Funjet Vacations reports it has awarded a $10,000 grand prize to travel professional Kimberly Shannon of Acendas in Mission, KS, a Vacation.com agency. Funjet also awarded more than 100 additional prizes including 11 air-inclusive luxury trips as well as Bonus Cash prizes to winning agents from across the United States.
Shannon was randomly selected as the Grand Prize winner from more than 90,000 entries in the “Year to Funjet” booking contest, FunJet says. Shannon had the choice between a 2012 BMW 328i Convertible 3 Year Lease –or a $10,000 cash prize. On Wednesday April 11 Funjet President Mike Going flew out to Acendas and delivered the $10,000 check personally to Shannon.
Shannon commented, “Funjet is a great travel partner to be aligned with. They offer excellent options and service for both the agency and the client. They give us ease of booking with their online booking engine. We have a knowledgeable rep that calls on us and keeps us aware of everything. And, this is proof that they certainly have great agent incentives as well.”
The winning booking was a group getaway for four couples from Louisiana and Texas, headed to Jamaica on a Funjet vacation.
“These clients actually started the booking and then one of them changed jobs so they put the vacation on hold. I reached back out at the end of the year and they were ready to commit. I know they will have a great trip, and I'm thrilled it was the winning entry.”
For Cynthia Riggins, vacation division director at Acendas, this win is proof of Shannon’s sales ability and Funjet’s value as a business partner. “Funjet is a great partner with us on many levels, marketing being one of them. They provide cooperative marketing funds to go out and reach these types of customers and bring them in. As an agency we have a fairly sophisticated approach to our marketing. Funjet recognizes that and supports us with coop, not as a revenue stream but as a business generator for both of us.”
Funjet is a preferred tour operator with Vacation.com and Riggins believes that selling preferred vendors is essential to agency success and customer satisfaction. “It is really important on the agency level that you select some great partners and it should be based on great value and service for the customer and the agency. It has to be easy for our sales people to complete a sale. With Funjet’s system, through VAX VacationAccess, it takes just a minute to get the whole thing invoiced. VAX imports through ClientBase and it is awesome.”
Shannon is one of more than 100 travel agents who were winners in the “Year to Funjet” contest. Every Funjet Vacations’ booking from January 6 - March 31 for travel from January 6 – October 31 qualified as an entry, and agents received two entries for all American Airlines or Charter/Value Flight bookings.
Prizes included the grand prize of a 3-year BMW convertible lease valued at $25,000 (or $10,000 cash), 11 first prize air-inclusive luxury vacations and an additional100 cash prizes, which will be loaded on personal reloadable VISA debit cards.
To see a full list of winners visit www.Funjet.com/MyBMW.