English Corner

The Hotelplan Group has been up for sale for eight months. Picture: TN

Hotelplan sale: a long test of patience

Gregor Waser

Eight months after the sale was announced, Migros is still looking for a buyer for the Hotelplan Group. The long wait continues for employees and Hotelplan agents.

Eight months have already passed: On 2 February 2024, Migros announced its intention to sell its travel subsidiary, Hotelplan Group. From an external perspective, it seems as though no progress has been made.

Behind closed doors, sales efforts, discussions, and negotiations are undoubtedly underway with intensity. Migros CEO Mario Irminger aims to complete the sale of the entire Hotelplan Group to a buyer by the end of the year. But is this timetable still realistic?

The longer the search for new ownership drags on, the greater the likelihood that the Hotelplan Group may ultimately be divided, with individual business units—Hotelplan Suisse, Volume Touroperating, Hotelplan UK, Interhome, and Business Travel—sold separately.

Difficult time

The current state of the travel industry, coupled with global uncertainties, does not favor the immediate acquisition of an entire travel group. The recent FTI bankruptcy has made external investors wary, while private equity firms are reportedly more focused on divesting holdings than acquiring new ones, according to financial sources.

As for major players like TUI and Dertour, they are likely to consider involvement only if the company is broken into smaller segments. A complete takeover is difficult under due to competition law and may not be practical, except in specific cases, such as acquiring certain branch locations. Although TUI, Dertour, Coral Travel, and Aerticket have already absorbed parts of the FTI Group, such as its clientele, workforce, or Drive FTI car rental division, these acquisitions increase interest but do not necessarily motivate them to pursue additional ventures.

Furthermore, the fully escalated Middle East conflict – the Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon, the Iranian counter-attack on Israel and the expected Israeli response – has led all potential buyers, whether established travel companies or especially investors from outside the industry, to adopt a wait-and-see, cautious approach. Our forecast: after a year of fruitless attempts to find buyers for the entire group, the sale of individual business units is likely to begin in the new year. After all, Migros' top management is not squeamish about getting rid of subsidiaries, as this week's closure of the dentistry company Bestsmile makes clear.

The long wait for staff and Hotelplan agents

While the question marks over the future of the company remain at Sägereistrasse 20 in Glattbrugg, Hotelplan Group is on track this year, according to company spokeswoman Muriel Wolf Landau (see box), and the employees are not being distracted by the uncertainty. Although the summer holiday business could have been better, the high number of bookings in autumn and strong demand from Travelhouse specialists point to a solid annual result.

There is no increased fluctuation among staff; however, ten advertised vacancies are the order of the day. But the recent move of Asia Product Manager André Seiler to TravelClub can also be seen as a sign that some Hotelplan employees have run out of patience with regard to how things will continue in the future

Hotelplan agents, i.e. — those independent travel agencies that traditionally rely on the Hotelplan card, — must also remain patient. Every autumn, especially for offices with an annual turnover of less than five million Swiss francs, face the question of which leading tour operator to choose for the upcoming season. A possible shift in turnover away from Hotelplan is a distinct possibility for some agents due to the uncertainty caused by the current state of limbo. In this respect, a quick sale and clarity about the future would be highly desirable for both staff and agents.