- The acquisition of a majority stake in Hotelplan Group by Kuoni Dertour Group is in the final stages, as the agreement with Swiss parent company Migros has been completed and is subject to approval by the relevant competition authorities.
Dertour is taking over the entire Hotelplan Group in Germany, Switzerland, and the UK from Migros. This excludes the Interhome holiday home division with the brands Interhome and Interchalet, which will go to Berlin-based specialist Hometogo.
The Hotelplan Group includes Switzerland’s largest travel company, Hotelplan Suisse, and Hotelplan UK, which owns the specialist companies Inghams and Explore, Ski Esprit, Santa’s Lapland, and Inntravel.
Hotelplan was put up for sale by Migros in February 2024, as part of a restructuring of its operations, with the aim of refocusing on its core activities in Switzerland, where it is a major retail and financial services cooperative.
It is recalled that Dertour has been present in Switzerland for 10 years, when it acquired Kuoni, then a major tour operator in Switzerland, which has since operated as Kuoni Der Touristik.
Satisfaction with the Dertour – Hotelplan agreement
Ingo Burmester, CEO of Central Europe and member of the executive board of the Dertour Group, said: “We are pleased to take over the Hotelplan Group with its strong portfolio of travel brands and to lead it to further growth in our tourism network, with clear advantages for employees, guests and partners.
“As the tourism subsidiary of the German retail giant Rewe, we are an attractive employer and already share common values ??with the Hotelplan Group. These include: excellent customer experience, personalized advice, and sustainability.”
Michel Gruber, Chairman of the Board of Management of the Hotelplan Group and Head of Retail at Migros, added: “We are delighted to have found an extremely prestigious new owner, Dertour. Dertour is ideally positioned to continue the successful development of the Hotelplan Group’s brands.”
Laura Meyer, CEO of the Hotelplan Group, said: “We are looking forward to this new chapter with the Dertour Group as the new owner of our tourism retail and tour business in Switzerland, Germany and the UK. Dertour Group shares our passion for travel and brings exciting opportunities to the company and our customers – and values ??our dedicated and talented teams.”
Dertour UK has around 650 employees and nearly 30 retail stores under the Kuoni brand and has recently grown through the acquisition of Solmar Villas. In addition to Kuoni, other specialist brands in the Dertour UK group include Carrier, CV Villas, Journey Latin America, Jules Verne, and Kirker.
The acquisition price was not disclosed.
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