21 NOV 2018: There was a water cannon salute, an orange carpet welcome, a ribbon cutting ceremony (oversized orange handled scissors), and orange and white balloons galore at Daytona International Airport, as Sunwing flew a planeload of travel agents, media and influencers into DAB yesterday – just for the day – to showcase their latest destination (twice weekly flights begin in January). If all you know of Daytona is Nascar Daytona 500, Bike Week and Spring Break – give yourself a shake. There is much more to see and do, excellent hotels, great restaurants, plenty of shopping and 23 miles of truly fabulous beach.
But first the ‘grand entrance’. Despite a delay caused by glitches at Toronto airport – a cautious TSA wondering at a flight with no luggage, and the dreaded (but necessary) deicing, Sunwing’s orange tailed aircraft was spotted by a group of camera ready media as it smoothly descended onto the runway and having cruised to the end turned around and came back for the traditional water cannon welcome.
Travel Industry Today snuck into town a day ahead of the festivities, and settled comfortably into the Hard Rock Hotel (one of the hotels available through Sunwing) on Daytona Beach – more on that later.
Meanwhile, we had an opportunity for an exclusive chat with Reg Mendes, vice president USA and Cruises for Sunwing and Rick Karl, Airport director for Daytona Beach International Airport.
“Why Daytona?” we asked Mendes.
“Well, Sunwing already flies to Orlando, St. Pete, Fort Lauderdale, and Maureen (Maheu, director of USA) and I have been coming back and forth to Daytona to take a look at it. We observed the changs in the hotels available here, the great beach, the community being so supportive of the program, and with this beautiful airport that is here in Daytona, we decided it was time. So, Daytona will be Sunwing’s new venture into Florida.”
Beginning in January and ending in June, Sunwing will fly in twice a week (on Thursdays and Mondays)
“Seasonal to start” says Karl with a smile, “and we’ll see where it goes from there.
“I’ve seen the town go through a lot of different changes.” He says, “When I was growing up, there were always a lot of Canadians here, especially in the wintertime. I can remember the London Symphony Orchestra would come in the summers, and it was a very different feel than what it went through when people think of the MTV era and spring break and a lot of that stuff.
And the NASCAR and the racing stuff took over for a while. And now we’re back into the ebbs and flows of the seasons, which is really, we have a natural course. We have the Canadians in the winter time, in spring break we have the college students – we still have them, but it’s more at a human scale. Some of the families are here, and you have various events throughout the year, so it offers a year-round experience for everybody. Canadians think about us and coming down when it’s cold, during winter, but there’s a lot to do here year-round.
Mendes is right when he says Daytona has changed. You can see the new build hotels driving down the beach, the old hotels of the 70s and 80s are disappearing or have already gone – to be replaced with new and modern beachfront.
At Daytona International Airport (DAB), “we have to compete with Orlando.” Says Karl, “It’s not like we’re the largest airport in the world, so, if you compare our rates with other comparable airports in the state of Florida, we’re very competitive – we can’t compete on price, so we compete on the quality experience. At our airport, you’ll be treated like a person.
“It’s air travel on a human scale. We actually have a front door. We have a parking lot, not a parking garage you get lost in, so it’s very easy to park.”
This is absolutely true as I discovered the next day – it’s easy to park and in minutes you’re in the Terminal building.
“We pride ourselves on that,” said Karl, “and the people here, from the person at the front area, all the way to the TSA agents, they’re all friendly. We have the best relationship with the TSA agents. I get letters on a regular basis from people who just say the TSA agents were so friendly and so helpful.”
True again – they were – waving to us with a cheery, “Welcome to Daytona.”
The airport also has a mail-back program.
“we pride ourselves on, the simple things,” says Karl, “So, if you have your uncle’s pocket-knife when you go through the TSA checkpoint, and you’re like “Oh, my gosh!” (Because that cannot go on board) The agent will say, well, look, put it in this envelope, and address it to yourself, and the airport will send it back to you. So, you just take it out of your pocket, put it in the envelope, the TSA takes it, and puts it in the mail, we pay for the postage and the envelope, and people get their belongings back! It’s not like they’re trying to arrest somebody and in a larger airport, no way -but we can do these nice touches, and people love it! Everybody’s here to offer friendly, convenient, stress-free travel.
“I’ve been here for eight years, oh, nine years now, as Airport Director, and our passenger traffic has gone up seventy percent. We’re still in under a million passengers, but other small, non-hub airports in the United States are losing commercial service, because of the airport consolidation, the pilot shortage, they’re just going to larger equipment, bigger airports, and so small, non-hub airports are losing service, but we’re gaining service, and it goes back to this customer service thing.
Canadians, as we all know, want non-stop flights and as Mendes points out Sunwing offers that as an alternative to changing planes in Atlanta or elsewhere – or to driving.
“They do drive down, and take buses, and whatnot, and I think this will be a home run.” Enthuses Karl, “we’ve planned to fill that reverse flight up, because I tell you, there’s a lot of folk here. We’re trying to attract Millennials,first gtting folks here, and then to also be able to have a non-stop flight to Toronto, and have a rock concert weekend, or art, whatever, there’s so much going on in Toronto, we’re so excited to have access, because that just gives us a gate-to-gate experience with one of the coolest cities on the planet, and we’re very excited about that.”
Before ceasing operations, German charter LTU used to fly to Daytona, but said Karl, it’s just been really hard to attract international traffic – mostly the charter flights – which require hotel rooms at low rates.
Sunwing are doing what the other charter airlines in Europe were not able to do, offering a choice of accommodation and giving the hotels consistent business for a set period.
“Our secret is the high quality that this airline offers – that this travel group offers – and the travel agents are here today to see that. People are already booking, and they will enjoy daytona and its new and updated hotels.”
“We’re using quite a few of them up and down the beach.” Says Mendes, “We’re offering the Hard Rock, The Hilton, the Wyndham, the Delta, the Hyatt, all the name brands that go up and down, and a couple of the old standbys, I call them.
“There are also new condos, if you drive down in on the beach, there’s so many condominiums now and huge high rises, they’re not like the old condominiums. This is a new Daytona.”
Karl says that when he took the job with county run airport, “we combined economic development with the airport. It made perfect sense. That’s how we were able to get JetBlue. We started seven years ago and got them. We got the business community together, it was happening, it was a growth. We got new businesses coming in, we’ve got a lot of big, not just warehouses, but if you go to Tanger Outlet Mall, and if you go to the B. Braun, which is a medical device manufacturer, Brown and Brown which is the third largest insurance company in the world, is keeping their headquarters here, and expanding, there’s other financial things going on in the business community, and expanding that tax base, and making us relevant for the business traveller.
“We’re sixty percent tourism, and we’ve got to keep that. This is so important. Having international status and being able to clear customs and immigration out of Toronto is so convenient for the passenger. That’s such an exciting thing, to be able to fly from Toronto, not have to deal when you get here with customs, you’re pre-cleared, you arrive, you’re here, simple, get in, Uber, or take your rental car (Sunwing packages usually include cars) and there are so many Canadians here already.
“There are also surrounding communities.” Says Mendes. “Music, shopping, culture.”
Karl agrees, “We’re really excited about this. Having a brand like Sunwing coming to Daytona tells the Canadians there’s something here, you can take a nonstop flight, and that’ll open the door for the folks that really want to step up. We’re saying, if you get a chance to go out, which I’m sure you will over at One Daytona, they’ve got a real destiny, they’ve got a higher end experience up there.”
We did look in on One Daytona – and Rick Karl is right. Conveniently located across from the all-new Daytona International Speedway, this is the Daytona Beach area’s epicenter for premier retail, dining and entertainment—including two hotels, luxury apartments and Victory Circle.
Meanwhile back at the Hard Rock hotel, we had a great – and I mean great – panoramic view of the ocean – I woke up early just to watch the sunrise. The rooms are spacious and well appointed – nothing superfluous – clean lines, lots of sockets to plug in devices, coffee maker, a desk (always essential) free – and quick and easy to access WiFi (I hate have having to call down to the desk to get it sorted). There’s a pool, spa, and all the usual amenities available at high end hotels.
The rooms are named after various rock performers – ours was Cheap Trick – not sure what was intended by that!
We had lunch and breakfast at Sessions restaurant in the hotel. Both good. The service in the restaurants and uniformly throughout the hotel was excellent. Pleasant, friendly and professional.
There are of course, as befits a Hard Rock Hotel, there are music features everywhere. Photographs, instruments, articles of clothing – jackets from both Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson fascinated me. And, should the muse or mood take you – order up a guitar and amplifier to your room. Not feeling creative, but getting ‘in the mood’ – a turntable and vinyl can also be supplied. Rock on!
The one day fam ended appropriately at One Daytona, where agents media, airport and Volusia county officials and Sunwing execs and staff gathered at the open air patio deck of the Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery to eat drink and discuss the day’s activities. The mood was light and everyone appeared to have enjoyed – and were still enjoying -their day in Daytona before heading back to DAB and the flight back to snowy Toronto.