Taking Home The Hardware

Canadian travel agents and suppliers were among those recognized last night (May 25) at Vacation.com’s 10th annual “Power of the Partnership” (POP) Awards in Hollywood, Florida, reports PressToday’s Ann Ruppenstein.

The honours were announced during the farewell reception at Vacation.com’s 18th International Conference & Trade Show at the Diplomat Resort & Spa.

“Our members are as significant in Vacation.com’s success as we are in their accomplishments. Each of our members has shined in their profit-making ability and tailored customer service – all of our honorees have worked conscientiously to earn this distinction,” said Vacation.com president, John Lovell, CTC. “The personal service they provide to their clients, along with their talent of creating unique vacation experiences, continues to set our agents apart from the rest of the pack.”

Seven Chairman’s Awards were bestowed onto the member agencies with the highest supplier sales in 2015. A total of seven agencies earned the President’s Award for the largest supplier sales growth in three categories in 2015.

The 2016 Chairman’s Award winners included:

· Canadian Chairman’s Pinnacle Award – Robert Q Travel; Nancy Woodworth (London, ON)
· Canadian Chairman’s Elite Award – The Destination Experts; Deanna Byrne (Windsor, NS)
· Canadian Chairman’s Preferred Award – Newwest Travel Ltd; Dennis Laliberte (Edmonton)
· U.S. Chairman’s Host Award – Nexion; Jackie Friedman (Irving, TX)

2016 President’s Award winners included:

· Canadian Agency Tier 1 – Liz Moore Destination Weddings Ltd; Liz & Steve Moore (Kelowna, BC)
· Canadian Agency Tier 2 – Travel VIP; Kris Ryan (Edmonton)
· Canadian Agency Tier 3 – Travel Trends; Pam Macey (Calgary)

The 2016 Supplier POP Award winners were chosen based on exceeding overall needs and providing supreme support in specific areas of agent interest such as marketing, technology and education and training.

In addition to honoring its partners based on their specific product category, they were also recognized based on Vacation.com’s membership concept of “Belong. Inspire. Grow.”

The “Pinnacle” award was presented to the overall top performing supplier among car, tour, insurance and cruise segments in North America. All supplier partner honours were awarded based on votes by Vacation.com members.

“Our agency award winners employ some of the top professional travel consultants our industry has to offer. We continue to recruit, train, and retain only the most successful agency owners in North America and we look forward to honoring them each year at this time,” said Vacation.com vice-president Canada, Christine James.

And James continued, “Each of our 2016 recipients is truly deserving of their respective awards. Our members’ success is our success, and we appreciate everything these agencies do to provide value to their clients and enhance the vacation experience by promoting and selling the fabulous products our preferred supplier partners make available.”

This year’s supplier winners include:

· Canadian “Belong” Partner of the Year – TravelBrands
· Canadian “Inspire” Partner of the Year – Globus family of brands
· Canadian “Grow” Partner of the Year – Sunwing Vacations/Signature Vacations
· Canadian Package Tour of the Year – WestJet Vacations
· Canadian Insurance Partner of the Year – Manulife