Questex Acquires Five Star Alliance
Newton, MA - Questex Media Group, Inc., a global, diversified business-to-business media company and publisher of Premier Hotels & Resorts, Luxury Travel Advisor and Travel Agent Magazines and producer of Luxury Travel Expo and Incentive Travel Exchange, announced today it has acquired Five Star Alliance - http://www.fivestaralliance.com/ - the leading online luxury hotel booking service for the affluent traveler.
Affluent travelers are defined as individuals from households earning in excess of $200,000 per year equaling 2.5 million households, according to a recent YPB&R study. The same study also reports that the affluent travel market is projected to grow by 24% by 2010, creating myriad opportunities for growth in the luxury travel market.
"From our hotel investment conferences to our Premier Hotels & Resorts, Luxury Hotelier and Luxury Travel Advisor magazines and our luxury travel events and websites, Questex serves the hospitality and travel industry across its entire value chain with a strong presence in the luxury travel niche," said Questex president and CEO Kerry Gumas. "We recognize that affluent travelers frequently book with a travel agent and some are extremely active online obtaining travel information and pricing and booking reservations. Adding Five Star Alliance's impressive online booking engine to our existing media platform provides us with the means to fully serve the affluent traveler and their luxury travel advisors. It's a great growth opportunity for us to bring our suppliers closer to their end-market, the travelers."
"With more than $30M in gross luxury hotel sales annually, Five Star Alliance's track record in booking luxury speaks for itself. We are thrilled to serve this growing market more effectively with the resources available in Questex's travel portfolio," said Cal Simmons, founder of Five Star Alliance. "At the end of the day, our goal is to ensure travelers get the ideal luxury experience they seek. Our easy-to-use platform and the feedback from our community of discerning luxury travelers about what they loved, liked, and disliked about properties they've experienced is key to our product's success."
Five Star Alliance will operate as a subsidiary of Questex Media Group and continue to be led by Chairman Cal Simmons and President Jay Ashton.
In just over two years, Five Star Alliance has become the leading online booking engine dedicated to luxury hotel properties, essentially an online travel agency specializing in the world's top hotels. Properties listed on fivestaralliance.com are by invitation only and are vetted via an extensive editorial approval process.
With more than 1,300 properties including The Carlyle in New York, The Hay Adams in Washington D.C. and The Meurice in Paris to name a few, Five Star Alliance features a comprehensive collection of luxury hotels that are presented to site visitors in an easy-to-navigate environment. The site employs state-of-the-art search technology and provides its visitors with recommendations on the site and via newsletters and blogs, resulting in more than 3 to 4 million page views and 400,000 plus visitors per month.
"This move capitalizes on the strengths of each organization to better serve all facets of the luxury travel market -luxury hoteliers, travel advisors who book luxury travel, and affluent travelers themselves," said John McMahon, group publisher of Questex's Luxury Travel Group. "At Questex we have concentrated on educating luxury travel advisors on the best travel options for their clients. Now we will work closely to integrate Five Star Alliance into our travel portfolio and look at new ways to serve the luxury travel market. With this acquisition, we can offer our luxury suppliers an unmatched, integrated marketing opportunity."
SOURCE: Questex Media Group