date entry that I personally wrote used by every hotel reservation for a couple of years! Best bit was you could go "view source" in any web browser and see my name :)
Code was replaced a few years back, thankfully.
Previous "Anonymous": Apologies, blogs are bound by libel laws as much as mainstream media websites and the rest of the press.
Alas, your comments regarding the mental state of one of Opodo's chief executives cannot be posted.
too much money spend with no abiltity to track properly internally. shame the people there now weren't there at the start when they made such an arse of it
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