Raleigh, N.C.-based travel agency Maupin Travel has merged with midsize corporate travel agency Hess Corporate Travel, the companies announced Friday. Financial terms were undisclosed; both companies are privately held.
Both companies are branches are Tzell Travel Group. A Hess spokesperson in an email to BTN called the move “two Tzell branches who have known one another for a long time merging operations and management teams.”
Hess CEO Alan Hess will retire after an initial term as an advisor, according to the company. All other Hess employees will join Maupin, including COO Mike Davidson, who Alan Hess in a statement said would be part of the Maupin “senior leadership.”
Bountiful, Utah-based Hess in 2019 had $119.5 million in sales, 95 percent of which was generated by business travel, according to Travel Weekly. Hess last year acquired Salt Lake City-based Wycoff Travel, a smaller, predominately corporate agency, for an undisclosed sum.
Maupin, founded in 1979 by Tony Maupin, in a statement said it focuses on “personalized, complex travel for corporate, university and vacation customers.” Tony Maupin in 2014 sold the business to current owners Trevor and Jordan Smith.
“Maupin and Hess share a similar focus on high-touch customer service, an approach that is needed now more than ever,” Trevor Smith, who also is Maupin’s president, said in a statement. “When our business came to a halt in March 2020, the forecast was pretty bleak. Now with our combined 45-person team, leadership experience, nationwide presence and excellent technology platforms, we have never been stronger.”
Alan Hess noted that “over time, we have been approached by a number of excellent travel management companies,” but that the “opportunity to merge the Hess team with the Maupin team is truly a match made in heaven.”
Alan and Carol Hess founded Hess Corporate Travel in 1985.
