Travelgenio

Travelgenio was a Spanish online travel agency created in 2010 by the Argentinean entrepreneur Mariano Pelizzari.[1] The company also published a survey of trends and customer satisfaction in the air travel industry.[2][3]

Travelgenio
TypePrivate
IndustryTravel agency
FoundedSpain (2010)
FounderMariano Pelizzari
DefunctDecember 15, 2022 (2022-December-15)
Headquarters
Madrid
,
Spain
Area served
Europe and Latin America
Key people
Joost Schuring (CEO)
ProductsFlights, hotels, car rentals, travel insurance
Revenue€35 Million (2011)
€90 Million (2012)
€180 Million (2013)
€344 Million (2014)
€449 Million (2015)
€700 Million (2016)
Number of employees
200
Websitewww.travelgenio.es (Spain)

In 2018, Travelgenio merged with the Dutch company Otravo,[4] at the same time that Joost Schuring took over as CEO.[5] In December 2022, Schuring announced the cessation of operations due to bankruptcy,[6] without indemnifying for dismissal the employees of the Travelgenio subsidiary in Uruguay.[7]

Services

The products and services Travelgenio offers are, mainly, flights, hotels and other services such as insurances, car rental, and transfers. Travelgenio operates through some reservation systems like Amadeus CRS or Galileo, marketing the products of airlines like Iberia (airline), Vueling, Air France or KLM, among other companies. In 2020 Travelgenio and Travelport signed a renewed partnership.[8]

On December 15, 2022, Otravo, Travelgenio's parent company, announced its cessation of operations.[6] Meanwhile, IATA announced the suspension of Otravo and Travelgenio from BSP.[9] While employees in the Netherlands were dismissed from the company and received the corresponding severance pay, the employees of the Montevideo, Uruguay office were on unemployment insurance for inactivity between January 15 and April 28, 2023, when they were finally terminated from the company.[7]

On May 12, 2023, Travelgenio went into administration in Spain and Uruguay, and the liquidation phase was started.[10] On May 31, the company confirmed that it was going to compensate for dismissal its employees in Spain and even informed them that the return of the computer equipment that each employee had was not necessary.[11] However, having demanded the return of the equipment from the Uruguayan employees[11] and having already breached the legal deadlines, Travelgenio did not pay the severance package and nor did it report the amounts corresponding to each former employee (82 in total) from the South American country.[7]

In addition to failing to pay the severance package, the employees have also not been able to collect unemployment insurance after the dismissal, due to the fact that the company took a long time to discharge its employees from BPS, the entity in charge of social security in Uruguay.[12]

References
  1. Varela, Pepe (5 December 2010). "Volar desde la web y la crisis". El País (in Spanish). ElPais.Com. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  2. "El precio es el principal factor en la compra de billetes aéreos según Travelgenio" (in Spanish). La Vanguardia. 17 December 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  3. "El 93,4% de los españoles compra su billete de avión en función del precio según Travelgenio y Travel2be" (in Spanish). La Razon Digital. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  4. "La agencia de viajes holandesa Otravo se fusiona con la española Travelgenio". La Vanguardia. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  5. "Joost Schuring, nuevo CEO de Otravo". Agenttravel. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  6. "Otravo la matriz de Travelgenio anuncia su cese de operaciones". Preferente. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  7. Peñalver, Jesús Luis (23 May 2023). "Travelgenio se desentiende de sus empleados en Uruguay". Hosteltur. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  8. "Travelgenio signs new multi-year partnership agreement with Travelport". TornosNews.GR. Retrieved 2020-10-08.
  9. "IATA suspende temporalmente a Otravo del BSP". Agenttravel. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  10. Peñalver, Jesús Luis (22 May 2023). "Travelgenio entra en concurso de acreedores y le asignan administrador". Hosteltur. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  11. Peñalver, Jesús Luis (2 June 2023). "Travelgenio finiquita a su plantilla en España, pero no a la de Uruguay". Hosteltur. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
  12. "Agencia de viajes holandesa que operaba en zona franca en Uruguay quebró y denuncian que no paga despidos". El País. 3 June 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
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