NEWS — HOT STORIES 4
Over-50s specialist Saga acquires majority stake in luxury tour operator Destinology Juliet Dennis
Over-50s specialist Saga has bought online luxury tour operator Destinology for an undisclosed sum. Destinology founder Dominic Speakman
will remain as president and is retaining a shareholding in the business, which employs more than 100 staff. Over-50s holidays, health care and financial services group Saga, which also owns Titan Travel, has acquired the majority shareholding. Mergers and acquisitions firm Livingstone Partners, whose recent clients include JacTravel,
Iglu.com, The Leisure Pass Group and TravelJigsaw, advised Destinology on the deal. Speakman said: “Livingstone carried
out a targeted and robust process that attracted interest from worldwide potential strategic acquirers and private equity [investors]. “We felt that Saga presented the most compelling opportunity to take the business to the next level and a very good result for the management team and shareholders.” James Lever, partner at Livingstone, said the sale
HOT SHOTS: REASONS FOR READING THIS WEEK
1 2 3
Win TWO ECONOMY TICKETS TO BANGKOK with Thai Airways, page 11
Win a CARIBBEAN HOLIDAY with Celebrity Cruises, page 14
Win CINEMA TICKETS with VisitEngland, page 30
5
of Destinology had attracted “enormous interest”. “Its management team has created an innovative and highly successful digital platform and they will form a formidable combination with Saga Travel.” Destinology was set up in 2004 in Bolton and
“Destinology and Saga will form a formidable combination”
offers bespoke holidays to five-star hotels and
resorts in destinations including the Maldives, Dubai, Caribbean, Asia, the US and Europe. In May last year it recruited Diane Court, who previously worked for Virgin Holidays and Gold Medal, to start working with the trade and opened its first high street store in Wilmslow, Cheshire. Its website attracts more than
responsible travel edition
Dominic Speakman, Destinology founder
OTAs start to promote Travelife properties Ian Taylor
responsible travel edition
Stober said the OTAs’ involvement “would
Abta’s Travelife scheme is poised to break into the online travel agency (OTA) market. The sustainability-certification scheme for hotels has grown beyond the UK to Germany, France and Scandinavia but has yet to be recognised by leading OTAs. However, Expedia is poised to
display Travelife hotels in its Green Hotels Programme – following a site redesign – and Dutch-based, not-for- profit booking site
Bookdifferent.com will start displaying Travelife hotels within days. The Bookdifferent site is powered by online giant
Booking.com. Travel Weekly understands a third OTA is in talks
with Travelife, whose business manager Soren Stober said: “We’re in talks with more than one big OTA.”
6 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 14 August 2014
represent a step-change”. Leading operators have previously complained
at the failure of OTAs to promote Travelife, which arranges independent audits of hotels based on environmental and social criteria. Tui Travel sustainable development director Jane Ashton said in October: “It’s no secret when a hotel has a Travelife award. OTAs should be identifying them.” Stober said: “One challenge is that
the OTAs are looking for volume.” Another is the sheer number of
sustainability schemes around the world. Ashton acknowledged: “Travelife is one of
140 assessment processes.” But she said: “There was a rigorous process to
develop Travelife and it reflects criteria developed by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).” ❯ Tui Travel sets example, page 12
five million visitors a year and it has more than one million followers on Google+ and more than two million YouTube views each year. In April this year Saga confirmed plans to go ahead with an initial public offering of £550 million to reduce net debt to about £700 million.
MORE HOT STORIES
n
n
e
e
r
r
e
e
r
r
s
s
i i
p p t
t
o o
s s
b
b
l
l
e
e
t
t
n
n
a
a
v v
e e
l l
d d
i i
i
i
o
o
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60