Karisma's GIVC Awards: A Breakdown of the Event, Plus Exclusive Nickelodeon News

If you weren't one of the nearly 600 travel advisors to attend Karisma Hotels & Resorts' 11th annual Gourmet Inclusive Vacation Consultant (GIVC) awards, TravelPulse will fill you in on what you missed.

The recently concluded event saw some of the industry's top producers gather at El Dorado Royale in the Riviera Maya, Mexico for education, networking and honors.

And TravelPulse walked away with some exclusive news as well.

Here's what you need to know.

Nickelodeon's Future Plans

Karisma's second Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts property will open in the Riviera Maya in 2020. Mandy Chomat, chief sales and marketing officer at Karisma, said the project was set back a few months for various reasons, including delays in securing permits needed for the hotel's main attraction, the water park.

This will follow the successful debut of Nickelodeon Hotels & Resorts Punta Cana, which Chomat said has been "booming" amongst both the U.S. Millennial market and the local Dominican Republic market since it opened in 2016.

Chomat said Karisma will officially be announcing the third location for Nickelodeon within the next six months, but told TravelPulse that Cartagena, Colombia could very likely be that destination.

Karisma already has three properties in Colombia, including two in Cartagena, all in the form of the company's Allure Hotels, which are all high-end, boutique, EP properties. Allure Bonbon, by Karisma and Allure Chocolat are located in Cartagena, while Allure Cafe Mocawa is located in Armenia.

Rafael Feliz, chairman and CEO of Karisma, also added that Jamaica is also in consideration for the third location.

Although Nickelodeon will continue to have a growing presence in the Caribbean and Mexico, it appears the brand is heavily targeting Central and South American destinations.

"Let's just say we would love to have a Nickelodeon in every single country in Latin America," said Chomat. "We are looking at every single country to see which ones would work and the best plans. We are always scouting land and always looking at places where we can get a lot of the domestic market in these locations."

Feliz told TravelPulse that Peru, Brazil and Panama will all be scouted for possible Nickelodeon hotels. However, two Latin America destinations you might be able to cross off the list of potential Nickelodeon landing spots are Argentina and Ecuador, mainly due to obstacles the weather at each destination could pose for an outdoor resort, said Feliz. Feliz also told us Dubai is being looked into as a possible Nickelodeon destination.

Rienk de Jong, vice president of sales and marketing at Premier Worldwide Marketing / Karisma Hotels & Resorts, noted that many locals in the destinations Nickelodeon is eyeing do not have visas, making it even more likely that a heavy portion of Nickelodeon's Latin America business will be domestic.

"Nickelodeon has a lot of brand recognition," said de Jong, "and a lot of the destinations (in Latin America) have a lot of locals who don't have visas, so they cannot travel to the U.S. for something like Nickelodeon."

Dolores Lopez Lira Talks Lomas Travel' New Partnership with Classic

As part of the GIVC's marketing forum, TravelPulse caught up with Dolores Lopez Lira about Lomas Travel's new partnership with Classic Vacations.

Lomas, the popular destination management company (DMC) located in the Mexican-Caribbean, recently announced a partnership with Classic Vacations to become a part of their portfolio and provide destination services throughout the Mexican-Caribbean, Cozumel and the Yucatan Peninsula.

Lira, along with her husband, Jose Luis Martinez, own and operate Lomas Travel. The two also own Karisma Hotels & Resorts' hotels.

Lomas Travel was previously the primary provider for The Mark Travel Corporation (TMTC), including FunJet Vacations, Southwest Vacations and United Vacations, before Mark Travel's acquisition by Apple Leisure Group. At that time, FunJet discontinued its 30-year relationship with Lomas Travel.

In mid-May, the owners of Lomas Travel sent a letter to their travel partners informing them that Funjet Vacations planned to change its ground services after about 30 years of working with Lomas.

"That was difficult for us," said Lira. "We knew we had a lot of agents who were worried for us. So, we just needed to stay in communication with them as soon as we were allowed to announce it. The support from agents meant a lot."

In April, ALG and TMTC announced that both companies had signed a definitive agreement "to create an integrated leisure travel and technology solutions company," according to a news release by both companies. Financial terms of the private transaction were not disclosed. The transaction officially closed on May 1.

Lira told TravelPulse that Classic had been interested in partnering with Lomas for the last year or so, but Lomas was still working with Funjet at the time. Lopez said she knew the partnership with Funjet was inevitably ending because of the merger, but was happy the two parties rode it out until the end.

"We had a great relationship with Funjet and understand how things go," said Lira. "[Classic] is really a great fit for us mainly because a lot of our agent partners tell us how much they like working with them."

Lira also noted that Lomas will soon be upgrading its fleet to "keep up" with Classic's standards.

The GIVC's Jamaica Presence

Donnie Dawson, deputy director of tourism, sales for the U.S. and Latin America for the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), was in attendance for the first time in the show's history, yet another sign of Karisma's recently increased business in Jamaica.

The biggest deal between Karisma and Jamaica in recent years came in the form of the Sugar Cane Jamaica deal. The project, which is scheduled to come online over the next 10 years, will feature 5,000 rooms in seven hotels.

"This is my first year attending and I'm very impressed," said Dawson. "Karisma truly embraces the travel agent and everyone knows embracing the agent has always been a personal crusade of mine."

And as far as Jamaica hotels already open in Jamaica go, Karisma Hotels & Resorts recently announced the debut of a new adults-only section at Azul Beach Resort Negril by Karisma.

Eleven Years of Growth

TravelPulse chatted with some Karisma representatives and travel agents who have been to many, if not all, of the GIVC awards to tell us how the event has evolved over the years.

"When I first started (at Karisma), I immediately saw there was this commitment to the travel agent," said Chomat. "And that has only gotten stronger over the years. This event is for both Karisma and the agents to come together so both sides can talk and figure out ways to keep strengthening those relationships."

"It's really been an amazing ride we've been on," said Feliz. "To think, when we started this we had about 150, maybe 200 agents tops, and now we have about 600. It really shows how we have grown with our agents."

"If you sell honeymoons, Karisma practically sells itself," said Emily Bertsch, an advisor with VIP Vacations, Inc. in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, who has attended the last eight GIVC awards. "They always have something new at the show. This year, it was the breakout sessions teaching you about all of the benefits from new products, and classes on technology were helpful too."

And the Karisma sales team has taken notice of what makes agents like Bertsch come back every year.

"The reason this continues to be a success among agents is that there is always something new-a new product or a new message, a new theme," said David Black, senior director of sales for Karisma, "and agents notice that. They tell me every year."

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