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| Photo by Freeimages.com/Billy Alexander |
Ensemble Travel Group honored its top-producing members in the U.S. and its top supplier partners at the organization's annual Circle of Excellence Gala on Tuesday, October 27, during the 2015 Ensemble Travel Group International Conference in Orlando.
The organization’s top producers in the U.S. based on 2014 sales of Ensemble preferred partners (in alphabetical order):
- AffordableTours.com of Stafford, TX
- Alice Travel & Personality Tours of Fairfield, NJ
- Crown Cruise Vacations of Princeton, NJ
- Go Travel Inc of Longwood, FL
- Incentive Connection Travel of Phoenix, AZ
- Montrose Travel of Montrose, CA
- The Cruise Web, Inc. of Calverton, MD
- Travel Network/Vacation Central of Englewood Cliffs, NJ
- Travel Planners International of Maitland, FL
- TripGuy Travel, LLC, of Holland, PA
In addition, the “Highest Growth Award” went to Atlas Travel Vacations & Cruise for achieving the highest year-over-year growth based on 2014 preferred partner sales compared to 2013. The “Agency Excellence Award,” based on member engagement of the organization’s events, technology, marketing, specialty partners, and express tools, was awarded to Brentwood Travel, Inc. of St. Louis. The “Highest On Location Sales Award,” a new category recognizing the highest member sales of Ensemble’s global network of local destination management partners, went to Fugazi Travel of San Francisco.
Top Supplier Partners
The following preferred partners were also honored at the awards program, based on member votes and input:
- 2015 Cruise Partner of the Year – Regent Seven Seas Cruises
- 2015 Outstanding Agency Support (cruise) – Royal Caribbean International
- 2015 Outstanding Marketing Partner (cruise) – Crystal Cruises
- 2015 Tour Partner of the Year – Globus family of brands
- 2015 Outstanding Agency Support (tour) – Delta Vacations
- 2015 Outstanding Marketing Partner (tour) – Tauck World Discovery
- 2015 Air Partner of the Year – Delta Air Lines
- 2015 Air Outstanding Agency Support – Delta Air Lines
- 2015 Business Services/Insurance Partner of the Year – AIG Travel
In addition, nine North American awards, reflecting the input of both U.S. and Canadian members, were announced at the Circle of Excellence gala:
- 2015 Transportation Partner of the Year – AvisBudget Group
- 2015 Transportation Outstanding Agency Support – Rail Europe, Inc.
- 2015 Ensemble On Location Partner of the Year – Way To Go Tours (Belize, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama)
- 2015 Hotel Partner of the Year – Hyatt Hotels & Resorts
- 2015 Hotel Marketing Partner of the Year – Starwood Hotels & Resorts
- 2015 Cruise Specialty Partner of the Year – Windstar Cruises
- 2015 Land Specialty Partner of the Year – Rocky Mountaineer
- 2015 River Cruise Partner of the Year – Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection
- 2015 Experiential/Adventure Partner of the Year* – G Adventures
* New awards category in 2015
Members based their selections on three key performance areas: quality of customer service (timeliness and accuracy of communications and documentation, ease of the booking process, and overall problem solving), level of agency support (local sales rep, co-op funds, group support, marketing guidance, product training, and commitment to agency sales channel), and client satisfaction (product delivery, fulfillment of client expectations, and repeat bookings).
In addition to the annual recognition program, Ensemble Travel Group officials use the member feedback as a tool for ongoing supplier dialogue and benchmarking purposes, Ensemble said.
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