Christopherson Business Travel

Christopherson Business Travel
IndustryTravel
FounderMerrill Christopherson
Lucille Christopherson
Headquarters
Salt Lake City, Utah
,
United States
Key people
Mike Cameron (owner), Camille Cameron (owner)
ProductsAirPortal, AirPortal 360, AirPortal 360 Mobile, SecurityLogic, AirBank, ValueLogic, Airtinerary, Hotel ReCheck, Virtual Pay, Hotel Attachment, Travel Approval
RevenueUS$687,000,000 (2019)
Number of employees
480 (2019)
DivisionsAndavo Travel, Andavo Meetings & Incentives, CV Humanitarian
Websitewww.cbtravel.com/

Christopherson Business Travel is a corporate Travel Management Company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah and founded in 1953.

Christopherson is the largest travel agency in Utah,[1] and the largest national travel affiliate of BCD Travel, with pre-pandemic sales US$682 million in annual sales (2018) and more than 480 employees.

As of late 2024 the company has approximately 200 employees and sales are undisclosed.

Christopherson owns and operates Andavo Travel, a network of independent vacation travel agents [2] and All Seasons Sports Travel, which specializes in fan-based travel planning and packages. They also acquired CV Travel, a travel agency focused on humanitarian and faith-based travel.

The State of Utah currently lists Christopherson as its Contracted Travel Agency.[3][4]

In the mid-2000's Christopherson Business Travel developed AirPortal, at the time a cutting-edge integrated travel technology platform that houses the company's proprietary technology, user dashboards, benchmarking and reporting tools, online booking tools, and mobile applications.

In 2012, Christopherson Business Travel developed and released AirPortal 360, a dashboard for travel managers, which grants access to Christopherson's collection of corporate travel management software. The technology was designed to assist in the reduction of corporate travel spend, facilitate duty of care responsibilities, keep track of unused tickets, access traveler profiles, and ensure policy compliance. In conjunction with their AirPortal 360 software release, Christopherson also released, My Travel, a similarly customized dashboard with specific tools for individual business travelers. In 2013, the company developed and released AirPortal 360 Mobile, the first app created for travel managers to manage their travel programs from mobile devices. The company has been working on a replacement for several years, but the release date is undetermined.[5]

History

Christopherson Business Travel was founded by Merrill and Lucille Christopherson in 1953. Lucille's brother, John L. Weenig was brought in as manager and part owner shortly thereafter. Under his leadership and management the agency grew to have three locations in Utah. Weenig retired about 1980. In 1981, Michael A. Cameron and his wife, Camille, purchased a part-ownership position from the original founders and owners.[6] By March 1990 the Cameron's had purchased 100 percent of the company.

In January 2008, the company merged with Andavo Travel, creating one of the top 20 U.S. travel management companies.[7][8]

Effective March 2010, Michael A. Cameron and his wife Camille purchased the business and vacation travel divisions of Andavo Travel. The business travel division of the combined company is now branded and marketed nationally as Christopherson Business Travel. The vacation travel and independent contractor division is branded under Andavo Travel.[2]

At the end of 2013, Christopherson acquired Alabama-based All Seasons Travel. All Seasons' business travel division was absorbed into Christopherson Business Travel, the leisure division was absorbed into Andavo Travel, and a new division, All Seasons Sports Travel, was created to cater to the fan-based travel which All Seasons Travel specialized in. All employee positions were retained and Mike Cameron continued as CEO.[9]

In 2016, Christopherson acquired CV Humanitarian Travel, a division focused on providing travel services for non-profit and faith-based trips. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company allowed employees to travel on company-sponsored humanitarian trips, but those have not resumed post-pandemic.

Christopherson is currently ranked #23 out of the top travel management companies in the United States by Travel Weekly, a top publication of the corporate travel industry. This is down from the 12th spot in 2018.[10]

As of March 2020, Christopherson has closed its physical offices in Birmingham, San Francisco and Denver and has laid off over 100 employees as a result of the COVID-19 Virus. Those were the first layoffs in the company's history.

In an effort to stem the post-pandemic decline, Josh Cameron, son of CEO Mike Cameron, has taken on a more prominent role.

In July 2024, the company announced its offices would be closed for network upgrades, during which layoffs occurred. These were the first non-pandemic layoffs in the company’s 50-year history.

In October 2024, further restructuring took place, resulting in another round of layoffs, including members of the company's executive team.

Locations

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Christopherson Business Travel had corporate offices in five locations:

Currently the company maintains a presence in its Salt Lake City office.

Honors

  • Business Travel News ranked Christopherson Business Travel #11 on their 2014 Business Travel Management Companies[10]
  • Travel Weekly ranked Christopherson Business Travel #26 on their 2017 [11] Power List, a national ranking of corporate and leisure travel agencies. Christopherson also ranked on the list in 2011,[12] 2012,[13] 2013,[14] 2014,[15] 2015,[16] and 2016.[17]
  • Utah Business Magazine Fast 50 award winner in 2019.,[18] 2018,[18] 2017,[19] 2016,[20] 2015,[21]
  • Christopherson was named #1 Women-Owned Company in Colorado by Colorado Biz Magazine in 2019,[22] 2018,[23] 2017,[24] 2016,[25] and 2015.[26]
  • Christopherson CEO, Mike Cameron, was named in 2012 CEO of the Year by Utah Business Magazine[27]
  • Utah's Best of State winner in 2010,[28] 2011,[29] 2012[30] under the Hospitality, Travel and Tourism category.
  • 1st place for Fastest-Growing private business by Denver Business Journal 2010[31]
  • Christopherson is ranked #1 Travel Agency in Utah by Utah Business Magazine[1]
  • Christopherson Business Travel was given the When Work Works Award (former the Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility) 2009-2013[32][33][34] and again in 2016[35]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Utah Business". www.utahbusiness.com. Archived from the original on 2015-02-13.
  2. ^ a b "Greenwood Village-based travel agency looks to expand". The Denver Post. 7 June 2010.
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-03-23. Retrieved 2009-02-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Travel - Finance - Utah Department of Administrative Services". Archived from the original on 2009-05-28. Retrieved 2009-02-06.
  5. ^ "GBTA Convention 2017 - Media Center & Exhibitor News". gbta.hsyndicate.org.
  6. ^ "Travel Agency Deals | Vincent Vacations".
  7. ^ "Utah Business Travel Assocication - About Us". www.ubta.org. Archived from the original on 2007-12-20.
  8. ^ "Group Hotel Rates & Exclusive Discounts at Cheap Hotels". www.management.travel.
  9. ^ Jonas, David (2014-01-07). "The Beat | Looking East, Christopherson Acquires Alabama TMC On Path To Half-Billion Sales Target". Thebeat.travel. Retrieved 2018-06-13.
  10. ^ a b "BTN's 2014 Business Travel Survey: Business Travel News".
  11. ^ "Travel Weekly Powerlist 2017: Travel Weekly". www.travelweekly.com.
  12. ^ "Travel Weekly - June 27, 2011 - 41". travelweekly.texterity.com.
  13. ^ "2012 Power List: Travel Weekly". www.travelweekly.com.
  14. ^ "2013 Power List: Travel Weekly". www.travelweekly.com.
  15. ^ "2014 Power List: Travel Weekly". www.travelweekly.com.
  16. ^ "Power List 2015: Travel Weekly". www.travelweekly.com.
  17. ^ "Travel Weekly 2016 PowerList: Travel Weekly". www.travelweekly.com.
  18. ^ a b "Utah's Fast 50 - Utah Business". 17 August 2018.
  19. ^ "Ingenuity, Growth Honored at Fast 50 Awards - Utah Business". 30 August 2017.
  20. ^ "Utah Business Honors Utah's Fastest-Growing Companies". 18 August 2016.
  21. ^ "2015 Fast 50 Honorees - Utah Business". 10 September 2015.
  22. ^ "Top 100 list" (PDF). cobizmag.com.
  23. ^ "Top 100 list" (PDF). cobizmag.com.
  24. ^ "Top 100 list" (PDF). cobizmag.com.
  25. ^ "Top 100 chart" (PDF). cobizmag.com.
  26. ^ "Top women" (PDF). cobizmag.com.
  27. ^ Utah Business (19 April 2012). "Utah Business 2012 CEO of the Year - Mike Cameron". Archived from the original on 2021-12-15 – via YouTube. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  28. ^ "Best of State - Utah". bestofstate.org.
  29. ^ "Best of State - Utah". bestofstate.org.
  30. ^ "Best of State - Utah". bestofstate.org.
  31. ^ "Selection process for Fastest-Growing Private Companies awards". www.bizjournals.com.(subscription required)
  32. ^ "2011 Winners of the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility - When Work Works". www.whenworkworks.org.
  33. ^ "2012 Winners of the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Excellence in Workplace Effectiveness and Flexibility - When Work Works". www.whenworkworks.org.
  34. ^ "2013 Winners of the Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Excellence in Workplace Effectiveness and Flexibility - When Work Works". www.whenworkworks.org.
  35. ^ "2016 When Work Works Award Winners – State Listing - When Work Works". www.whenworkworks.org.