Travalliance has received nine awards -- two Gold, three Silver and four Bronze -- for its Virtual Travel Events, Travel Agent Academy, Virtual Travel Seminars and Travel Pulse TV segments in the 2011 Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Annual Adrian Awards competition.

The Adrian Awards honors “creative brilliance and best practices in hospitality, travel and tourism related marketing.” In its fifth decade, the HSMAI Adrian Awards has grown into the world’s most renowned and prestigious advertising, public relations and web marketing competition, specifically tailored for the travel industry.

 “Out of 1,000 entries submitted this year, your work was judged to be exceptional by expert hospitality, travel, tourism and media professionals,” said Fran Brasseux, executive vice president, HSMAI. “Judges were asked to evaluate each entry based on its own merit, and success in achieving its objectives…You truly have ‘Made Your Mark!’”

Virtual Travel Events: Honored with one of two Gold awards is Virtual Home Based Expo. This annual Virtual Travel Event offers agents working from home the opportunity to learn about ways to improve their business and meet with suppliers, right from their desktop. The "live" and "interactive" show allows agents to learn best practices from top executives, industry insiders, business coaches and fellow agents. In addition, agents attend a trade show, where they are able to interact with a wide range of exhibitors from all sectors of the industry. Receiving one of three Silver Awards is Royal Caribbean Expo. Royal Caribbean International (RCI) wanted an innovative way to educate travel agents about the largest cruise ship ever, Oasis of the Seas, and make it as exciting as the ship itself. The Virtual Travel Event platform gave Royal Caribbean a marketing tool that was fully customizable, and allowed travel agents to virtually tour the ship, hear from executives about the ships features, and learn how to position it to clients. The company followed the first Expo with a Royal Caribbean All Access virtual trade show eight months later. This event focused on the entire fleet and RCI experience. During both two-day live events, agents were able to enter chat rooms to “speak” to company representatives to garner additional information and ask questions. To learn more about Virtual Travel Events scheduled throughout the year, visit www.VirtualTravelEvents.com.

Travel Agent Academy/Sell Series: Travel Agent Academy Adrian Award winners include SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Specialist (Gold), Carnival’s CCL University (Silver), Sell Africa Travel (Bronze), Puerto Rico Travel Expert (Bronze).

Carnival’s CCL University Campus provides easy access to live events, “how-to” videos and a core on-line course. Travel agents can find a wealth of information on a variety of topics to enhance their knowledge of the Carnival product, along with the sales techniques they need to optimize their sales efforts. From "Funtastic" Fam Weekends to Webinars, Carnival offers a wide variety of super-fun training events to help agents learn about the innovative features and amenities on its ships.

Puerto Rico Travel Expert allows agents to learn how to go beyond selling fun in the sun, and discover the unique culture, history and wide variety of attractions within Puerto Rico’s 78 distinctive municipalities. This in-depth program helps agents sell to special interests, and rewards graduates’ sales efforts with a lucrative incentive program offering cash prizes of up to $4,000. 

The Sea World Parks & Entertainment course provides an engaging way to educate agents on its 10 theme parks. When agents finish the course, they will have a clear idea of what makes each park special in its own way, including SeaWorld in Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego; Busch Gardens in Tampa Bay, Fla. and Williamsburg, Va.; Discovery Cove in Orlando; Aquatica in Orlando; Sesame Place in Langhorne, Penn.; Adventure Island in Tampa Bay, Fla.; and Water Country USA in Williamsburg, Va.

The Sell Africa Travel program contains everything travel agents need to develop an Africa sales niche -- core training on the destination, companion supplier education (Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve; Peermont Hotels, Casinos, Resorts; Sun International; South African Airways; ET African Journeys, fairfield Tours; Highline Tours & Travel), the latest related “deals” that agents can forward on to their customers, related news, video tours and other resources - all designed to stimulate and facilitate Africa sales on an on-going basis. For more information, visit www.SellAfricaTravel.com.  

Travel Pulse TV Spain Week (Silver Award): This series was created to help travel agents attract higher numbers of experienced, high-end U.S. travelers to lesser-traveled areas of the country. Spain recognized that Travel Pulse TV, watched on average 7,000 times per day by travel agents (with segments easily shared with their customers via email, directly from the site) would be the best way to communicate with them. Spain commissioned a one-week series on the area of Andalucía. This series of videos (currently available on-demand at www.TravelPulse.com) allows travel agents to take a virtual tour of the destination with Mark Murphy, CEO of Travalliance, a name and face agents know well, like and trust.

Couples Resorts Romance Week (Bronze Award): Couples’ goal was to increase their exposure among travel agents and provide these agents, who may be unable to make a visit themselves, with an up-close and personal view of their properties in Jamaica. These TravelPulse TV segments, highlighted consecutively over a one-week period (and available on-demand for a one-year period) highlight the unique and enjoyable vacation experiences at each Couples resort (along with Mark Murphy’s insights on the properties), and make it easier for agents to communicate these outstanding experiences to the couples among their clients. The videos are vivid, colorful, informative and fun to watch. Following the virtual tour, agents can be confident that what the company promises to its guests is what they actually receive, and more.

Virtual Travel Seminars: Lufthansa India (Bronze Award) was an executive-hosted Virtual Travel Seminar held on several “live” scheduled dates (and currently available on-demand). It instructs travel agents on Lufthansa’s award-winning services to India from 17 U.S. gateways and motivates them to market and sell Lufthansa air services to India with a range of incentives. Virtual Travel Seminars offers a distinctly personal appeal with its invitations to the live events, executive presenters, and the opportunity to ask questions and receive answers through the programs.

For more information, visit www.VirtualTravelEvents.com, www.VirtualTravelSeminars.com, www.TravelAgentAcademy.comnd www.TravelPulse.com.