London-based B2B platform JacTravel operates two brands – JacTravel and totalstay.com – both of which will become part of the B2B WebBeds division alongside Sunhotels, Lots of Hotels and FIT Ruums in WebBeds.
The acquisition is due to complete at the end of the month, when JacTravel’s chief executive, Terry Williamson – who has been at the firm since 2009 – will leave the company.
Deputy chief executive Peter Clements will assume Williamson’s position, having joined the company after its acquisition of the TotalStay Group in 2015 – a firm he founded 16 years earlier.
Williamson told TTG: “The aim is for the combined turnover of the businesses to double over the next three years.
“There is no intention to integrate [the businesses] as such – they will all have their own direction. That’s not to say that could not happen in the future.
“The overall aim [for Webjet and JacTravel] is to grow and expand to become the significant number two in the market place.”
The bed bank space has been hotly contended with Hotelbeds Group acquiring GTA in March.
Williamson said: “The [JacTravel] team has grown from 130 people to more than 550. A business which had £72 million turnover has grown to over £400 million, and now distributes in 92 countries, which could never have been achieved without the energy, passion, spirit and customer service ethos that is special to JacTravel. I have every confidence that the company under Webjet’s ownership and Peter’s leadership will continue to prosper.”
Williamson, who led the sale of JacTravel to its owners, Vitruvian Partners, plans to retire from full-time executive roles and seek non-executive director and chairman positions inside and outside the industry.
