Travelbyus, the Reno, Nev.-based travel marketing firm that rapidly
acquired a number of agency groups after launching in 1999, appears
to be shedding them just as quickly.
After two years under the Travelbyus umbrella, the assets of
cruise-oriented consortium Cruise Shoppes Operations, a division of
Travelbyus.com Ltd., were foreclosed on by its main creditor,
Chicago-based Aberdeen, and sold to a newly formed company, Cruise
and Vacation Shoppes, according to Shawn Tubman, Cruise Shoppes
president and chief executive.
Several days later, Ron Blaylock, former president of Travelbyus
acquisition International Tours, announced that he and a group of
investors had taken over management of “certain travel
agency-related assets” from Travelbyus, including his former
company, GalaxSea Cruises and BTS Travel Network, along with more
than 50 independent agencies affiliated with Travelbyus.
Blaylock told TravelAge West that 961 agency locations were
represented in the networks acquired from Travelbyus by the new
investors. The investment group is composed of creditors of
Travelbyus, Blaylock said, adding that the group will seek
additional funding “to make available whatever resources are
necessary to re-establish the networks.”
Blaylock also will join the group as an owner and will report to
a board of directors yet to be named.
He added that International Tours reached an agreement with
Cruise Shoppes whereby all International Tours agencies can still
access Cruise Shoppes’ cruise-center services and blocked space on
sailings.
