A Gracious Globus Get Together

with Suzanne Christie

After all the fuss at the holiday season, January tends to be a let down. No more parties. No more eggnog. No more half-eaten boxes of chocolates lying around the office.

So it was a pleasure to be invited to the annual Globus family of brands get-together for key agents, tourist boards and suppliers in Toronto. The now-annual do is held at Il Molino Restaurant, a charming little Italian eatery across the street from the Globus family of brands Canadian HQ.

It was quite the who’s who of the industry. Spotted in the crowd were Stephanie Anevich of Vision 2000; Thomas Cook’s Doreen Lynch; Jason Dusautoy of Flight Centre; Chris Lackstrom of Ensemble and Christine James of V.com. Tourist board reps covered destinations as diverse as Spain, Peru, Israel, Kenya, Germany and Ireland – a reflection of the diversity of the Globus product. Even Globus’ banker and lawyer were invited (to show them what a fun bunch we are, I imagine).

Our host, Managing Director Stéphanie Bishop, thanked all of her “extraordinary partners” and went on to tell us that 2011 was an exceptionally strong year for the company. And, 2012 is starting off pretty well too.

Present was Vanessa Lee, not only a household name in the industry but also the Godmother of the Avalon Vista which she will christen in Amsterdam in May. As she told the group, “I’ve long wanted to be a Godmother – I’ve been in the business 36 years and this will be probably one of the most thrilling things that has ever happened in my life. When I was invited to be the Vista’s Godmother last year, I was rendered speechless!” (“But not for long!” some wag called out fondly from the crowd.)

And that was it. No heavy sales pitch, no powerpoint presentation with pie-charts of sales activity or speeches full of stats and brochure details. Just a lovely lunch attended by friends and colleagues in the industry. As Stéphanie put it, “A thank you from our family to yours.”