Classic Vacations is a luxury-centered tour operator that,
through the 47 years of its existence, has only sold through travel advisors. TBO
is a publicly traded, India-based distribution platform that connects advisors
with luxury suppliers and experiences globally.
Now TBO has purchased Classic Vacations, and the leaders of
both companies told TravelPulse that they share one overriding mission: to help
travel advisors be more successful.
With the acquisition, they said, advisors will, as Classic
CEO Melissa Krueger said in an email to travel sellers, “benefit from the added
supply, speed to market, and new tools made possible through this partnership.”
With the scale and technology of TBO behind her company, she said, “we can
accelerate what we bring to you — world-class platforms, a broader global
footprint, and the insider advantages that have always defined Classic.”
Gaurav Bhatnagar, TBO’s co-founder and joint managing director,
said, “There is a certain kind of travel that is best booked by a travel
advisor – and that includes luxury outbound travel. Our goal is to aggregate
all of that segment on one platform and make it incredibly easy for suppliers
to connect with advisors. That is what we have been doing.”
Although it is based in India, said Bhatnagar, only 10% of
TBO’s business is from that country. It works with advisors on five continents
and is bookable in 16 languages, backed up with local support in many languages
all over the world. “What differentiates us,” said Bhatnagar, “is that we are
truly doing this at a global scale.”
TBO, said Bhatnagar, offers two payment models for advisors:
a commissionable model and a net rate model. If there are ever any issues, he
said, “we will absolutely provide support.” TBO itself, said Bhatnagar, makes
money on every transaction conducted on its platform,
This is not TBO’s first supplier acquisition. It has made
four others in the past in an effort to tap into advisor markets elsewhere in
the world. “The mission is clear,” said Bhatnagar. "We want to work with
all the travel advisors in the world, and market entry is hard. Classic Vacations
is a well-known brand and provides us access to thousands of high-level advisors.”
“We won’t touch Classic’s great business,” said Bhatnagar.
“They have a great leadership team, and we will use our technology for the
benefit of advisors by bringing in global supply. There will be changes behind
the scenes and at some point customer-facing technology will be introduced to
advisors. We hope that when advisors get access to our suppliers and technology,
they continue to work with the people and the company they love.”
Asked about further acquisitions, Bhatnagar said, “this is a
big investment for us, and we want to make sure it goes well. We want to go
slow and do it right.”
Looking at the market for luxury travel, Bhatnagar said that
"while these are uncertain times, our focus is on luxury travel, which is
more immune to disruption. These customers will continue to travel.”
“My promise to advisors,” said Bhatnagar, “is that the
business will continue as it has in the past. The people you have been used to
working with will be there. However, advisors will see more destinations, more
commission opportunities, better technologies. The mission we started with is
to empower travel advisors with technology and we have been focused on that for
20 years. That’s what is close to our hearts. Advisors are a resilient ecosystem
and are becoming more so. With customers doing ever more complex travel, advisors
will only become more important.”
Krueger told TravelPulse that it became clear to her two
years ago that her role was building a legacy for Classic. While some things
should never change, she said, “you constantly have to be looking at the
evolution of the marketplace and the customers the company serves.” With the acquisition,
she said, "You get culture plus technology." She explained that Classic
“has always been about empowering advisors and giving them tools.” It has
always been, she said, “about great relationships with great reservation agents
and that holds true.”
“We always lean into customer-driven strategy and
innovation,” said Krueger, “asking what needs to happen next.” That is the
reason, she said, that Classic has expanded its geographical reach over the
years, but always with luxury hotels and experiences. Advisors, she said, see Classic
as an extension of their own sales teams.
This is not the first time ownership of Classic has changed,
said Krueger, including at one point, Expedia. “We’ve had big corporate governance
in the past. It is critical to supporting what we want to do. We want Classic
to be a global brand and this allows us that global brand piece.”
Looking at the footprint of where luxury customers are and
the expansion of global wealth, said Krueger, Classic should be able to service
advisors affiliated with networks like Signature, Virtuoso and Internova in
other countries. “What we’re doing,” she said, “is taking our supplier partners
with us and enabling their global expansion as well.”
Krueger said that immediately after the announcement of the
sale, her first calls were to leaders of international travel advisor networks
to make sure they heard from her first.
One of her messages to them was: “I am about to partner with
people who have levels of technology genius that that I don’t see any
competition for within our space.”
Classic, said Krueger, has an incredible product team and
wants to go deeper into the markets it serves. It continues to expand in Europe
and is launching in Australia and New Zealand. Advisors, she said, would also like
more product domestically and in Latin America. The company, said Krueger,
can’t just flip a switch as it moves into these destinations because it wants
to work with the best partners wherever it goes.
Looking ahead, said Krueger, day to day, Advisors will see
no disruption. TBO, she said, “did not spend $125 million for a company just to
say, ‘let’s change it.’ Advisors will keep working with the representatives
they know and trust and use the same booking channels.”
“Luxury is a human business,” said Krueger, “and we will now
accelerate automation and convenience without sacrificing relationship equity.”
Over time, she said, advisors will notice access to more products – not for the
sake of more, but because of customer demand. That includes more hotels, more air
and more cruises. And, she said, rail is a big reason Europe sales are so
strong.
Classic Vacations CEO Melissa Krueger. (Photo Credit: Melissa Krueger)
Even before the sale to TBO, said Krueger, Classic had made significant
advances in technology. As a result, the reservations desk has been doing 91% better
in 2025 than the year before. With TBO’s technology, she said, booking platforms
will be “faster, smarter and more intuitive.” The company, she said, will use AI,
"but it has to do with personalization to create tailored experiences and
to keep employee enterprise front and center.”
Currently, 82% of advisors use Classic’s booking engine, but
most call the res center eventually. A better booking engine, she said, simply
means calling fewer times. Last year, said Krueger, the Classic advisor booking
base grew by 10%, an additional 1000 advisors, because of efficiency and the fact
that the last few years have been the best in the company’s history.
With a global platform, said Krueger, advisors will
experience reduced friction in booking and faster sales closings. She mentioned
that TBO has an excellent online educational platform, and Classic will explore
how to maximize its use.
“Executing for the client is our number one goal,” said
Krueger, “and we want to make that perfect for the client.” She said that in
her 13 years with Classic, she has never been asked to follow up on a
commission. With the FIT bookings that are Classic’s core product, she said,
commission is paid the day the client departs.
Krueger said Classic did a survey recently, and it showed
advisors saying four things about the company: Classic does the right thing for
clients; we trust their 24/7 support; my res agent is a game changer and makes
me look like a hero; and Classic makes me feel like I matter, and that is rare.
Supplier partners, said Krueger, “are thrilled about this."
She noted that Classic generates higher rates and on-property spending, and its
ability to deliver these benefits in new markets presents a significant
opportunity for suppliers.
Krueger’s message to
advisors is: “We are advisor first and advisor only which is exactly how TBO operates.
Neither of us has a consumer model. That made the alignment a natural.” She
added, “I will continue as CEO with my leadership team’s support and
enthusiasm. Advisors will continue to book the same way they do today.”
In her email to advisors, Krueger wrote: “Most importantly,
nothing changes about our commitment to you. Our people, our values, and our
promise of partnership remain at the heart of everything we do. This next
chapter only strengthens the ways we can support you, grow together, and
deliver extraordinary travel experiences for your clients.”
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