ALTOUR Acquires Advantage Travel & Incentives

ALTOUR continued its growth with its acquisition of Advantage Travel & Incentives, Inc., which does business as Advantage Performance Network (APN) and Advantage Travel Management (ATM). APN is located in Savage, MN, and was established in 1995 by Mary Sue Leathers.

A strategic acquisition for ALTOUR, APN provides a range of travel and marketing services to corporate and leisure clients. On the travel side, APN plans and operates conferences, meetings and events for a variety of organizations. The agency’s corporate travel business assists clients in managing their day-to-day travel activity while achieving policy compliance and minimizing costs.

On the leisure side, APN serves both corporate clients and retail customers. The agency’s marketing business is highlighted by a web-based performance improvement platform. Clients apply the technology to foster efficiency within employee, channel and consumer populations.

The company is led by Mary Sue Leathers, president and CEO. Leathers has received extensive recognition throughout her career, including being named the 2007 Woman Business Owner of the Year by the Minnesota Chapter of the National Association of Woman Business Owners (NAWBO).

Chris Lund leads the APN sales and marketing efforts for meetings and incentive travel. Colleen Hagg oversees the company’s corporate and leisure travel management and business partnerships. The team works closely together to manage the day-to-day operations and is responsible for the company’s strategic direction.

APN will be integrating with ALTOUR’s Travel Authority operations and together will provide a sales volume exceeding $900 million.

With a travel volume of over $900 million, ALTOUR is among the largest agencies serving the luxury and mid-market travel niches today. It has 75 offices and more than 1,000 travel professionals throughout the United States and in Europe.

Complementing its core travel management business, ALTOUR has developed a family of companies including Altour Limousine, ALTOUR Air, ALTOUR Travel Master, ALTOUR Incentive Management, and ALTOUR Management Technology.

In 2009, ALTOUR signed a joint program with American Express Travel. The agreement is designed to strengthen and expand services for American Express U.S. Representative Travel Network and ALTOUR’s travelers around the globe. ALTOUR also acquired 12 American Express travel service offices geographically spread throughout the U.S.

ALTOUR also acquired The Travel Authority, based in Louisville, KY, which offers a full array of services including corporate travel management, online travel, vacation travel stores, meetings and incentives and professional and collegiate sports fan travel.

Visit www.ALTOUR.com.