Michele Rauzon, Alio, with CTC Travel Group's Christine Jeynes and Mary Montgomery
Kensington Tours' Namira McLeish and Elizabeth Story
McCarten Travel's Elizabeth Rodgers, Sherri McCarten and Kelly Rodgers
Embassy of Spain Tourism Section's Alegria Navarez and José Manuel de Juan
Ensemble's Director of Marketing, Franca Iuele, poses with Ensemble's Destination Experts, Gregg Geoghegan from Trails of Indochina, Ajay Ahuja of Zutshi Travel World Services and Ferit Kayrak of Vanguard Travel Services
Each year, Ensemble Travel Group brings their frontline agents together for a full day of seminars, then the opportunity to network with suppliers during trade shows and appreciation events. “You always learn something,” said Patti Allen of Egan Travel in Oakville.
“This type of training event is always reflected in increased sales. It’s invaluable to the whole organization,” said Cristie Newell, event organizer. This year’s OASIS was held in 6 different cities across Canada. About 82 agents were present at the YTO event, hosted at the Hilton Airport hotel last Thursday.
The training conference included seminars on working with Facebook and other social media outlets, new air and cruise booking engines, and a tradeshow with supplier partners such as Kensington Tours, the Embassy of Spain’s Tourism Section and Alio.
Marion Primeau of Uniglobe Sportscorp Travel said, “I absolutely loved the morning’s training sessions. The Ensemble team is great.”
Christine Jeynes of CTC Travel Group said, “It was very informative. The social media session was simplified and easy to understand. They demystified it and took the fear out of social media.” Her colleague, Mary Montgomery, said, “It’s the wave of the future. All of our business will come through social media.”
Elizabeth Story from Kensington Tours said OASIS was a great opportunity to showcase the product in a friendly, but professional environment and has always had positive experiences. “Our sales growth has been significant with Ensemble in the last couple of years,” she said. “I attribute the growth to Ensemble events like these.”
Justin Wegiel from G Adventures said they have been working well with Ensemble in the last month. “They are an amazing partner – a preferred partner, and we cherish the relationship,” he said.
Dale Pusching of Sun Resorts Marketing said, “I would invest time and money with Ensemble.” She was at OASIS representing Anguilla.
According to José Manuel de Juan of the Embassy of Spain’s Tourism Section, Spain saw a 23% growth of Canadian visitors in 2011. This was their 4th time participating in OASIS and they attributed much of their success to the annual event. “Ensemble works well to educate their agents,” he said.
Agents also had the opportunity to meet with 3 of Ensemble’s 72 destination experts, who are a part of the company’s On Location program – Ferit Kayrak of Vanguard Travel Services represents Turkey; Ajay Ahuja of Zutshi Travel World Service is from India; and Gregg Geoghegan of Trails of Indochina handles Southeast Asia. On Location allows agents to work with destination management companies to put packages and itineraries together for their clients. “Working with Ensemble, it is very easy to target hundreds of agents in one shot,” said Ahuja. “Seven years ago, I’d have to travel from city to city to try and reach as many people as possible.”
Earlier this month, Ensemble Co-President, Lindsay Pearlman, said to Open Jaw, “Agents need to be more efficient. They need to access information faster, and they need the access to as much information as possible.” Ensemble shows its dedication to its members by placing education as a priority. And with the success of events like OASIS, it is evident that Ensemble agents and partnered suppliers appreciate the support and training.
