reed mackay travel

IN THE WORLD OF CORPORATE TRAVEL, NO ONE ELSE GOES FURTHER

Reed & Mackay delivers extraordinary travel and event solutions for professionals with exacting needs. Unrivalled in our service delivery, renowned for our client-led technology and ranked first in the Sunday Times International Fast Track*, we are always looking forwards, while ensuring that we exceed our clients' expectations today - just as we have for over 60 years.

Stop by stand D170 and enjoy a coffee or a glass or champagne as we discover the solution that delivers extraordinary for you and your travellers. 

We've detected unusual activity from your computer network

To continue, please click the box below to let us know you're not a robot.

Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy .

For inquiries related to this message please contact our support team and provide the reference ID below.

Reed & Mackay has recently become part of the TripActions Group; combining the high touch service and global scale of Reed & Mackay with the innovative corporate travel and spend experience of NAVAN.   

Zahid Travel, is proud to be part of Reed & Mackay’s International Partnership and to be the exclusive representative of Reed & Mackay across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Reed & Mackay delivers corporate travel management for professionals with exacting needs. Established as a family business over 50 years ago, Reed  & Mackay are today internationally recognised as business travel experts, who do things differently. The fact that over 80% of our business comes

from referrals demonstrates this.

Reed & Mackay and Zahid Travel, share a commitment to our clients and a love of what we do inspiring us to deliver extraordinary travel  management around the world. No matter what the challenge, we help find a solution.

Reed & Mackay at a glance:

A worldwide coverage with partner in over 50 locations

Owned entities in key driver markets for our clients

5 continents covered

14 years average agent’s experience

Over 50 years corporate travel expertise

Approx. 4,000 staff worldwide

Reed & Mackay is recognised for its extraordinary travel management through the development of customised results-driven travel programs that deliver real value and maximise travel spend for their clients.

24/7/365 travelers assistance

Global consultative account management teams delivering tailor made travel programs

Reed & Mackay partners with industry leading experts in each local market

Consolidated global management information at our clients’ finger tips

Access to exclusive hotel rates through Reed & Mackay’s Hotel Program

The local expertise of over 4000 consultants worldwide

TripActions Buys Pandemic-Hit UK Corp Travel Agency Reed & Mackay

Matthew Parsons, Skift

May 5th, 2021 at 2:30 AM EDT

The hunter becomes the hunted.

The corporate travel sector is gripped by a wave of consolidation. Reed & Mackay , one of the UK’s most acquisitive travel agencies, now finds itself on the receiving end following its sale on Wednesday to U.S.-based TripActions .

This follows the news on Tuesday that American Express Global Business Travel has made a bid to acquire Egencia , Expedia Group’s corporate travel arm.

After almost five years, it appears Reed & Mackay’s private equity owner Inflexion has thrown in the towel, since backing a buyout of the premium corporate travel management company in 2016, taking it off the hands of ECI and Livingbridge .

It has been a difficult year for Reed & Mackay, which slashed its workforce by almost half due to the pandemic. The travel agency was exposed more than most companies because it specializes in a concierge, “white glove” style service for its demanding clients. They tend to be lawyers, rather than construction workers, so bookings abruptly stopped.

Join Us at the Skift Short-Term Rental and Outdoor Summit on May 19

TripActions said it was taking on Reed & Mackay’s full headcount, which stood at about 450 employees.      

But just over a year ago, Reed & Mackay employed an average of 818 people, according to its 2020 financial results , for the year ending March 31, 2020, and filed at the UK’s Companies House on April 17, 2021. Directors said they took “a number of measures to protect the business during this severe period of disruption,” which included reducing its workforce, according to the results.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but one banker expects Inflexion will have taken some stake in the new venture.

“I wouldn’t rule out the fact that maybe they did this with an equity deal, meaning TripActions is not just paying them all out in cash,”said Michael Lyon, founder and managing director of Vista Point Advisors . “Maybe they’re giving them some private company stock, and this could be a way for the older business model shareholders to have some upside in this new business model. TripActions raised $155 million , but they might not do all their acquisitions in cash.”

Reed & Mackay entered coronavirus after rapid expansion itself, following a series of acquisitions. In July 2019 it bought UK agency Business Travel Direct . In January of the same year it acquired Australia’s Concierge Travel Group . In May 2018, it snapped up Hillgate Travel .

American Dominance?

Reed & Mackay did make full use of the UK’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, with a significant number of staff placed on furlough. However, the downturn looks like it proved too much and a warning from another UK agency boss last summer that “U.S.-based tech firms will very quickly fill the space,” seems to have been proven true.

“The travel industry is going to come out in a very different shape and size,” Mark Colley, managing director of Kent-based Sunways Business Travel, told Skift in September last year .

This significantly sized acquisition, involving two contrasting agencies, comes with a lot of questions.

First, what will Reed & Mackay’s existing customers make of it all?  A former Reed & Mackay employee told Skift the consensus was they’re not going to be happy. The brand has built up a reputation since it was set up in 1962.

“We are not touching that concierge, white-glove service,” Danny Finkel, TripActions’ chief travel officer, told Skift. “In fact, that’s what’s so important about this acquisition. We’re bringing in Reed & Mackay because of what they do, because of their brand, and because of their reputation.”

Finkel said the Reed & Mackay name will stay, and that it would be “operated relatively independently” with current CEO Fred Stratford keeping his role.

Stratford told Skift that Inflexion’s sale came at the right time, as it tended to invest in companies for five years. And having experienced several acquisitions himself, Stratford added that in the past those deals had never felt like “takeovers,” but more like collaborations, which was also the case with TripActions.

The plan now is for TripActions to better cater to the “C suites and the VIPs within the TripActions platform, and making sure they get that same sort of white-glove treatment that Reed & Mackay is so well known for,” Finkel added.

TripActions also has a number of partnerships with other agencies, in particular ATPI in the UK, which acts as its fulfilment partner for those more complex bookings. But there’s also a team of experienced operations staff at Reed & Mackay. Could that ATPI relationship be compromised?

“We have a great partnership with ATPI, we utlilize them for fulfilment round the world. We use them and other partners, and see a continued relationship with ATPI,” Finkel said, adding he sees a need to bring back more support agents.

The deal is described as an “additive acquisition,” and where the numbers do add up is that TripActions, with its first acquisition, can now tap into Reed & Mackay’s global offices.

“We’ve been putting a lot of focus on the EMEA market,” Finkel said. “This is doubling down and there is so much opportunity globally. Reed & Mackay comes with an amazing partner network. They have multiple points of sale, in multiple countries.”

The deal adds on 20 countries, Finkel estimated, taking TripActions’ presence to 50 countries. “We’ve found a strong need to be able to support multinational corporations wherever their employees are,” he added.

As well as Egencia in its sights, rival Amex GBT bought its own premium agency, Ovation Travel, earlier this year . Whether these purchases are down to a genuine belief in a corporate travel recovery, which involves a more premium service, or were distressed sales remains to be seen.

“Our perspective on the market right now is that travel’s coming back in a big way, but you still don’t want be early,” said Vista Point Advisors’ Lyon. “The feedback we’re getting from private equity firms is it’s still a little too early for them. They want to see what the recovery looks like a little bit.”

However, like many in the industry, Stratford said he was seeing a lot of pent-up demand from customers. “We’ve not lost a client during the pandemic,” he added. 

Finkel reiterated that buying this Reed & Mackay wasn’t driven out of necessity, but was a “natural” fit. It could also be the case that Reed & Mackay couldn’t buy itself out of trouble this time round.

Register Now for the Skift Short-Term Rental and Outdoor Summit on May 19

The Daily Newsletter

Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.

Have a confidential tip for Skift? Get in touch

Tags: american express global business travel , corporate travel , egencia , travel management , tripactions , uk , venture capital

Photo credit: Reed & Mackay has a reputation for having clients at the higher end of the market, including many law and financial firms. Zahir Namane / Unsplash

View prices for your travel dates

• Excellent 6
• Very Good 11
• All languages ( 25 )
• Russian ( 25 )
• English ( 0 )

Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.

ELEKTROSTAL HOTEL

• Yekaterinburg
• Novosibirsk
• Vladivostok

• Tours to Russia
• Practicalities
• Russia in Lists

Rusmania • Deep into Russia

Out of the Centre

Savvino-storozhevsky monastery and museum.

Zvenigorod's most famous sight is the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery, which was founded in 1398 by the monk Savva from the Troitse-Sergieva Lavra, at the invitation and with the support of Prince Yury Dmitrievich of Zvenigorod. Savva was later canonised as St Sabbas (Savva) of Storozhev. The monastery late flourished under the reign of Tsar Alexis, who chose the monastery as his family church and often went on pilgrimage there and made lots of donations to it. Most of the monastery’s buildings date from this time. The monastery is heavily fortified with thick walls and six towers, the most impressive of which is the Krasny Tower which also serves as the eastern entrance. The monastery was closed in 1918 and only reopened in 1995. In 1998 Patriarch Alexius II took part in a service to return the relics of St Sabbas to the monastery. Today the monastery has the status of a stauropegic monastery, which is second in status to a lavra. In addition to being a working monastery, it also holds the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum.

Belfry and Neighbouring Churches

Located near the main entrance is the monastery's belfry which is perhaps the calling card of the monastery due to its uniqueness. It was built in the 1650s and the St Sergius of Radonezh’s Church was opened on the middle tier in the mid-17th century, although it was originally dedicated to the Trinity. The belfry's 35-tonne Great Bladgovestny Bell fell in 1941 and was only restored and returned in 2003. Attached to the belfry is a large refectory and the Transfiguration Church, both of which were built on the orders of Tsar Alexis in the 1650s.  

To the left of the belfry is another, smaller, refectory which is attached to the Trinity Gate-Church, which was also constructed in the 1650s on the orders of Tsar Alexis who made it his own family church. The church is elaborately decorated with colourful trims and underneath the archway is a beautiful 19th century fresco.

Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is the oldest building in the monastery and among the oldest buildings in the Moscow Region. It was built between 1404 and 1405 during the lifetime of St Sabbas and using the funds of Prince Yury of Zvenigorod. The white-stone cathedral is a standard four-pillar design with a single golden dome. After the death of St Sabbas he was interred in the cathedral and a new altar dedicated to him was added.

Under the reign of Tsar Alexis the cathedral was decorated with frescoes by Stepan Ryazanets, some of which remain today. Tsar Alexis also presented the cathedral with a five-tier iconostasis, the top row of icons have been preserved.

Tsaritsa's Chambers

The Nativity of Virgin Mary Cathedral is located between the Tsaritsa's Chambers of the left and the Palace of Tsar Alexis on the right. The Tsaritsa's Chambers were built in the mid-17th century for the wife of Tsar Alexey - Tsaritsa Maria Ilinichna Miloskavskaya. The design of the building is influenced by the ancient Russian architectural style. Is prettier than the Tsar's chambers opposite, being red in colour with elaborately decorated window frames and entrance.

At present the Tsaritsa's Chambers houses the Zvenigorod Historical, Architectural and Art Museum. Among its displays is an accurate recreation of the interior of a noble lady's chambers including furniture, decorations and a decorated tiled oven, and an exhibition on the history of Zvenigorod and the monastery.

Palace of Tsar Alexis

The Palace of Tsar Alexis was built in the 1650s and is now one of the best surviving examples of non-religious architecture of that era. It was built especially for Tsar Alexis who often visited the monastery on religious pilgrimages. Its most striking feature is its pretty row of nine chimney spouts which resemble towers.

Plan your next trip to Russia

Ready-to-book tours.

Your holiday in Russia starts here. Choose and book your tour to Russia.

The Unique Burial of a Child of Early Scythian Time at the Cemetery of Saryg-Bulun (Tuva)

<< Previous page

Pages:  379-406

In 1988, the Tuvan Archaeological Expedition (led by M. E. Kilunovskaya and V. A. Semenov) discovered a unique burial of the early Iron Age at Saryg-Bulun in Central Tuva. There are two burial mounds of the Aldy-Bel culture dated by 7th century BC. Within the barrows, which adjoined one another, forming a figure-of-eight, there were discovered 7 burials, from which a representative collection of artifacts was recovered. Burial 5 was the most unique, it was found in a coffin made of a larch trunk, with a tightly closed lid. Due to the preservative properties of larch and lack of air access, the coffin contained a well-preserved mummy of a child with an accompanying set of grave goods. The interred individual retained the skin on his face and had a leather headdress painted with red pigment and a coat, sewn from jerboa fur. The coat was belted with a leather belt with bronze ornaments and buckles. Besides that, a leather quiver with arrows with the shafts decorated with painted ornaments, fully preserved battle pick and a bow were buried in the coffin. Unexpectedly, the full-genomic analysis, showed that the individual was female. This fact opens a new aspect in the study of the social history of the Scythian society and perhaps brings us back to the myth of the Amazons, discussed by Herodotus. Of course, this discovery is unique in its preservation for the Scythian culture of Tuva and requires careful study and conservation.

Keywords: Tuva, Early Iron Age, early Scythian period, Aldy-Bel culture, barrow, burial in the coffin, mummy, full genome sequencing, aDNA

Information about authors: Marina Kilunovskaya (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Vladimir Semenov (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail: [email protected] Varvara Busova  (Moscow, Russian Federation).  (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  Dvortsovaya Emb., 18, Saint Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Kharis Mustafin  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Technical Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Irina Alborova  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Candidate of Biological Sciences. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected] Alina Matzvai  (Moscow, Russian Federation). Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.  Institutsky Lane, 9, Dolgoprudny, 141701, Moscow Oblast, Russian Federation E-mail:  [email protected]

Shopping Cart Items: 0 Cart Total: 0,00 € place your order

Price pdf version

student - 2,75 € individual - 3,00 € institutional - 7,00 €

Copyright В© 1999-2022. Stratum Publishing House