Transat BDMs Fatima DaSilva (L) & Fiona Schonewille (R) welcomed agents to the Training Academy with cool sunglasses
Agents met and mingled with 19 Transat suppliers at the trade show before dinner
TS flight attendants Nathalie Brousseau (L) & Wendy Hardekopf (R) were on hand to share information about the Transat flight experience
Chris Chiang of Celestyal Cruises (L) spoke to Ami Hisanaga of Centre Holidays about Transat's Cuba Cruise program
Peter Tran of Palace Resorts catching up with Zahra Remtulla of HB Vacations.
Transat Holidays brought their Training Academy to BC last week as part of their Western Canada tour. 180 agents and 19 suppliers attended the event in Burnaby and Open Jaw was on hand to report on the festivities. In line with the winter brochure cover, each attendee received a choice of colourful sunglasses as a keepsake, networked with suppliers at the trade show and enjoyed the ubiquitous pasta buffet.
Transat's Edmonton-based Sales Manager Dean Neville, the Groups Dept & BC BDMs led the group through a product update. With his quick-witted humour, Dean kept the crowd going, applauding Vancouver for "kicking butt" at selling sun product as well as Transat connectors. Agents were quite happy to hear that it isn't always all about Toronto!
While at the trade show, I met newcomer Ami Hisanaga of Centre Holidays who has many millennial clients, and she shared some interesting thoughts about their buying patterns. As this generation begins to settle into steady careers, their travel budget also increases. They may start off with 3-star basic packages but will eventually transition into higher levels of experiences. Ami sees how Transat can facilitate this by way of their Sun Collections - from Savvy to Adult, Solo, Luxury and Family to capture the millennial market as they transition through life.
The Transat team is also most proud of the Agent Direct booking engine, with the ability to generate group quotes in a timely manner. Zahra Remtulla of HB Vacations can fully attest to that! Specializing in destination weddings, Zahra used Agent Direct and received a group quote within 5 minutes of submitting her request. That kind of response speed is unheard of, and it is one of the reasons why Zahra enjoys selling Transat. She finds the Groups department extremely efficient and her BDM is always attentive in helping her close group sales.
The evening was titled Partnership Equals Success, and from what I heard, I couldn't agree more. Agent and supplier partnerships are priceless. Having the opportunity to meet with representatives one-on-one puts faces to names, and lets us build valuable relationships that we can mutually call upon later. And Transat continues to support the agent community by roadshows, improved technology, consumer promotions & agent incentives.
180 agents filled the room for a dinner and Transat product update
