Travelocity sells off its corporate travel unit, focusing on consumer brand

Atlanta-based BCD Travel, one of the largest corporate travel agencies, acquired Travelocity’s business travel arm, Travelocity Business for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition gives BCD Travel some additional digital acumen, and clients of Travelocity Business now get access to corporate travel services on a more global scale.

At the same time, but in a separate action, Travelocity agreed to sell London-based Holiday Autos, which has more than 5,000 car rental locations, to Dublin-based CarTrawler. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We’re a growth-oriented company and see this move as a smart, strategic acquisition,” said Mike Janssen, president of BCD Travel’s Americas region. “We see a fantastic cultural fit with TBiz. Their success comes from focusing on customer needs, enabling travelers and offering great solutions—in other words, they share our priorities and goals.

Launched in 2003, Travelocity Business was one of the top 10 travel management companies in North America, the companies said.

The acquisition does not impact Travelocity.com, which is a leisure travel business for consumers.

Sam Gilliland, the CEO of Travelocity Business’ parent company, Sabre, in the past has stated that the privately held company at some point would be looking to execute an initial public offering.

Travelocity and Travelocity Business don’t appear to be core to Sabre’s global distribution system and airline IT businesses so perhaps the sale of Travelocity Business is some kind of precursor to an eventual IPO. Holiday Autos also was considered ripe to offload.