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Stewart Travel parent buys luxury villa specialist
Stewart Travel parent Brooklyn Travel Holdings has bought luxury villa specialist Villa Select from ITC for an undisclosed price.
The villa company, which has bases in Warwickshire and Majorca, has a portfolio of about 365 high-end properties throughout Europe, the US, the Caribbean and southeast Asia.
It is the second major purchase by Glasgow-based Brooklyn Travel, which was set up last year at the time of the management buy-out of Stewart Travel from Minoan and the simultaneous purchase of Canterbury Travel.
CEO Duncan Wilson, left, said: "We are delighted to welcome all Villa Select colleagues and customers to the Brooklyn Travel family.
"Whilst it is true that we are in expansion mode, we are only interested in organisations that share our culture of quality product and service at value for money prices. ITC are a fabulous company and I have known their CEO for a long time.
"We agreed Villa Select as a brand is more suited to our portfolio than theirs. Our strategic path is one of building a portfolio of specialist brands which are performing well in their own right and may be assisted by our bulk buying power and our retail estate."
Wilson said the company has ‘very ambitious’ plans to grow and develop Villa Select in a ‘very short period of time’. All eight staff in the UK and 11 overseas will remain with the company, which said it expects to recruit more staff within the next month.
ITC chairman Jen Atkinson said: "I am delighted that Villa Select has gone to the best possible home in Brooklyn Travel. We know the business and the team will continue to excel under the guidance and support of Brooklyn and wish the staff the very best of success in the future."
All Villa Select customers who are currently protected by ITC ABTA or ATOLs will now be covered by Canterbury Travel licences.
Villa Select was formed in 1983 and offers hand-picked villas from traditional rustic holiday homes to high-tech, contemporary, luxury villas.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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