Eden Prairie, MN (January 3, 2011) – In a move significantly strengthening its position within the North American travel market, Travel Leaders Group announced today the acquisition of Vacation.com from Amadeus Americas, Inc. As a leading leisure travel marketing organization powered by real travel agents, Vacation.com easily ranks as North America's largest vacation and cruise selling network in terms of locations with more than 5,100 travel agencies throughout the United States and Canada. Travel Leaders Group has total travel sales in excess of $6 billion, and owns well-known agency brands such as Travel Leaders, Tzell, Results! Travel, Nexion, Cruise Holidays and Cruise Specialists.

Travel Leaders Group CEO Barry Liben said that Alexandria (VA)-based Vacation.com will continue to operate as a stand-alone division led by its President Steve Tracas. Tracas will report directly to Liben.

Vacation.com is the product of the 1998 acquisition and consolidation of 10 leading travel agency marketing organizations. Added to the more than 1,200 travel agency locations and thousands of travel agents already affiliated with Travel Leaders Group, Liben noted that the newly enlarged company is now comprised of nearly 6,400 wholly-owned, franchised and affiliated locations – almost 30% of the total travel agencies located within the United States and Canada. Liben said, "The agency business is our heart and soul – it's what we know and it's all we do."

“Vacation.com brings excellent quality agencies, increased size and significant buying opportunities to Travel Leaders Group,” explained Michael Batt, Chair and Founder of Travel Leaders Group. “We exist solely to improve the operations and profitability of traditional travel agencies and agents and there is no question in my mind that by bringing together almost one third of North America's agencies under one umbrella we can do even more for each and every agency and agent working within our brands and companies. We believe this is a good day for Travel Leaders, Vacation.com and the travel agency community in general and we very much look forward to working with the management teams from both Travel Leaders and Vacation.com to continue to improve all our agencies competitiveness, operations and profitability.”

Liben also indicated that the Vacation.com acquisition provides Travel Leaders Group with unprecedented volume in serving high-end and ultra high-end travelers. “With over $300 million in annual luxury sales volume alone, Vacation.com significantly increases our presence in the luxury market and we expect to aggressively increase this over time,” Liben added.

Minneapolis, MN (January 18, 2011) – Today, Travel Leaders unveiled the top business travel trends for 2011 based on findings from their annual Travel Trends Survey. The survey shows 76% of Travel Leaders' business-focused travel agents are forecasting that business travel for 2011 will match or exceed their total bookings for last year. In addition, the survey reveals that nearly two-thirds (65.7%) of business travelers combine at least one business trip with a leisure or family trip. Travel Leaders also identified the top five reasons their clients book a particular hotel while on a business trip – location near one's business meeting was the number one response.

“This year's findings are quite positive and encouraging, particularly considering the number of Travel Leaders agents who said their level of business travel bookings will go up in 2011. Compared with their responses last year, 11.1% more of them are seeing year over year increases,” stated Roger E. Block, CTC, president of Travel Leaders Franchise Group, which includes hundreds of locations nationwide. “As encouraging as this data is, our agents are more committed than ever in counseling business travel clients on cost-savings measures and 'return on investment,' particularly the ROI they directly earn from the cost savings and cost avoidance initiatives that their Travel Leaders agents implement and drive. Thanks to a variety of proprietary tools, our Travel Leaders business travel agents have more resources than ever before to deliver exceptional ROI for business travel clients of all sizes.”

Anticipated Level of Business Travel in 2011

When Travel Leaders business travel experts were asked, “What have your business travel clients indicated in terms of either actual bookings and/or client feedback as to the amount of travel they anticipate for 2011 compared to 2010?” 39.7% said that booking levels would increase this year, 36.3% said booking levels would remain on par with 2010, and only 7.8% indicated there would be a decline. (By comparison those percentages last year were 28.6%, 38.3%, and 11.9% respectively).

Hotel Accommodations

When asked “What is most important to your business travel clients when choosing a hotel?” the top five selections were: 1. Location – near business meeting (82.8%), 2. Rewards program – frequent guest points (54.4%), 3. Free Wi Fi (31.4%), 4. Location – near airport (17.7%), 5. Free breakfast (13.2%). Survey participants were allowed to select up to three options.

Other Findings

• Combining Business with Leisure – When asked if clients combine business travel with leisure or family trips, 65.7% indicated "Yes."
• Changes in Company Travel Policy – When Travel Leaders experts were asked if they had "noticed a change in booking practices which require business travel clients to book their flights in advance," 54% said "No" while 46% said "Yes."
• Last Minute Flight Changes – When Travel Leaders experts were asked if they had "noticed a trend toward limiting last-minute or unnecessary flight changes," the survey revealed:
  • No, things come up and changes are necessary (60.8%)
  • Yes, it only occasionally happens any more (33.8%)
  • Yes, it very rarely happens any more (5.4%)
• First/Business Class vs. Coach – When asked to provide the percentage of business clients who are purchasing first class tickets, 31.8% of Travel Leaders business travel experts indicated that 11% or more of their bookings are in first or business class. Another 56.4% indicated that 1-10% of their clientele is flying "up front."

Conducted November 3 – 30, 2010, these business travel trends are based on responses from 204 Travel Leaders owners, managers and frontline travel experts throughout the United States who identified that 50% or more of their portfolio consists of business travel clients. The business trends were part of a comprehensive travel trends survey which included responses from 547 Travel Leaders experts nationwide. To view the results from the 2011 Travel Leaders Travel Trends Survey, click here.

Travel Leaders is part of the national travel powerhouse, Travel Leaders Group, which not only ranks as the top corporate travel management company by Business Travel News, but is also among the top ten travel companies on the 2010 Travel Weekly Power List and is one of the top five with a retail presence.

When your journey includes us, you travel better. To find the Travel Leaders location nearest you, go to www.TravelLeaders.com or call 888-206-TRIP (8747).

Minneapolis, MN (January 31, 2011) – Today, Travel Leaders is announcing that the final quarter of 2010 was its best in securing new business travel accounts by its wholly-owned and Associate (franchised) locations. Travel Leaders won over $41.2 million from October 1 – December 31, 2010, bringing its yearly total in new business accounts to over $129.4 million. As with previous quarterly reports, Travel Leaders indicates that this is a conservative estimate given the voluntary reporting each quarter by Travel Leaders Associates and Travel Leaders Corporate.

“Our Travel Leaders Associates did very, very well in the fourth quarter. Based on the findings of our recent Business Travel Trends, in which 76% of our business-focused travel agents are forecasting that business travel for 2011 will match or exceed their total bookings for last year, we are beginning 2011 with a full head of steam,” stated Travel Leaders Franchise Group President Roger E. Block, CTC. “As more and more of our Associates seek new small- to mid-sized business travel accounts, we anticipate that momentum will continue.”

“These results validate Travel Leaders Corporate's customized approach to travel management and continuing promise to be a true 'Departure from the Ordinary' for its customers,” stated Travel Leaders Corporate President David Holyoke. “With a steadily increasing sales pipeline and exclusive partnership with AirPlus International that provides our clients an end-to-end travel booking, billing, expense management and payment solution, 2011 promises to be the strongest year yet for Travel Leaders Corporate.”

For the second year in a row, parent company Travel Leaders Group was ranked as the top American travel management companies in Business Travel News' Business Travel Survey 2010, an annual compendium, without even counting the additional business travel sales of Travel Leaders' franchised units.

Coral Gables, FL (May 31, 2011) – Today, Travel Leaders Corporate announced that Linda Oliver-Eckhardt has been named Senior Vice President of Client Strategies.  Oliver-Eckhardt leads the team of Client Relationship Managers at Travel Leaders Corporate and is responsible for developing and implementing client retention strategies that enhance Travel Leaders' ability to exceed the needs of both existing and new customers. 

"Linda has a keen understanding of current market conditions, and is viewed by travel suppliers as a shrewd, yet fair negotiator.  She brings a refreshingly realistic approach when guiding staff on the design of successful cost-containment programs for each of Travel Leaders' corporate customers," said David Holyoke, President of Travel Leaders Corporate.

Oliver-Eckhardt brings to Travel Leaders Corporate over 25 years of experience in travel management leadership, derived from her involvement in key, client-driven areas within leading travel management companies.  Before joining Travel Leaders Corporate, she held a variety of management roles at Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT), most recently as Senior Director of National Accounts. During her tenure there, Oliver-Eckhardt was actively involved in the development of CWT's first North America Diversity and Inclusion Council.   Prior to CWT, she served as Vice President of Client Travel Management at Navigant International, which was subsequently acquired by CWT.

To learn more about Travel Leaders Corporate, visit www.travelleaderscorp.com or call 800-721-0807.  At Travel Leaders Corporate, your next trip will be a "DEPARTURE FROM THE ORDINARY." 

Coral Gables, FL (June 1, 2011) – We are writing to advise you of an ongoing dispute between American Airlines and Sabre. Sabre is one of the key computer reservations systems - otherwise known as a Global Distribution System or GDS - that Travel Leaders Corporate relies upon to provide you with unimpeded fare, product and service information.

The dispute between American Airlines and Sabre has the potential for escalating dramatically on June 1, 2011. That is the deadline for a temporary truce over litigation between the two parties. The truce was called so they could negotiate a new contract in hopes of avoiding American Airlines inventory from being "depreferenced" in the Sabre system, an outcome that a temporary restraining order prohibits beyond June 1. American Airlines' current contract with Sabre expires August 31, 2011. While it is possible that the two sides may reach an agreement, it is also possible that the deadline will be extended should an agreement not be reached by June 1.

When it comes to serving you, Travel Leaders Corporate's overriding concern is that the airlines' full participation in the GDS remains the same. We want to ensure that we retain full capability of accessing all airfares and ancillary airline services - without incurring any additional costs - on your behalf. However, another possible outcome on June 1 may be the imposition of new fees from American on Sabre subscribers. If that occurs, it may become necessary to charge a higher per segment fee whenever booking American.

We recognize that you depend upon us, the travel management company you trust, to provide the best comparative fare information, as well as all other airline products and services. We also recognize that it is absolutely critical that you continue to have unimpeded fare, product and service information at the best value possible.

We thank you for your business and will keep you apprised of further developments in the American Airlines/Sabre dispute and how this will impact you.

Coral Gables, FL (June 6, 2011) – As a GBTA Foundation partner, Travel Leaders is helping to provide travel managers with access to the "Fundamentals of Business Travel Management" education sessions throughout the year.  This program is intended to teach the primary components of managed travel and how a well designed program can become a strategic corporate asset. Each workshop instructs participants to maximize cost containment, improve efficiency and create a managed travel culture within a company.

The Travel Leaders' own corporate sales and account management team recently completed this course in Denver.  Will Tate, Vice President of Management Alternatives, Inc., facilitated the training class, and shared relevant and up-to-date best practices for understanding the procurement-based Travel Management Model, sourcing options, and RFP strategies. 

"Our team not only walked away from this training with the CTE designation, but also with actionable takeaways that we implemented immediately into our winning sales and account retention strategies," stated John Brehm, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing,  "GBTA has invested significant resources into adding another valuable training tool for GBTA members."

During GBTA's Convention in Denver this August, Travel Leaders will sponsor the Fundamental course, facilitated by Peter Pearson, Manager, TravelSmart, Global Business Services/Creative Business Solutions, and The Coca-Cola Company. Peter will instruct on the basics of travel management over a two-day pre-convention class. Don't pass up this professional opportunity offered prior to the official start of Convention.

For more information on Pre-Convention Education sessions please click here.

To learn more about the GBTA Foundation and its partnership initiative please click here.

Coral Gables, FL (August 1, 2011) – Travel Weekly places Travel Leaders Group in the top 10 of its Power List 2011 of America's travel sellers. Travel Weekly is billed as "the national newspaper of the travel industry." The rankings are based on participating companies wholly-owned annual sales volume reported for 2010 and specifically do not include franchised operations. Travel Leaders Group's wholly-owned operations reported annual sales volume over $1.545 billion for 2010; when franchised and affiliate sales are included, that number increases dramatically to over $16 billion for last year.

Coral Gables, FL (July 29, 2011) – Business Travel News again ranks Travel Leaders Group first among American travel management companies in its Business Travel Survey 2011, an annual compendium. Business Travel News is considered "the voice of authority for corporate travel buyers throughout North America for over 20 years." The rankings are based on the reported volume of airline transactions for 2010 verified by the Airlines Reporting Corporation (ARC), which is the premier financial transaction processing and settlement corporation that facilitates the distribution of travel products and related information.

Coral Gables, FL (Aug 8, 2011) – The United States House of Representatives and The U.S Senate have passed the legislation to reinstate the collection of aviation excise taxes.

The IRS intends to provide relief for passengers and airlines with respect to ticket taxes that were not paid or collected because of the lapse. Passengers who purchased tickets prior to July 23rd and traveled between July 23rd and the date of enactment of the legislation are NOT entitled to a refund of the airline ticket excise tax.

For additional information please refer to: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=242812,00.html

For tickets sold beginning 00:01 Aug 8th, 2011 the following taxes will again apply:

• The 7.5% tax generally applicable to domestic transportation (as well the 7.5% tax on amounts received from the sale of "frequent flyer miles".)
• The $3.70 domestic segment tax.
• The $16.30 international arrival/departure tax.
• The $8.20 departure tax for flights between Alaska/Hawaii and the mainland US.

Reinstatement of their application is based on the date at the location where the ticket is issued.

Denver, CO (August 18, 2011) – Today, Travel Leaders Corporate – consistently named as one of America's top travel management companies – announced that over 750 Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) 2011 Convention registrants have accepted the invitation to join them for their renowned "Chill Party" scheduled for Sunday evening at the Magnolia Hotel in Denver. Travel Leaders Corporate's Chill Party Voodoo Circus begins at 9:01 p.m. on August 21. GBTA's coolest event is co-sponsored by AirPlus, Amadeus, Avis Budget Group, Coastal Car Worldwide, Cornerstone, Magnolia Hotels and nuTravel.

"Thanks to the enormous success of Travel Leaders Corporate's 'Chill Party' last year, our 'Voodoo Circus' has easily become this year's most anticipated must-attend event during GBTA," noted David Holyoke, President of Travel Leaders Corporate. "That's because corporate travel buyers and suppliers alike know that they'll enjoy their best opportunity to chill while in Denver. In fact, we're taking the coolest party to hit the Mile High City's streets by closing off 17th Street between Champa and Stout, giving our guests yet another 'Departure from the Ordinary.'"

Travel Leaders Corporate's Chill Party Voodoo Circus promises everything from trapeze artists to vodka snow cones, all amidst the fresh Denver air. A spectacular evening of unexpected entertainment and bewitching delights awaits Travel Leaders Corporate's guests. A grown-up circus under an extraordinary big top will showcase Travel Leaders' Departure from the Ordinary approach to travel management.

Denver news media wishing to attend should contact Michelle Dolge at 303.718.9451 or via mdolge@travelleaders.com. Please note that the Chill Party is scheduled to conclude at 1:00 a.m.

To learn more about Travel Leaders Corporate, visit www.travelleaderscorp.com or call 800-721-0807. At Travel Leaders Corporate, your next trip will be a "DEPARTURE FROM THE ORDINARY."

PLYMOUTH, Minn. (Aug. 30, 2011) - Today, Travel Leaders revealed the results from its yearly Fall Travel Trends Survey. Despite the extreme volatility in the United States' economy in the month of August – the same timeframe as the survey took place – travel agents from across the country indicate that bookings are slightly higher for this fall than they were for the fall of 2010. Conducted August 1-19, 2011, this survey includes responses from 443 Travel Leaders owners, managers and frontline travel agents throughout the United States.

While Las Vegas, Orlando and Honolulu, respectively, are the top three destinations being booked for the remainder of the year – the top recommendation from Travel Leaders agents would be Maui (followed by Orlando and Honolulu). Internationally, London makes an impressive jump into the top three, sneaking past Rome and placing just behind Caribbean cruising and Cancun, Mexico. The top recommendation from Travel Leaders agents would be the Riviera Maya in Mexico (followed by Rome and Cancun).

"For the ninth year in a row, we have sought actual booking data and insider expertise from our Travel Leaders agents nationwide in order to gauge trends for end-of-the-year travel," stated Roger E. Block, President of Travel Leaders Franchise Group. "We are encouraged that Americans – whether for business or leisure – are continuing to travel, and more frequently than a year ago despite the uncertainty we've seen recently in our country's economic indicators."

For the full release please go to http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Travel-Leaders-Reveals-Fall-prnews-3320609792.html

Minneapolis, MN (December 20, 2011) – Today, Travel Leaders unveiled the 2012 results of their authoritative annual Travel Trends Survey. With 11 of the top 20 international destinations in Europe, Asia and Australia – up from just 9 last year – it is clear that Americans are ready to travel farther from home than in recent years. Travelers are also willing to spend what is necessary for their desired vacation – over 91% of Travel Leaders surveyed say clients will spend the same or more on travel in 2012 as compared to last year. Conducted November 21 - December 16, 2011, and based on actual booking data, the 2012 Travel Trends Survey includes responses from 640 Travel Leaders owners, managers and frontline travel experts throughout the United States.

Click to view full press release