TravelPerk is expanding into the U.S. with the acquisition of Chicago-based AmTrav, another business travel platform.
“Both platforms will leverage their proprietary technology, AI capabilities and expanded resources to further expand in the United States, a market that according to GBTA will reach $329 billion in business travel spending in 2023,” Spain-based Travel Park said in a news release on Tuesday (June 18).
“The acquisition will enable Travel Park to achieve 65% year-over-year growth in the US market in 2023, doubling its US revenue,” the company added. “Travel Park's US-based employee base and footprint will expand with offices in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami. AmTrav will operate under the same brand and the entire team will continue in the business.”
The company also announced it had raised a new credit facility of up to $135 million, led by alternative asset managers Blackstone Credit & Insurance and Blue Owl Credit.
This follows a $104 million investment led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 that Travel Park announced in January.
The acquisition comes at a time when business travel is recovering in both the small and medium-sized business (SMB) and corporate sectors.
A Reuters article earlier this month examined industry discussions at New York University's International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, in which hotel CEOs said larger companies were prioritizing domestic business travel over international business travel, while smaller companies were increasing repeat business by holding meetings more frequently and closer to home.
CEOs also said trade groups are booking events as much as seven years in advance to secure the dates and locations they want, and are paying higher fees than they did before the pandemic.
Meanwhile, American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) reported last month that business travel from its multinational corporate clients around the world increased in the first quarter, outpacing travel growth from small and medium-sized businesses for the first time since the pandemic began.
“As a global multinational company, we saw very strong same-store sales growth across multiple segments, particularly in technology, which grew approximately 30 percent in the first quarter,” Amex GBT CEO Paul Abbott said during the company's quarterly earnings call. “We also saw double-digit growth in professional services, pharmaceuticals and mining, energy and utilities.”
American Airlines also reported a steady increase in business travel in April, which is consistent with a resurgence in the leisure travel sector over the past three years. The airline posted its highest-ever first-quarter revenue in April and has seen strong growth in business travel, especially among small businesses.
