After acquiring two luxury specialists this week, Andrew Harper Travel Office and Collets Travel, mega agency Travel Leaders Group is looking for more.
CEO Ninan Chacko said there is "significant
expansion opportunity" in the luxury space.
"We're going to continue with acquisitions, with a
focus on generating more demand, focused on acquisitions, focused on agent
development and recognition programs," said Chacko. "And I think equally, aside from the consumer focus ... we're
now also pretty much unique in terms of meeting the needs of agents, agencies,
suppliers, clients, wherever they might exist in the [luxury] spectrum."
On Monday, the company said it acquired
Austin, Texas-based Andrew Harper Travel Office and the Andrew Harper Alliance,
a luxury hotel program. It did not acquire the editorial division of Andrew
Harper, which publishes the "Hideaway Report" and "The Andrew
Harper Collection" and runs AndrewHarper.com.
Then on Wednesday, Travel Leaders Group acquired U.K.-based Colletts Travel and its Colletts Collection.
The company did not disclose details of the transactions but
did say the organizations it acquired would remain operating as they have for
now. Chacko hinted that Travel Leaders Group has plans to grow the brands
within the company.
He declined to discuss details of future plans but said his
company would begin to enable the acquired companies to access its air, cruise and tour products.
"We'll start to layer in ... the things that we can
bring to bear, whether it's technology, GDS relationships -- but especially the
air, cruise and tour programs that we'll layer into it," Chacko said. "And
then the next stage both with Colletts and Andrew Harper is to figure out where
the multiplying factor comes into play when you think about the size and
footprint of Travel Leaders Group."
Chacko said he is bullish on the future of travel agents,
especially in the luxury space. While he acknowledged that online distribution
and the amount of products and information that can be found online are large,
he said he believes that in the future that agents, aided by technology, will
remain the key distributors of travel products.
"We know that the product attributes and the experience,
particularly, are very different for very different consumers," he said. "And
that's the part where I think the thing that is clear to us in the luxury end
of the market, especially among our luxury suppliers and partners that we're
closest to, is they recognize that distinction of a qualified human being's
ability, somebody who's a knowledgeable, professional travel agent."