Club Travel Group

What Club Travel Group does

Club Travel Group, founded in 1987 and headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, is a travel consortium operating as one of the largest travel groups in Africa with a claimed 30% share of the South African travel market. The company recruits independent travel professionals, IATA-licensed agencies, and small travel operators into a franchise/consortium model under four partnership tiers — IATA Agency, Full ITC, Just A Ticket, and Land Only — collectively numbering more than 400 branded and non-branded franchise partners. Its core technology asset is CLUBhub, a proprietary all-in-one booking platform that consolidates traditional GDS fares (EDIFACT), NDC content, low-cost carrier fares, and negotiated deals into a single search and booking interface spanning flights, hotels, and car rentals.

The company's revenue model combines recurring franchise/consortium membership fees with supplier override commissions earned on the aggregated booking volume of its partner network. Club Travel negotiates preferential rates with airlines, hotels, car hire, cruise, tour, and travel insurance providers, then passes through 100% upfront commission to partners while retaining negotiated margins on the supplier side and distributing quarterly override payments to participating partners (excluding the Just A Ticket tier). Membership is structured with no upfront joining fees and no BSP-related costs, and there are no extended contractual lock-ins, lowering friction for partner recruitment and retention.

Club Travel has operated as part of the TravelLab Africa Group of companies since 2019, which provides parent-level strategic alignment and capital. The firm is IATA-accredited, has been recognised by the World Travel Awards across multiple years (2007–2021 and 2025), and supports franchise partners with dedicated Key Account Managers, centralised 24/7/365 ticketing, supplier training, marketing tools, and networking events. Customer acquisition channels include an active LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook presence, structured website inquiry forms, and peer-referral testimonials from long-tenured franchise partners.

Name

Club Travel Group

Legal name

Club Travel (Pty) Ltd

Website

https://clubtravel.co.za

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Club Travel Group is a South African travel consortium founded in 1987 that operates four franchise partner tiers (IATA Agency, Full ITC, Just A Ticket, and Land Only) served by its proprietary CLUBhub booking platform, aggregating 400+ independent travel professionals to claim 30% market share in South Africa.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Travel Agency Franchise Services

NAICS

Travel Agencies (561510), Travel Agencies (56151)

SIC

Transportation Services (4700)

akta.pro primary industry

Travel Subscription, Membership & Deal Clubs (THAKAAAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Online/Hybrid Corporate Travel Agencies (Self-Booking + Support) (THAKACAB)

Keywords

• Travel consortium services
• Franchise travel network
• Corporate travel agency
• GDS booking platform
• Travel supplier network

Headquarters

HQ city

Cape Town

HQ country

South Africa

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Franchise / Consortium Membership Fees: Independent travel professionals and agencies pay fees to join the Club Travel consortium. The website references management fees and notes there are no upfront joining fees or BSP costs, suggesting ongoing periodic fees rather than large initial payments. Override payments from preferred suppliers are distributed quarterly.
2. Supplier Override / Volume Commissions: Club Travel's bulk buying power generates volume overrides and preferential rates from airlines, hotels, car hire, cruise companies, tour operators, and travel insurance providers. Quarterly GDS/Preferred Supplier overrides are distributed to partners (except the Just A Ticket model).
3. 100% Upfront Commission: Partners receive 100% upfront commission on bookings, suggesting Club Travel takes a negotiated margin or override from suppliers rather than clipping the agent's commission directly.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Club Travel operates a travel consortium/franchise network that recruits independent travel professionals and IATA-licensed agencies as partners. Partners gain access to CLUBhub, a proprietary unified booking platform that integrates GDS fares (EDIFACT), NDC content, low-cost carrier fares, and negotiated deals, alongside centralised ticketing, 24/7/365 support, bulk-buying supplier rates, marketing tools, and quarterly override payments. Four partner models are offered: IATA Agency, Full ITC, Just A Ticket, and Land Only.

Product overview

Club Travel Group operates as a travel consortium offering a unified platform (CLUBhub) supported by multiple partner models. CLUBhub integrates traditional GDS fares (EDIFACT), NDC content, low-cost carrier fares, and negotiated deals into a single booking platform, extending to hotel and car rental bookings. The company offers four distinct partner models: Club Travel ITC (full-service Independent Travel Consultant with all technologies and supplier overrides), Club Travel IATA Agency (IATA-accredited agency model), Just a Ticket (air ticketing focused model), and Land Only (land-based services model). All partners gain access to CLUBhub technology, multi-GDS capabilities, bulk buying power, centralized ticketing and 24/7 support, and comprehensive supplier training.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CLUBhub: A powerful, all-in-one platform designed to streamline the travel booking process by consolidating essential content into a single, easy-to-use system. It integrates traditional GDS fares (EDIFACT), NDC content, low-cost carrier fares, and negotiated deals into one seamless platform, extending to hotel and car rental bookings.

Products and services

• CLUBhub

Quantifiable outcome

• 30% market share in South Africa
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• TravelLab Africa GroupcoreOthers · 1 January 2019Club Travel became part of the TravelLab Africa Group of companies in 2019. TravelLab Africa is the parent company of the consortium. Club Travel's website states 'We are a proud member of the TravelLab Africa Group of companies' and the logo appears prominently on the site.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Travel Counsellors: UK-headquartered franchise consortium for independent travel agents, with a global franchise network. Directly comparable to Club Travel because it operates the same model — recruiting independent travel professionals who access proprietary booking technology, supplier rates and back-office support.
• Travelstart: Largest online travel agency headquartered in South Africa, serving leisure and business travellers across Africa. Directly comparable because it competes head-on with Club Travel's franchise agents for the same South African travel bookings, and is often cited alongside Club Travel as a top travel brand in the region.
• Not Just Travel / The Holiday Franchise: UK-based home-working travel franchise network operating a consortium model with proprietary booking technology and supplier deals. Comparable because it uses an identical recruitment-and-support motion for independent travel consultants and competes for the same franchise-partner recruitment funnel.

Broad incumbents

• Booking Holdings (Booking.com): Global OTA and travel conglomerate (Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK). Comparable as a broad incumbent that competes with Club Travel's consortium agents for the same end-consumer travel bookings across accommodation, air and ground services.
• Amadeus IT Group: Major GDS provider and travel technology vendor serving travel agencies, airlines and hotels globally. Comparable because its GDS/NDC capabilities are the underlying content layer for CLUBhub, and its travel-agency software suite competes for the same agent technology stack.
• Expedia Group: Global OTA group operating B2C and B2B travel platforms (Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, B2B partner network). Comparable as a broad incumbent whose B2B partner network and consumer OTA brands overlap with Club Travel's consortium distribution and end-customer booking flow.
• American Express Global Business Travel: Global corporate travel management company serving multinational clients with managed-travel programs. Comparable as a broad incumbent competing for corporate-travel spend that Club Travel's corporate division also pursues.
• Flight Centre Travel Group: Australia-founded global travel retail group with extensive leisure and corporate travel operations across Africa, including South Africa. Comparable because it competes in both leisure agency and corporate travel in the same South African market Club Travel serves, and is part of TravelLab Africa Group's competitive set.
• Travelport: Global GDS and travel commerce platform providing booking, content and technology services to travel agencies and suppliers. Comparable as the underlying distribution infrastructure layer (alongside Amadeus and Sabre) that powers Club Travel's CLUBhub multi-GDS access.

Regional players

• Corporate Traveller (SA division of Flight Centre Travel Group): South African corporate travel management company under the Flight Centre Travel Group. Comparable as a regional peer in Club Travel's home market that competes for the same South African corporate-travel accounts that Club Travel's corporate travel division targets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/clubtravelgroup
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/club-travel
• Instagraminstagram.com/club__travel
• Xx.com/ClubTravelSA

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Club Travel Group