Dream Vacations and CruiseOne franchisees can expect more tools to help them do their jobs and more franchisee peers, according World Travel Holdings (WTH) co-CEOs Jeff and Brad Tolkin.
Parent company to Dream Vacations/CruiseOne and nearly 40 other travel brands, WTH (No. 16 on Travel Weekly's Power List) announced this week that private equity firm Citation Capital made a strategic investment in the company. With that announcement, the Tolkins said the investment would be used to further scale the business.
"Interestingly, their strategic focus is very much the same as ours," they said in an emailed interview after the announcement. "We will continue to invest in technology, and more heavily in our successes."
For Dream Vacations and CruiseOne, agencies can expect more tools to help them strengthen businesses as the industry continues to evolve. WTH will also seek to add more franchisees.
"Their success drives our success," the Tolkins said.
Private equity in the travel industry
Private equity investments have become increasingly common in travel, partly because being a public company comes with such responsibility. Private investment "gives more flexibility to the entity, not having to report earnings every quarter," they said. "Travel is no exception."
They cited Long Lake Management's planned acquisition of American Express Global Business Travel, announced earlier this month, as another example of private equity in the travel sphere.
While the Tolkins said they couldn't predict what the future might bring in terms of private equity investments in the leisure travel space, "it is a growing asset class."
"Indeed," they added, "the government is contemplating allowing private equity to be a part of 401(k) and IRA portfolios, so on a broader basis we think private equity will continue to grow in importance."
One of the things that drew Citation to WTH -- in addition to the fact that it fits in their investment mold of family-led middle-market businesses -- was that it's a diversified company.
"Through the years we have focused on being disciplined and opportunistic," the Tolkins said. "These guiding principles, along with a very talented team, have allowed us to build the company."