Charlie Agostino, Anse Chastanet; Judy Duncan, The BodyHoliday & Rendezvous;
Saint Lucia Director of Tourism, Mr. Louis Lewis; Elaine Carnegie, Anse Chastanet; Alison Theodore, Saint Lucia Manager Canada & Tracey Warner Arnold, Saint Lucia Deputy Director Tourism
Chris Akester, Collacutt Travel; Gillian Gervais, Marlin Travel; Nancy Miklian, Travel Sensations; Saint Lucia's Louis Lewis; Carmelina Pirrocco-Crawford, Halton Trafalgar Travel; Gary Hill, Uniglobe Adventure Travel House; Jairus Maus, Tripcentral; and Debbie & Danny Almon, AlmonTravel
Saint Lucia Hotel Partner, Maureen Barnes-Smith, Sandals Resorts
Saint Lucia's Alison Theodore
St. Lucia’s Director of Tourism Louis Lewis and Deputy Director and former Torontonian Tracey Warner-Arnold joined Alison Theodore, Canada’s Regional Marketing Manager earlier this week to celebrate the 1st annual Piton Awards at a special luncheon ceremony at the Hazelton Hotel’s wonderful One Restaurant.
Eight very successful travel agents were honoured for being the top booking agents in 2013 for Saint Lucia. Special presentations were made during the luncheon to:
Chris Akester, Collacutt Travel, Toronto
Danny Almon, Almon Travel, Halifax
Gillian Gervais, Marlin Travel, Toronto
Gary Hill, Uniglobe Adventure House Travel, Oakville
Jairus Maus, Tripcentral, Waterloo
Nancy Miklian, Travel Sensations, Toronto
Carmelina Pirrocco-Crawford, Halton Trafalgar Travel, Oakville
Danny Almon and his wife Debbie travelled a circuitous route from Halifax via Tampa to Toronto to be on hand for the award presentations and I think it must have been worth the trip. Our hosts treated us to a delectable lunch accompanied by a live St. Lucian musical performance, gorgeous video backdrops (including the latest episode of The Bachelor’s final rose ceremony filmed on the island) and topped off with specially imported St. Lucian sweets.
All honourees were awarded commemorative plaques featuring the original works of a St. Lucian artist as well as $500 for their own spending pleasure and another $500 in marketing dollars for their agency. To top off their rewards, Grand Piton Awards sponsors Anse Chastanet and Sunswept Resorts chipped in 2 nights each for 2 in St. Lucia for each of the 8 top agents.
In conjunction with the Piton Awards, St. Lucia is relaunching their Preferred Agent Saint Lucia Specialist (PASS) education and training program and this year agents will be incentivized to participate in the program via monthly hotel incentives, cash and marketing dollars. On top of all of that... the top 10 Canadian agents who record monthly bookings will be awarded a weekend for 2 in St. Lucia to attend the Grand Piton Awards scheduled for late 2014. Agents should contact Alison Theodore to set up their PASS membership.
Tracey Warner-Arnold says the SLTB is committed to supporting the needs of their travel agent partners and have developed the PASS program to “not only provide financial incentive, but also the necessary resources and information to help deliver memorable experiences to their clients”.
They certainly did just that with their 1st contingent of Piton Award recipients.
