| Type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Travel agencies |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Headquarters | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Key people | Douglas Anderson (CEO) |
| Products | Traveler and transaction services, program optimization, safety and security, meetings and events |
| Revenue | $27.8 billion USD[1] |
| Owner(s) | Carlson Companies, One Equity Partners |
| Employees | 22,000[1] |
| Website | Official website |
Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) is a large travel agency, handling both business and leisure clients.
It operates in 157 countries and territories, with 22,000 employees. According to Business Travel News Online.com, in 2007, CWT surpassed American Express Business Travel and became the world's largest business travel management company. The company has $27.8 billion in annual sales (including joint ventures) in 2008, from 55 million transactions.
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The group has existed in its present form since 1994, the result of a 50%/50% merger from two large travel agency ventures. The Carlson side was originally from the Ask Mr. Foster Travel Agency chain, which had been rebranded to Carlson Travel Network a decade earlier. The Wagonlit part came from the travel shop business of Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. After the merger, Accor maintained its 50% interest up until 2006. Accor sold its shares for in a transaction worth €500m, thereby placing a value of €1bn on CWT at the time)
The company is jointly owned by Carlson, a privately held corporation in the hotel, marketing, restaurant, and travel industries; and by One Equity Partners, a private equity affiliate of JPMorgan Chase.
In 2011, Carlson Leisure's Macy's Travel were rebranded as Carlson Wagonlit Travel; the stores were located in former Marshall Field's department stores and were known as Marshall Field's Travel before the stores were purchased by Macy's; Marshall Field's was owned by Twin Cities based Target Corporation, similar to Carlson Wagonlit Travel co-owner Carlson Companies. Macy's Travel had joined Carlson Wagonlit Travel in 2006 when TQ3Navigant was purchased by CWT. [2]
Since 2004, CWT has been contracted by the UK Border Agency to book seats on scheduled and chartered flights for immigration detainees due for deportation. In the financial year 2004-5, the contract was worth £22,895,452.[3] In April 2010, CWT won the contract again.[4] On June 3, 2010, campaigners from the Stop Deportation Network presented CWT with a 'Deportation Profiteer of the Year' award at the company's main UK offices in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire.[5]
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