Last Chance to Vote for the Travvys!

The travel industry is awash with awards. Indeed, it’s often difficult to ascertain the validity of some of these awards programs or the process through which the “winners” are named.

So why would we go ahead and create yet another travel industry awards program? The answer is we believe the most legitimate way to determine the “best” travel suppliers, travel agencies and destinations is to have our readers, namely the top travel agents in the country, vote on them.

That’s why we began the Travvy Awards, our annual poll of the best of the best according to the travel agent readers of TravelPulse.com, Agent@Home magazine and Vacation Agent magazine. Our readership base encompasses the vast majority of travel agents in the United States, and now we are only a few days away from the deadline for their votes!

If you are one of our travel agent readers, this is the last chance you’ll have to vote on your favorite travel suppliers and destinations. You can vote for your favorite cruise lines, tour operators, hotel companies, host travel agencies and destinations, based on the service they deliver to you and your customers.

You also can vote for those individual industry executives that you consider tops in their respective segment, unlike any other awards programs. So please click on Travvy Awards Voting and make your vote count!

Winners of the Travvys will be identified as the best of the best in the industry, having gone through a rigorous three-step process. With over 10 industry categories and more than 70 awards within those categories, we are looking for your help to determine who will win not only win an award, but who will get the bragging rights that they are now among the industry’s elite.

Voting will take place until 11:50 p.m. EST on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014. Winners will be notified later in December and recognized during our Travvy Awards Gala, scheduled for Jan. 22, 2015 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, the night before the New York Times Travel Show trade day, when many travel suppliers and travel professionals will already be in town.

Once the voting is completed, a special committee of selected readers and our editors will review the results. Unlike some other awards programs, where the awards are voted on by a small committee of "experts," we believe the most valid people to select industry awards are the professional travel agents who read TravelPulse.com, Agent@Home magazine and Vacation Agent magazine.

Our travel agent readers are the people who select the top hotels, cruise lines, tours and destinations on a daily basis for their clients. They also know the top executives in the business and the top travel agencies. So who better to vote on these categories than travel agents?

We have different awards in several different categories, including Cruises, Tour Operators, Hotels & Resorts, Travel Agents, Destinations, Travel Technology, Travel Insurance, Airlines, Car Rentals and Rail Travel. Ballots were first send out nearly two months ago.

We’ve already gotten a much stronger response to our very first Travvy Awards contest than we anticipated, so we expect the program will grow dramatically into something that is eagerly anticipated every year by the industry as well as the public at large. After all, travel agents know about the best travel products for their clients, so an awards program where agents can vote on those products truly reflects the best of the best in the industry.

For travel suppliers and destinations, if you haven't already entered the Travvy Awards contest, our advice is wait until next year. For those who have entered, we wish you good luck! We’ll know the results of the vote very soon! And once again, if you are one of our valued travel agent readers, there’s still time to cast your ballot by clicking on Travvy Awards Voting.