Skift CMO Interviews: Despegar’s New Single-Minded Push for Online Bookings
Photo Credit: Andres Patetta, Despegar's head of online marketing. Despegar
Skift Take
Despegar has entered a new chapter in Latin America as the site eliminated phone bookings in favor of online bookings only. The company is undergoing major changes and is rethinking how it balances its online and offline marketing.
Editor's Note: Following our previous CEO interview series in online travel, hospitality, and destinations, Skift has launched a new series, this time focused on Chief Marketing Officers.
To better understand the big marketing challenges facing travel brands in an age when consumers are in control, Skift's What Keeps CMOs Up at Night will talk with the leading voices in global marketing from across all the industry's sectors.
These interviews with leaders of hotels, airlines, tourism boards, digital players, agents, tour operators and more will explore both shared and unique challenges they are facing, where they get insights, and how they best leverage digital insights to make smarter decisions.
This is the latest interview in the series.
Despegar was founded as an online travel agency in 1999, but it took nearly 15 years for the company to resemble a booking site. Until two years ago, most of its bookings came from over the phone — including many landlines.
