You have to be pretty confident as a tour operator to host an agent event on a Friday evening, and in suburban Mississauga, Ont.
And yet again, on 22SEP Hola Sun packed the Le Treport Wedding and Convention Centre with some 135 agents plus hoteliers, all clearly so happy to be there to listen, learn, dine and dance.
“It’s always a Friday night – we call it Fiesta Friday!” Veronica Duenas, Sales Accounts Manager for Hola Sun told me. “We have agents from London, Bowmanville, Kitchener and more!”
The Cuba specialist tour operator features as many as 12 destinations within Cuba and a whopping 190 hotels offered from YYZ and YUL, with TS providing the lift. Hola Sun, now celebrating its 32nd year of operation, has a total of 30 staff, equally split between YYZ and YUL.
The operator also has a loyalty program whereby agents earn $10 per travelled pax to be used for their own travel with Hola Sun (air only or package), with redemption up to 900 days after the pax has travelled. Even better: there are no blackout periods and Hola Sun tracks bookings.
Hotels present at the event included Blau, whose Francisco Gamez told me he thinks their Havana Beach Hotel is a surprising gem. Just 30 minutes from Old Havana (the hotel has a $5 round trip shuttle), it’s on a stunning beach. And agents were surprised and delighted to hear that the Sirenis Tropical in Varadero not only has free WiFi – it now has pickleball!
In all, sales staff from 8 hotel groups made presentations to bring the advisors up to date. Hola partnered with the hotels to draw for 12 prizes of trips for 2, air included. Happy winners included Wioletta Korzec of Nexion Canada who declared her prize “Amazing!”
I asked a number of agents what makes Cuba so special and why they love to sell it. And I heard the same responses, again and again: The beaches. The people, who are so kind and welcoming. Not to mention the very high repeat factor. As one advisor put it: “It sells itself.”
A live band brought the music of Cuba to life, playing longtime favourites such as Chan Chan and Guantanamera, bringing the guests to their feet and onto the dance floor.
More info on Hola Sun, plus its digital brochure, available here.
