Air Canada Vacations wrapped its fall ‘DreamMakers’ series of cross-Canada fall product launches Thursday with an enthusiastic crowd of close to a thousand travel advisors at a venue north of Toronto. The event also attracted one special guest: Sandals Resorts executive chairman Adam Stewart, who received a standing ovation when entering the stage.
A title sponsor of the events (along with Bahia Principe), which in total attracted about 3,000 attendees across the cities – also including Halifax, Montreal, Edmonton, and Vancouver – Sandals’ Stewart enthused about the importance of the relationship between the two travel giants, noting that it had been a “profitable partnership” for 40 years and has grown to be based on “an incredible trust and bond.”
The relationship is important, in fact, that Stewart explained simply: “I’m here! All it took was one phone call from Nino (Montagnese, ACV VP).”
Stewart revealed that the last two weeks were the best ever for Sandals bookings at Air Canada Vacations, no doubt due to the extensive cross-country road show, along with a free connecting airfare offer from ACV for those booking Sandals or Beaches packages.
And while Sandals Resorts boasts 24 resorts on 10 islands in nine destinations (with “seven on the burner”) he noted that Air Canada flies to each of its destinations and has always supported the all-inclusive brand wherever it sets up tent (most recently in St. Vincent and the Grenadines).
The Sandals boss noted another synergy between the two: respect and devotion to travel advisors and the critical distribution channel they provide – particularly, he said, for a sophisticated product like Sandals resorts, which needs agents’ expertise in the selling process.
Team St. Kitts was out in full force for the event, including tourism authority CEO Kelly Fontenelle (l) and St. Kitts tourism minister Marsha Tamika Henderson (c)But for all the star power Stewart delivered, and the support of several dozen other partners that manned trade show booths, the evening was still all about Air Canada Vacations, which launched its winter travel collection, featuring over 600 warm weather options in 60 destinations, along with hundreds of cruise itineraries.
(All can be found in the digital sun guide HERE.
Of course, attendees also learned about (or were refreshed) on ACV’s extensive suite of products (including ePackages, CareFlex and Carefree programs), Vacation and Cruise guarantees, self-management tools, loyalty (ACV&Me) bonuses, Aeroplan incentives, and destinations that go well beyond the Sun, to Europe, Asia, the South Pacific, and “anywhere Air Canada flies.”
Truly, “It’s unbelievable what we have,” summarized ACV national director of sales summarized, Erminia Gallina. We have so much to talk about!”
And they did.
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