Ovation Travel Group Launches Advisory Board Comprised of 12 Independent Advisors
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Ovation Independent Advisor (IA) Advisory Board convened virtually for inaugural meeting.
Our advisory board consists of some of the travel industry’s top veteran advisors alongside some of our most promising advisors who have joined the industry within recent years. Together, their experience in providing white glove service to clients literally spans the globe. NEW YORK (PRWEB) May 10, 2021 Ovation Travel Group – an American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) Company that provides business travel services for more than 700 professional organizations and more than 300,000 travelers – announced a significant enhancement to its ongoing engagement with Independent Advisors (IA) in the United States and United Kingdom through its creation and launch of an IA advisory board. Comprised of 12 leading IAs, the adviso
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From left, Kimberly Wilson Wetty, Jennifer Wilson-Buttigieg, Brian Buttigieg, Valerie Wilson, Richard Leibman, Lara Leibman and Bryan Leibman.
Consolidation among travel agencies was heating up even before the pandemic. And now, more than a year into the Covid-19 crisis, with margins stretched thin, cash in short supply and buyers and sellers both looking to strengthen their competitive positions through mergers, it has become an active marketplace for agencies that have the capital and drive to grow through acquisitions.
Last week, two major acquisitions were announced. Frosch International Travel (No. 14 on Travel Weekly s 2020 Power List) acquired Valerie Wilson Travel (No. 36). Additionally, American Express Global Business Travel (GBT, No. 3) said it plans to acquire Egencia, the corporate-travel arm of No. 1 Expedia Group, pending regulatory approvals.
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The knock on Expedia Group over the years was that it was too U.S.-focused, but the online travel agency turned that into a strength during the first quarter at least temporarily.
Referring to Covid’s uneven global trajectory as a “study in contrast,” Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern told financial analysts Thursday that the company “benefited greatly in our vacation rental business and our domestic U.S. business, but other parts of the business still remain challenged.”
So while in the first quarter of 2019, before the pandemic ruptured the world, Expedia Group generated about 62 percent of its revenue from the U.S. But in the first quarter of 2021, because the U.S. was relatively open, and much of Europe and parts of Asia were locked down, Expedia Group generated more than 80 percent of its revenue domestically in the U.S.
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As part of its agreement to sell corporate-travel division Egencia to American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), Expedia Group would take a 14% ownership in GBT, with an approximate value of $750 million.
Expedia disclosed that detail during its first quarter financial earnings call Thursday. In addition, CFO Eric Hart said Expedia s 10-year lodging-supply agreement with GBT would generate in excess of $60 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, based on 2019 volumes.
Hart said he expected the deal to close, pending regulatory approval, in 9 to 12 months.
Expedia CEO Peter Kern called the deal extremely exciting to us. It really highlights three core things we re trying to do, Kern added.
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The UK government on Friday finally announced its list of “green light” destinations, but the travel industry has mostly given it a lukewarm reception due to several notable absences, including the U.S.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed a list of countries that people in England can travel to on a “non-essential” basis and return quarantine-free. It begins on May 17.
They are: Portugal; Israel; Singapore; Australia; New Zealand; Brunei; Iceland; Gibraltar; Falkland Islands; Faroe Islands; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; and St Helena, Tristan de Cunha, Ascension Island.