QUESTEX ACQUIRES FIVE STAR ALLIANCE
NEWTON, Mass—July 25, 2007—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—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 $30 million 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 market¾luxury 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.”
About Five Star Alliance
Five Star Alliance (www.fivestaralliance.com) is a luxury hotel booking Web site, offering hotels and consumers a new approach to online travel. FiveStarAlliance.com is changing the way consumers find hotels by providing exclusive insight and advice combined with a worldwide selection. For luxury hotels, Five Star Alliance breaks through the generic online marketplace by offering greater control and new ways to showcase their unique brands.
About Questex’s Travel & Hospitality Portfolio
Questex’s Travel Group media portfolio includes Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent Magazine, Premier Hotels & Resorts, Premier Spas and Premier Romance, and Luxury Travel Expo and Incentive Travel Exchange. In addition to a strong travel industry presence, Questex also has a leading media group serving the hospitality industry including flagship Hotel & Motel Management, Hotel Design and the newly-launched Luxury Hotelier magazine, and industry-leading events including HotelWorld Expo, IHIF—the International Hotel Investment Forum, HOTEC Management, and HOTEC Design. In addition to publications, events and digital media, the Questex Travel and Hospitality groups produce a variety of custom digital and print media and events for the industry to help clients accelerate their business growth.
About Questex Media Group
Questex Media Group, Inc. is a global, diversified business-to-business integrated media and information provider, headquartered in Newton, MA. Questex serves multiple industries including technology, beauty, spa, travel, hospitality, leisure, home entertainment, industrial specialties and service industries through a range of well-established, market-leading publications, events, interactive media, research, information and integrated marketing services. The company’s media properties include 81 trade magazines and eNewsletters, 84 websites, 45 conferences trade shows and events, as well as a range of research, data and information products generating revenues of more than $125 million annually. The company's businesses are managed through operating companies including Questex Media Group and 3 subsidiaries; InfoTrends, Inc., the world's leading strategic research and advisory services provider to the document management and communications industries; McLean Events International, Ltd, a world-leading producer of appointment-based events; and Imaging Network, a leading business-to-business multimedia marketing company serving the office products channel. The company's combined operations include more than 400 employees in offices throughout North America, South America, Asia and Europe.
CONTACT: Michelle Mitchell, 216-706-3733, mmitchell@questex.com