Christine James and John Lovell of vacation.com
Michele Rauzon, the face of Alio!
ACV's Brian Joseph with
Olga Shmerling of Skybird Travel
Jane Kellough and Ana Carias of Frederick Travel
The Crowne Plaza at Pearson Airport was abuzz this past week as dozens of vacation.com agents convened to mingle with suppliers, take in educational seminars and tuck into some fine food.
The 13th annual Canadian Fall Regional Conference and Trade Show was the occasion and was themed the “Shape Your Destiny”.
Clearly one man in the group who has been changing his destiny recently was John Lovell, v.com president. He has only been in this role for the past seven months. However he’s no newbie to the organization, having previously served as vice-president of industry relations, sales and revenue management.
The numbers are impressive, with v.com’s 5,100 agencies across North America (505 in Canada) accounting for 32% of leisure travel sales in North America. And, as we’ve been hearing from so many travel suppliers, Canada is a shining light. “Consumer confidence is low in the US compared to Canada,” Lovell told me, “and we certainly don’t treat you as The Upper US!” Christine James, vice-president here in Canada, attributes much of v.com Canada’s success to their marketing programs – “The most robust in the business. No one does as much training as we do!”
In between networking, nibbling and chatting with suppliers, agents told me what they love about vacation.com. Georgia Rakoupolous loves the support and resources, access to training and live support. Jane Kellough, visiting with her colleagues from Frederick Travel, calls the marketing materials “awesome”, while Humphrey Petit of Moreno Travel favors “the good commissions and the best products.”
Out on the trade show floor, suppliers shared with me some of the good news they were spreading to v.com agents.
Ian Robertson of Rocky Mountaineer is very excited about their new SilverLeaf service (something between GoldLeaf and RedLeaf). Brent Bowes of Plaza Premium Lounge happily pays commission on sales of airport lounge passes at YYZ, YVR – and soon, YEG. Michèle Rauzon of Alio is thrilled with their new hotel booking engine: “It’s faster, there’s no minimum stay, live inventory and it includes Google mapping – a great tool!” It was a great night for all at vacation.com.
