2024 sales: $228 million
Previous ranking: 54
Employees: 225 full-time, 34 part-time
St. James Building, Ninth Floor
79 Oxford St.
Manchester, U.K. M1 6FQ
Phone: (44) 161-819-8900
Website Executives
CEO: Saad Hammad
GROUP FINANCE DIRECTOR: Simon Conoley
GROUP IT DIRECTOR: Dan Morris
GLOBAL OPERATIONS DIRECTOR: Rachel Baxendale
GLOBAL PRODUCT MANAGER: Bruce Teatheredge
MANAGING DIRECTOR, NORTH AMERICA: Mike Schields
DIRECTOR, COMMERCIAL U.K.: Paul Green
DIRECTOR, ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT, EU/AFRICA: Sabrina Pabois
COMPANY FACTS
* Privately held.
* Elysian Capital Partners is the largest shareholder.
* Business-to-business, direct sales of travel products to the not-for-profit sector.
* Sales: 100% business.
* A member of Lufthansa City Center network, Advantage, Tourcom and Avitour.
DEVELOPMENTS
* Delivered year-on-year, top-line growth in what the company calls "a difficult trading environment." The value of new customer wins exceeded the value of losses by a ratio of more than 3-to-1.
* Launched webchat with screen sharing on its online booking tool.
* Upgraded and redesigned its online booking tool's search functionality.
* Delivered efficiencies through automation and AI.
* Drove NDC implementation with major airlines.
* Secured student fares with various airline partners.
* Launched an incentive designed to reward customers when booking group travel.
* Improved its onboarding processes, launched an in-house customer service training program and established an HR dashboard.
* Improved its independently assessed environmental, social and governance rating.
LOOKING AHEAD
* Theme for 2025 is "accelerate."
* Enhancing platforms; in the third phase of a $3 million IT investment program.
* Improving finance, HR and marketing partnering impacts.
* Outlook for the rest of 2025 is mixed. There is still significant pent-up demand among its academic, faith-based and NGO customer base, but other trends must be taken into account: cost concerns, sustainability and travel complexity and risk.
* Travelers and organizations are being more careful about how much they spend, especially given inflationary pressures, geopolitical volatility and funding challenges from cutbacks in overseas aid.
* ESG considerations are playing an increasing role in decisions, with travelers and organizations looking for providers and destinations that are committed to sustainability. Some organizations have announced a desire to reduce annual travel to limit environmental degradation.
* Travel is becoming increasingly complex because of magnified macro-political risks across the world and increased levels of disruption from strikes, natural disasters and extreme weather events. This places a premium on travel risk management and 24/7 support for customers when plans are disrupted.
* Airline content and distribution model adjustments are likely to continue, assisted by NDC fares, creating continued challenges for intermediaries.