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Apple Leisure Group (ALG) is an American travel and hospitality
conglomerate focused on packaged travel and resort/brand management in
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
, Hispanic America, Europe, and the Middle East. It is the parent corporation of resort and brand management company AMResorts. ALG also oversees fourteen subsidiaries, including tour operators Apple Vacations and Travel Impressions,
online travel agency
A travel agency is a private retailer or public service that provides travel and tourism-related services to the general public on behalf of accommodation or travel suppliers to offer different kinds of travelling packages for each destinatio ...
CheapCaribbean.com, as well as destination management company AMStar DMC. Its headquarter is in
Newtown Square, Pennsylvania
Newtown Township is a township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Prior to 1789 it was part of Chester County. The population was 12,216 as of the 2010 census, and was 19,705 as of 2017.
History
The first mention of the township was in 1684, ...
. It is a subsidiary of
Hyatt Hotels Corporation
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...
.
As of October 2019, ALG is also the largest seller of charter flights, providing transport to 3.2 million passengers annually from the United States to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and the Caribbean.
History
Apple Vacations was founded in 1969 by John Mullen and his brother-in-law, Al Atkinson, as Atkinson & Mullen Travel. Mullen later became the sole proprietor and renamed the company Apple Vacations.
In 2001, future ALG CEO Alejandro Zozaya, son-in-law of John Mullen, founded resort sales, marketing, and brand management company AMResorts. Over a decade later, he spearheaded the effort to form ALG by making tour operator Apple Vacations a sister company of AMResorts. ALG received an influx of equity in late 2012 when it sold an undisclosed stake in its business to
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
-based global private equity firm
Bain Capital
Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry se ...
. In 2013, Apple Leisure Group expanded with the acquisition of
B2B tour operator Travel Impressions from
American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
, of online leisure wholesaler CheapCaribbean.com, of destination management company Amstar DMC, and of AMResorts’ guest loyalty program, Unlimited Vacation Club.
In early 2017
Bain Capital
Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry se ...
sold its interest in Apple Leisure Group to private equity companies
KSL Capital Partners KSL Capital Partners is a Private-equity firm based in Denver, Colorado specializing in travel and leisure investments. Many of the investments have involved Colorado ski resorts.
Since its founding in 2005, the firm has raised more than $13 bill ...
and KKR for an undisclosed price. In May 2018 Apple Leisure Group merged with The Mark Travel Corporation and its associated brands Funjet Vacations and Trisept Solutions under the Apple Leisure Group name.
In November of 2018, Apple Leisure Group announced an expansion into Europe alongside Groupo Inversor Hesperia (GIHSA), taking over operations of four of GIHSA’s resorts in Spain. The following month Apple Leisure Group signed an agreement to purchase a majority share in Alua Hotels and Resorts, adding a further 12 resorts across Spain to its European portfolio. Citing increased growth in the European market, in March of 2019 Apple Leisure Group named Javier Aguilla the President of the Europe Division. Aguilla had previous worked as the Founder and COO of Alua.
In 2019, ALG expanded further, adding 9,000 rooms to their portfolio over 23 different properties. This included a five-star adults-only resort, Secrets Mallorca, in the coastal town of Paguera, bringing over 100 jobs to the region. One more Secrets location is expected on the Caribbean island of St. Martin in 2020, along with a Dreams location in Punta Cana.
Also in 2019, ALG named Alejandro Reynal as its CEO. Reynal succeeded the position from Alejandro Zozaya, who remains the leader of ALG’s board of directors. Reynal previously served as the CEO of customer relationship management conglomerate Atento.
In August 2021,
Hyatt Hotels Corporation
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...
announced that it is buying Apple Leisure Group for $2.7 billion in cash. The acquisition was completed on November 2, 2021.
Subsidiaries
The subsidiaries of ALG operate under the Apple Leisure Group Vacations umbrella. Apple Leisure Group Vacations (ALGV) is a collection of vacations brands including Apple Vacations, Travel Impressions, Cheap Caribbean, Funjet Vacations, Southwest Vacations, Blue Sky Tours, BeachBound, and United Vacations.
Travel Impressions
In 1967, Arnold Tolkin purchased a travel agency called ATS. Seven years later, Tolkin formed a group incentive and convention travel company out of ATS and named it Travel Impressions. In 1998, the Tolkin family, along with partner Ira Theodore, sold the tour operator to
American Express
American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
. In April 2013, American Express and ALG announced an agreement under which ALG would acquire Travel Impressions and American Express’ international tour operator American Express Vacations International (AEVI). In the agreement, Travel Impressions would become the exclusive marketer and operator of American Express Vacations. American Express permitted their American Express Vacations branding to be used by Travel Impressions under license for a 3 year period post sale of the business. However by 2017 the license agreement had expired and the program branding offered exclusively to American Express clients across Europe was changed to The Vacation Collection.
CheapCaribbean.com
Founded by Jim and Marta Hobbs and established in 2000, CheapCaribbean.com is an e-commerce vacation company providing beach travel to the Caribbean and Mexico. In August 2013, CheapCaribbean.com was acquired by Apple Leisure Group. The company continues to operate as a separate, wholly owned entity, with offices in Dallas, Phoenix, and Philadelphia. It was named one of
''Inc.'''s "Top 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America" in 2013.
Amstar DMC and Worldstar DMC
Amstar DMC has provided excursions in Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic since 1989. Its corporate headquarters are located in Cancún and
Punta Cana
Punta Cana is a resort town in the easternmost region of the Dominican Republic. It is part of the Veron–Punta Cana Municipalities of the Dominican Republic, municipal district, in the Salvaleón de Higüey, Higüey municipality of La Altagraci ...
. In 2008, Amstar became the first Mexican destination management company to open a representation office in
Shanghai, China
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
. Five years later, an office was opened in Hawaii through Amstar's sister company, Worldstar. In 2014, it commenced operation in Costa Rica.
References
{{Reflist
1969 establishments in Pennsylvania
Hyatt Hotels and Resorts
Companies based in Delaware County, Pennsylvania
American companies established in 1969
Transport companies established in 1969
American corporate subsidiaries
Travel and holiday companies of the United States
2021 mergers and acquisitions