Nine of Uniglobe Travel International's top agency franchises and a franchisor division have merged to create a separate $200 million consolidated travel management company that will focus on corporate accounts of up to $20 million in annual air, car and hotel spending, the company's leaders announced last week.
On average, the members of Uniglobe Travel Partners handle accounts of $8 million to $10 million, but the merger will enable them to add large multinational clients to its portfolio of 225 major accounts, according to Marie Magliano, president of the newly formed company. "We are going to take it to the next level," she said. Corporate accounts will comprise 65 percent of our business, 10 percent of which is meetings, according to Magliano.
The nine agencies came together in an equity shareholder, joint ownership deal in June 2006 and the franchisor division joined in January 2007. Uniglobe Travel Partners has 13 offices in 11 U.S. cities, including New York, San Francisco and Houston. The company remains part of the Uniglobe network, which has more than 700 franchises in 30 countries.
Chairman of Vancouver-based Uniglobe Travel International U. Gary Charlwood said the idea to consolidate franchises was first discussed at meetings of the top 30 to 40 franchises following 9/11. The final piece of the merger came in 2006 when Charlwood proposed adding the franchising organization to Uniglobe Travel Partners via the Uniglobe Central Processing Unit, which provides hosting services to home-based and non-ARC agencies. Adding in the franchising organization's volume, Uniglobe Travel Partners claims the leverage of a $200 million agency.
"After the strength of the corporation was realized, Gary said 'trust me, the airlines will take notice,' " said the group's CFO and treasurer Doug Carpenter, of Blue Bell, Penn.-based Uniglobe Wings Travel.
"The move positions them to compete with the large regionals," said Mark Walton, principal of Deerfield, Ill.-based travel management consultancy Consulting Strategies. "They are now large enough to be competitive with good-size corporate accounts. Given the right changes to their structure and the right integration, it can be done. Consolidation in the travel agency arena isn't even close to being done, and there are opportunities in the travel space for future consolidation."
The company signed a contract in January to use Amadeus as its official GDS. It also uses the Amadeus E-Travel Management online booking tool, Cornerstone's management information systems and GDSX for quality control automation, Magliano said.
Magliano, president and CEO of the Mount Arlington, N.J-based Uniglobe at Best Travel, unanimously was elected as president of the newly formed company for an initial two-year term. Her New Jersey office is serving as the company's headquarters. Mary Hanigan, of Lake Oswego, Ore.-based Uniglobe Spectrum Travel, will serve as corporate secretary.