The Leisure Travel Alliance (LTA), a travel agency consortium led by longtime industry executives, has branched into the host agency business through the acquisition of International Tours of Houston.
International Tours of Houston, which has 140 independent contractors, will become a subsidiary of LTA. It will operate under the name Leisure Travel Alliance Central (LTAC).
LTA President Stuart Godwin said that adding a host agency as a subsidiary will not change the operational structure of Austin-based LTA, which does not accept independent contractors as direct members.
“We are talking about two different business models,” he said. “LTA is a unique business model for travel agencies operating as independent businesses. LTAC is a unique business model for individual agents. Both options are available. It's up to individual agency owners and individual agents to choose the channel that best fits their needs.”
Godwin said in a statement that LTA is looking is expand more: “We believe now is an opportune time for growth by way of selectively acquiring and consolidating several small and midsize companies. We are very fortunate to have a group of private investors and shareholders who have provided us with additional equity funding for expansion.”
LTA's network includes 300 agencies, which run the gamut from home-based businesses to traditional storefront agencies.
Godwin, who grew up in the industry, the son of one of the founders of Houston's Harvey Travel, was one of the founders of Houston-based Consolidated Travel Services, a regional travel marketing organization created in 1984 that later was swept up in the consolidation and acquisition drive by Vacation.com. He is a former senior vice president of Vacation.com.
His second-in-command at LTA is Steve Kaplan, another former Vacation.com senior vice president who is LTA's vice president of industry relations. Kaplan was executive director of the Arizona Travel Agents Association and president of Crown Travel Group, a regional consortium that also became part of Vacation.com.
The new LTAC host agency will continue to be led by Ron Sanders, International Tours of Houston founder and owner, who will report to Godwin.
In a statement, Sanders said the sale of his host agency to LTA will be beneficial both to agents affiliated with the host agency and to agencies who are members the LTA consortium.
“LTA and LTAC members will shortly have access to a broader range of GDS, back-office and CRM platforms; this is not to mention that all LTA-affiliated agents will now have a choice of booking and compensation channels.”
Kaplan said in a statement that he and Sanders will work as a team to coordinate LTAC's preferred-supplier relationship.
“We have received good input and great support on the supplier side” for the LTA's expansion into the host agency business, he said. “Quite obviously, we anticipate that LTA's allied suppliers will be the preferred-supplier group for LTAC.”