eDreams ODIGEO’s Prime subscription expands to Canada as it surpasses 4 million member milestone

• The launch follows strong subscriber base growth. In the last year alone, Prime grew by 81% and added 1.8 million new subscribers. Global membership topped 4.2 million in February.
• This latest geographical expansion means Prime is now available across main major English-speaking travel markets – UK, USA, Canada and Australia. 
• Appeal of subscription services is evidenced through research; 90% of respondents have increased or maintained previous levels of subscription spending in the last year.
• Travel is the most likely product category to see increased subscription spending from existing and new customers in the year ahead.

eDreams ODIGEO, one of the world’s largest online travel companies and one of Europe’s largest e-commerce firms, has launched its pioneering Prime subscription travel service in Canada. This is the second launch in North America after Prime’s recent rollout in the USA.

To meet the increased demand for this product in these regions, Prime is now introduced as a minimum viable product with plans for continued growth through the addition of new features and enhanced content in the near future. With a global membership of over 4.2 million^[1], Prime is the travel sector’s first and largest subscription programme, now available to customers in 10 markets worldwide.

This latest geographical expansion also means that Prime is now available across the main major English-speaking travel markets – the UK, the USA, Canada and Australia. These countries are major contributors to the global travel market, and together they account for a significant portion of the market value. With Prime being a unique customer proposition for travellers, eDreams ODIGEO strengthens its competitive advantage in North America, thus better positioning itself to continue capturing further demand across the region.

Prime is a superior value proposition for consumers enabling unlimited discounts on all travels

Through their membership, Prime customers are able to access members-only deals, offers and discounts on a variety of travel products and services, from flights to accommodation, package holidays or car hire. Consumers can enjoy all the benefits of the Prime programme from their very first booking as members, with no limitations on itineraries, travel dates, providers or number of bookings. This means that Prime offers wide choice and flexibility to travellers as it enables them to enjoy unlimited deals on any travel product of their choice, including all of the 9 billion different flight combinations that the business is able to build by combining options from nearly 700 global airlines. Also, Prime members can access discounted rates on all 2.1 million accommodation options that the eDreams ODIGEO brands offer, as well as on thousands of car hire options.

At the same time, eDreams ODIGEO’s leading AI technology, which underpins Prime, is able to learn about members’ travel preferences and create bespoke, hyper-personalised recommendations to improve the travel booking experience for consumers whilst delivering a steady flow of bookings to travel partners.

Prime is also able to help members make significant cost savings, a key value proposition for consumers, especially in the current macroeconomic context. For example, booking data reveals that a family from France saved more than £800 in their summer holiday on the US West Coast after booking their flights and 8 different hotels for their road trip through Prime. Similarly, a Lisbon couple travelling for a weekend in Barcelona made savings of £90 in their booking. This far eclipses the membership fee of just £59.99 per year.

Dana Dunne, CEO of eDreams ODIGEO said: “Subscriptions will become the world’s preferred method of commerce because of how effectively these models fulfil customer preferences for more convenient, personalised and cost-effective retail experiences. The global market for subscription services across all retail sectors is growing rapidly. That is why we are continuing to focus on expanding Prime in new regions and pivoting our business model to one that primarily engages with travellers through subscriptions. This focus is a huge part of our ambition to revolutionise the experience of researching and booking travel through technology and innovation.

“Building a subscription programme is not done overnight. The success of Prime follows a complete transformation of our business model and organisation which required significant investment in technology, time and resources. We are extremely proud to see that our disruptive strategy is proving successful. This is evidenced by our strong bookings and growth in subscribers – over the last year alone, our subscriber base grew by an impressive 81% and we feel increasingly confident that we will meet our self-set target of reaching 7.25 million subscribers by 2025.”

Appeal of subscription services is also evidenced through research

eDreams ODIGEO’s decision to pivot to a primarily subscription-based model is supported by research conducted by the company and research agency OnePoll. The research, which polled 10,000 global customers on their shopping habits, reveals that only 1% of global shoppers don’t consider themselves to be subscribers in some form, while, despite rising living costs, 90% of shoppers have either increased or maintained their spending on subscriptions over the last year. Similarly, 84% of respondents said they were likely to increase or at least maintain current spending levels over the course of the next year. The study shows that the average person has at least four subscriptions at any one time, while some respondents noted having as many as 18 active subscriptions.

In terms of the most popular product sectors for subscribers, travel emerged as the sector most likely to see growth both from existing and new subscribers. Indeed, 47% of existing travel subscribers said they would increase their spending in the coming year, while 24% of those that didn’t already subscribe to a travel service said they would consider doing so. These were the highest scores for any product group included in the survey.

The two perks of subscription services that were most often highlighted as reasons for subscribing were convenience and cost-effectiveness and this was the case in all regions and with all demographics. Subscriptions proved equally popular across all demographics. While Gen Z and Millennial shoppers are leading society’s subscription switchover – 89% of 25-44 year olds say they subscribe sometimes or describe themselves as ‘avid subscribers’ – older generations are not that far behind. 80% of over 65s would say they subscribe sometimes or are ‘avid subscribers’. Similarly, 87% of both men and women subscribe sometimes or avidly.

About eDreams ODIGEO

eDreams ODIGEO is one of the world’s largest online travel companies and one of the largest e- commerce businesses in Europe. The business is the largest player worldwide in flight revenues, excluding China, and the largest in Europe. Under its four leading online travel agency brands – eDreams, GO Voyages, Opodo, Travellink, and the metasearch engine Liligo – it serves more than 17 million customers per year across 44 markets. Listed on the Spanish Stock Market, eDreams ODIGEO works with over 690 airlines and +2.1 million hotels. The business conceptualised Prime, the first subscription product in the travel sector which has attracted more than four million members since launching in 2017. The brand offers the best quality products and the widest choice of regular flights, low-cost airlines, hotels, dynamic packages, cruises, car rental services and travel insurance products to make travel easier, more accessible, and better value for consumers across the globe.

Survey methodology: This market survey was conducted by OnePoll. 10,000 customers were polled in eight global markets. These were:

• UK
• USA
• Spain
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Portugal
• Sweden

^[1] As of February 2023