Carlson Wagonlit Travel takes a minority share in KDS capital

PARIS (November 3, 2025) - Carlson Wagonlit Travel and KDS (Klee Data System) announced today a worldwide partnership agreement.  Carlson Wagonlit Travel will take a 14 percent share in the capital of KDS, with a non-exclusive commercial contract for the distribution of the self-booking product Wave.

The partnership solidifies the existing relationship between Carlson Wagonlit Travel and KDS, which includes several large Carlson Wagonlit Travel clients already using the KDS Wave product.  It also reinforces Carlson Wagonlit Travels leadership in the business travel market by offering its clients the opportunity of integrating web-based and agent-assisted reservation processes.

Our approach is resolutely customer-oriented.  We have a unique position towards companies, being able to provide them business travel management services and advice on the selection of the best suited operational solutions, whether they are brick and mortar or online, said Herv Gourio, president & CEO of Carlson Wagonlit Travel.  KDS technology is market tested and proven.  Its a superior fit designed to overcome the complex procedures organizations face today in implementing self-booking solutions.

KDS Wave product is one of the strongest self-booking tools in the European market and has recently entered the U.S. market.  Through Waves single database, travelers can be implemented with multi-GDS and multi-lingual capabilities.  This database tightly integrates a companys travel policies, individual profiles, and supplier agreements to realize significant travel cost savings.

We are proud that Carlson Wagonlit Travel, one of the worlds largest travel agency networks, has decided to offer our solutions to all of its customers, said Yves Weisselberger, CEO of KDS.  The companies that have put their trust in Carlson Wagonlit Travel for their services know that they can count on us to help them take a new step towards optimizing their travel management through e-business.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel

Carlson Wagonlit Travel is a world leader in business travel management.  Today, the Carlson Wagonlit group, resulting from the merger of the Carlson and Wagonlit business travel activities, has locations in more than 140 countries.  It generates over $12 billion in annual sales.  Carlson Wagonlit Travel is co-owned by Paris-based Accor group and Minneapolis-based Carlson Companies, Inc.  For additional information, contact www.carlsonwagonlit.com

KDS

KDS specialises in supplying electronic travel management solutions to companies (Travel e-Procurement). There are only a few players in the market and KDS has been able to establish itself thanks to its know-how, which is unique in the world, in matters of access to reservation systems, whether they be GDS (Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre or Worldspan) or the suppliers own systems: airline or rail companies, hotels or car hire companies. KDS is now the only "global player". Wave, its flagship product, offers multinational companies established in several countries or continents, all the functions they need. KDS works for over 50 major companies established mainly in England, Germany, France, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Benelux and the United States.

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