Carlson Wagonlit Travel today announced the acquisition of Traveltime Services, a regional travel management company in Nashville, Tenn., for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition is an effort to reach further into the small and midmarket travel-spending arena, said CWT president and COO of North America Jack O'Neill.
Traveltime manages $20 million in annual air volume, about 75 corporate accounts, some corporate onsite agent locations and 20 employees, officials said. According to CWT, Traveltime owners Jack Shaw and Jim King and president Tamara Laurinas will take on roles within CWT, though specifics were not released. "Given the highly competitive environment of today's travel industry, this is the right decision at the right time," Laurinas said in a prepared statement.
CWT took a similar localized acquisition approach with its purchase of Boston-area travel management company Preferred Travel in August
(BTNonline, Sept. 10, 2007). "We're trying to do local acquisitions where it makes sense," O'Neill told
Business Travel News. "CWT needs to be as strong a player in as many of the major markets as we can, and there are some where our representation is very strong and there are others where—for example, Nashville—there is a good local company that wants to be part of CWT and it makes sense for both of us. It's really driven by having a good local client base and good people."
CWT's 2006 buyout of Navigant International brought a greater need to bolster its small and midmarket presence, as CWT now finds itself deeper in the space where Navigant once dominated
(BTNonline, May 6, 2006).
"We want to be a bigger player in the small- and midmarket," O'Neill said. "We have products and services for that market. We acquired a lot of those kinds of customers with Navigant. Navigant itself is the accumulation of a lot of those agencies over the years and had a really strong presence in the small- to midmarket, and we obviously want to continue to expand that."
John Coffman, CWT vice president of finance and global mergers & acquisitions, handled today's announced deal. Coffman also led the buy of Swedish TMC Ark Travel late last year and was instrumental in the Navigant acquisition, according to O'Neill.