PHOTO: Ensemble Co-Presidents Libbie Rice and Lindsay Pearlman gave out top sales awards to agency members and top partner awards to preferred suppliers at the group's annual Circle of Excellence gala. (Photo by James Shillinglaw)
Ensemble Travel Group, the trans-border travel agency cooperative with nearly 850 members in the U.S. and Canada, honored its top-producing agencies and top preferred suppliers at its annual Circle of Excellence gala on Oct. 28. In addition to the gala, staged during the 2014 Ensemble International Conference in Palm Springs, Calif., Ensemble also unveiled plans for its 2015 events at a general session on Oct. 29.
The top 10 U.S. member agencies, in alphabetical order, based on 2013 sales of Ensemble preferred suppliers were:
AffordableTours.com of Stafford, Texas
Crown Cruise Vacations of Princeton, N.J.
Cruises-N-More of Lake Mary, Fla.
Go Travel Inc. of Longwood, Fla.
Pavlus Travel & Cruise of Albuquerque, N.M.
Montrose Travel of Montrose, Calif.
TA Unite of Brownsburg, Ind.
The Cruise Web, Inc. of Calverton, Md.
Travel Planners International of Maitland, Fla.
Travel Network/Vacation Central of Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
In addition, Martin's Travel & Tours of Los Angeles was honored for achieving the highest year-over-year growth based on 2013 preferred supplier sales compared to 2012. Ensemble's "Agency Excellence Award," a new category based on member engagement of the group's events, ClientSites (individual agency websites), marketing, specialty partners and Hotel Express tools, was awarded to Edgewood Travel of Savannah, Ga.
Ensemble also honored its top suppliers partners for 2014, as voted on by Ensemble agency members, during the Circle of Excellence gala. Members based their selections on 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). Suppliers who won awards included:
Cruise Partner of the Year: Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Outstanding Agency Support Award-Cruise: Royal Caribbean International
Outstanding Marketing Partner Award-Cruise: Crystal Cruises
Tour Partner of the Year: Tauck World Discovery
Outstanding Agency Support Award-Tour: Globus family of brands
Outstanding Marketing Partner Award-Tour: Travel Impressions
Air Partner of the Year: Air New Zealand
Overall Agency Support Award-Air: Emirates Airlines
Business Services/Insurance Partner of the Year: Travel Guard International
In addition, eight North American awards, reflecting the input of both U.S. and Canadian members, were announced at the Circle of Excellence gala. They included:
Transportation Partner of the Year: Avis Budget Group
Outstanding Agency Support Award-Transportation: Rail Europe, Inc.
Ensemble On Location Partner of the Year: TFL Tours (France, Italy specialist)
Hotel Partner of the Year: Fairmont Hotels & Resorts
Marketing Partner of the Year-Hotel: Hyatt Hotels & Resorts
Specialty Partner of the Year-Cruise: Paul Gauguin Cruises
Specialty Partner of the Year-Land: G Adventures
River Cruise Partner of the Year: Avalon Waterways
Ensemble also announced that Anthony Bourdain, the CNN travel and food personality, will be the keynote speaker at the organization's 2015 international conference in Orlando. Bourdain will share his insights into the cultures, food and current events gained from his worldwide travels. The event will be held Oct. 25-29, 2015 at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate, located seven miles from the Walt Disney World Resort. The closing night will be held at a Walt Disney World theme park.
Other major Ensemble events next year include the Ensemble Top Producers Celebration, which will be held April 26-May 3 aboard Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection's River Countess on a "Venice and the Gems of Northern Italy" cruise sailing round-trip out of Venice. The annual event recognizes the top agency member producers in both the U.S. and Canada based on 2014 sales performance
In addition, the annual Ensemble Executive Retreat for U.S. members will be held May 28-31 at The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz. The multi-day event is specially designed for Ensemble agency owners and managers to discover new ways of growing their business.
The 2015 event will feature guest educators Jeff Fromm, marketing strategy consultant and a frequent speaker on millennial consumer trends, and Dr. Robert Joselyn, Ph.D., CTC, president and CEO of Joselyn, Tepper & Associates, Inc., a travel and tourism industry marketing and management consulting and service firm.
Ensemble also is introducing a new series of one-day business and educational events for U.S. members, dubbed Ensemble Extraordinary. These events will begin with a business-focused session for agency owners and managers in the morning. The afternoon is designed for frontline agents to gain a greater knowledge of select extraordinary and experiential destinations and higher-margin products from Ensemble's niche and specialty partners.
The events also will feature a special luncheon speaker, Patricia Schultz, veteran travel journalist and author of the No. 1 New York Times' bestseller "1,000 Places to See Before You Die." Events are currently planned in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, as well as in New Jersey and New York in February and March.
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