Vacation.com Announces Agent and Supplier Awards

vacation.com conferenceDuring its 15th International Conference and Trade Show at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort in Orlando, FL, Vacation.com honored its top producing member agencies and highest rated preferred suppliers.

The 2013 awards recognized 10 of the organization’s most successful member agencies and 15 top preferred supplier partners in 12 categories for Canada, the United States, and North America overall.

“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 President John Lovell.  

Chairman’s Awards were given to the Canadian and U.S. agencies with the highest preferred supplier sales in 2012. A total of six agencies earned the President’s Award for largest preferred supplier sales growth in three categories in 2012. The winners include:

 2013 Chairman’s Award

U.S. Agency – CruCon Cruise Outlet Plus; Sandra Cleary (Moultonborough, NH)

Canadian Agency – Robert Q Travel; Nancy Woodworth (London, ON)

 2013 President’s Award

U.S. Large Agency – Cruise and Tours Unlimited; Steve Muraca (Jacksonville, FL)

U.S. Medium Agency – Florida Vacations; Brigette Kiledgian and Betty Krystyniak (Hackensack, NJ)

U.S. Small Agency – Let’s Travel of Orlando; Harriot and Tom Roberts (Orlando, FL)

Canadian Large Agency – KVI Travel; Kyle Oram (Kelowna, BC)

Canadian Medium Agency – Swan Valley Travel; Nicole Zell (Swan River, MB)

Canadian Small Agency – The Destination Experts; Deanna Byrne (Middle Sacksfield, NS)

 

New in 2013, Vacation.com repairs adding three agent awards. The first is CruisePRO Member of the Year – which awards the Vacation.com member with the most sales using the organization’s new easy-to-use cruise booking tool.  

Also new is the Top Newcomer Member of the Year – which honors one new Vacation.com Canadian agency and one new U.S. agency. Each award winner has immediately demonstrated support for the organization by adopting its programs, embraced its preferred suppliers, given valuable feedback, and attended key events. The winners are:

2013 CruisePRO Member of the Year

KVI Travel; Kyle Oram (Kelowna, BC)

 

2013 Top Newcomer Member of the Year

U.S. Agency – Cadillac Travel; Jill Jones and David Fishman (Southfield, MI)

Canadian Agency – Custom Travel Solutions; Beth Gardner (Calgary, AB)

The 2013 preferred supplier winners were voted on by Vacation.com members as exceeding their overall needs and providing unparalleled support in member success in specific areas of agent interest. In addition to awarding select suppliers based on their product category, this year’s new format recognized Canadian and U.S. suppliers based on: marketing; education and training; technology; sales and support; and client service value, and satisfaction; travel agency reservations and service; and trade channel support. In addition, seven “Pinnacle” awards were presented to the overall top performing suppliers in hotel, car, tour, insurance, and cruise.

“Our members and preferred suppliers work day in and day out to strengthen their ongoing relationships, because increasing sales leads to mutual success,” said Dave Spinelli, Vice President, Industry Relations & Revenue Management for Vacation.com. “Our agency owners have voted and the results indicate that our agents find great value in the crucial support areas with a wide range of our preferred supplier partners.”

This year’s preferred supplier winners are:

 

North American Pinnacle Cruise Partner of the Year – Royal Caribbean International

North American Pinnacle Car Partner of the Year – The Hertz Corporation

North American Pinnacle Hotel Partner of the Year – Marriott International

 

U.S. Pinnacle Insurance Partner of the Year – Travel Guard

U.S. Pinnacle Tour Partner of the Year – Globus family of brands

U.S. Agency Field Sales & Support Partner of the Year – Royal Caribbean International

U.S. Technology Partner of the Year – Funjet Vacations

U.S. Travel Agent Training Partner of the Year – Norwegian Cruise Line

U.S. Travel Agency Reservations & Services Partner of the Year – Globus family of brands

U.S. Client Value & Satisfaction Partner of the Year – Crystal Cruises

U.S. Marketing Partner of the Year – Viking River Cruises

U.S. Trade Channel Support Partner of the Year – Celebrity Cruises

 

Canadian Pinnacle Insurance Partner of the Year – RBC Insurance

Canadian Pinnacle Tour Partner of the Year – Globus family of brands

Canadian Agency Field Sales & Support Partner of the Year – Globus family of brands

Canadian Technology Partner of the Year – G Adventures

Canadian Travel Agent Training Partner of the Year – Thomas Cook Group

Canadian Travel Agency Reservations & Services Partner of the Year – Sunwing Travel Group

Canadian Client Value & Satisfaction Partner of the Year – WestJet Vacations

Canadian Marketing Partner of the Year – Royal Caribbean International

Canadian Trade Channel Support Partner of the Year – RBC Insurance

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