For Immediate Release - Earlier this week, Travel Weekly magazine, which is widely viewed as the travel industry’s most influential news resource, issued its highly anticipated annual Power List of the largest U.S.-based travel companies with annual sales volumes of $100 million or more. New York City-based Ovation Travel Group, one of the largest independently owned travel management companies headquartered in the U.S., earned its place at #16 – a leap of four positions from the previous year. According to Travel Weekly, Ovation enjoyed annual sales of $1.4 billion in 2018 with sales derived from corporate travel, luxury leisure travel and meetings and incentive travel.
“Ovation’s advanced placement on the 2019 Travel Weekly Power List is a major testament to our incredible team’s dedication and passion toward providing our corporate and leisure clients with exceptional care and counsel each and every day,” explained Paul Metselaar, chairman and CEO of Ovation Travel Group. “The unparalleled expertise offered by our travel consultants, independent advisors and employees has contributed to our dramatic growth and enabled us to be recognized among the very top travel companies in the United States.”
According to Travel Weekly, “To qualify for the Power List, a company had to have a minimum of $100 million in travel sales in 2018. For purposes of this survey, sales are defined as gross sales of travel products worldwide, whether to consumers or to corporate travelers; the company must be the merchant of record on the transaction from a supplier’s perspective. At least 15% of the sales volume must have been generated in the U.S.”
In the 2019 Power List, Travel Weekly took note of some of Ovation’s 2018 developments, including:
- Ovation enjoying “a record year for new sales growth, representing nearly $120 million in new client travel spend.”
- Ovation acquiring Chartwell Travel in London, which is the company’s first wholly-owned location outside the U.S. “Chartwell serves as Ovation’s base for luxury leisure and corporate independent travel advisors in the U.K.”
- Ovation hiring Gina Gabbard as SVP of leisure and independent advisors
- Ovation servicing “more than 553,000 phone calls during regular hours with a 19-second average answer time.”
