2021 Travel Weekly Magellan Awards Gold Winner
The world-class communication and resources, creative virtual events, ambitious marketing and innovative training gave our agents the tools they needed to serve their customers during the pandemic.
WILMINGTON, Massachusetts (PRWEB)
October 19, 2021
World Travel Holdings together with the brands Dream Vacations, CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. were again recognized by Travel Weekly this year. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the company quickly launched creative programs to support its agent network in new ways.
“I’m so proud of the way our teams changed gears quickly and never missed a second helping our agents during the most difficult time for them personally and professionally in our industry,” said Debbie Fiorino, senior vice president and chief operations officer for World Travel Holdings. “The world-class communication and resources, creative virtual events, ambitious marketing and innovative training gave our agents the tools they needed to serve their customers during the pandemic. It is truly an honor to be recognized as the best of the best in the travel industry with these Magellan Awards. “
Gold winners
Take Me Away Virtual Vacation Experience was a renaming of Dream Vacations, CruiseOne, and Cruises Inc., the long-standing signature Virtual Cruise Events, because there was a need not only to provide vacation inspiration but also to ensure that the event name was all encompassing Shore Vacations. As part of the relaunch, travel agents received a landing page on their websites with unique event registration links that gave them real-time insights into who registered and participated so that they can follow up on their customers.
The Travel Security Program provides Dream Vacations, CruiseOne, and Cruises Inc. agents with resources to generate enthusiasm for cruising and travel, as well as training on travel security protocols. A travel safety program landing page will be highlighted on the home page of each website and promoted in consumer emails. The landing page informs and informs visitors about safe and healthy travel and includes a Travel Safety Guide, Sea Safety, Flight Safety Guide, Resort Travel Safety Guide, and Videos. Marketing and promotional materials enable our agents to position themselves as community experts for safe travel in a COVID-19 world and to educate consumers about which health and safety measures to expect when traveling.
The Virtual National Conference was launched in 2020 for Dream Vacations, CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. because the annual weeklong event could not be held on a ship when cruises were suspended. Lasting four days, this event featured prominent guests and replicated the on-board experience in terms of content and engagement to provide a more personalized experience for attendees. Highlights included general meetings; Presentations by CEOs of almost all major cruise lines; Educational workshops; Entertainment on cruise ships; interactive interactive activities such as wine tastings, mixology demonstrations, and cooking classes; and even a virtual walk / run in aid of Make-A-Wish® that raised more than $ 50,000.
Silver winner
The value of a travel advisor is more important than ever due to the pandemic. Therefore, the marketing team at Dream Vacations, CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. developed campaigns that travel advisors keep their customers informed, even in times of travel standstill, but who are aware of the COVID environment. This included a range of fully funded direct mail postcards promoting the value of a travel advisor and inspiring customers to dream (and book) of future trips, which built relationships and trust.
The Travel Safety Training Program is a training program created to make the advisors of World Travel Holdings’ nearly 40 brands the most knowledgeable in the industry when it comes to traveling safely in a COVID-19 world. Through this program, consultants gain trust and knowledge when advising their customers on this complex topic and increase consumer credibility. Upon completion of the training, travel advisors will be verified on travel safety.
COVID-19 crisis communications were vital during the pandemic, so World Travel Holdings communications team kept its finger on the pulse of current events and sent its very first “Coronavirus News Alert” on the 29th Industry Closed. Since then, the team has been sending urgent messages on a daily basis to keep agents and employees informed of cancellations, policy changes, government closures, and more. The complex information is dissected and structured so that it is easy to understand. In addition, the team provides the consultants with topics to talk about with customers and the media.
The Magellan Awards recognize outstanding design, marketing and services in a variety of industry segments including hospitality, travel destinations, cruise lines, online travel services, airlines and airports, travel agents and agents, tour operators and ground transportation.
“Every year we recognize industry innovators and creative communicators with our Magellan Awards. This year we recognize the resilience, ingenuity and the way forward created by those who shared their company’s initiatives through words, images and design and saw travel as part of the conversation and the equation, “said Arnie Weissmann, editor-in-chief of Weekly Travel. “We greet everyone who took part and everyone who won.”
The Magellan Awards are judged and monitored by a unique panel of top travel professionals who represent the best names and most accomplished executives in the industry. When determining the winners, the entries will not compete with each other, but will be judged according to a standard of excellence based on Travel Weekly’s many years of experience. In order to maintain this high standard of excellence, there can be several or no winners in a category.
A full list of silver and gold winners can be found at http://www.travelweeklyawards.com.
About World Travel Holdings
World Travel Holdings is the country’s largest cruise agency and award-winning vacation travel company with a portfolio of more than 40 different brands. In addition to owning some of the largest brands that sell cruises, villas, resort vacations, car rentals, resort day passes, and luxury travel services, World Travel Holdings has an extensive portfolio of private label partnerships with top leisure travel companies, including almost all of them US airline, leading hotel brands and well-known corporations. The company also operates a world-class travel agency franchise and the country’s original hosting agency, and is consistently recognized as an industry leader in home working. Its global presence includes operating several cruise brands in the UK. World Travel Holdings has offices in Wilmington, Massachusetts; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; and Chorley, England. For more information, visit WorldTravelHoldings.com.
Via Travel Weekly
Travel Weekly is the most influential provider of news, research, opinion and analysis for the North American travel marketplace. It reaches a wide professional audience in print, online and with personal events all year round. Travel Weekly is a division of Northstar Travel Media, based in Secaucus, New Jersey, the largest business-to-business travel publisher in the world.
About the Northstar Tour Group
Northstar Travel Group is the leading B2B information and marketing solutions company serving all segments of the travel industry including leisure / retail, business / corporate travel, corporate and sporting events, incentives, hospitality and travel technology. Northstar owns leading brands serving these travel segments. The company organizes more than 100 face-to-face events in 13 countries across the retail, hospitality, business travel, travel technology, sports travel, and meeting and incentive industries. Northstar also owns Phocuswright, the leading research and events producer for the travel technology industry. Northstar Travel Group owns BHN Group, the leading manufacturer of hotel investment conferences. Northstar is also the majority shareholder of Inntopia, the leading SaaS e-commerce software company serving the mountain sports, golf, activities and hospitality markets. Headquartered in Secaucus, NJ, the company has 7 offices in the US, UK, Singapore and China. Northstar Travel Group is owned by funds managed by EagleTree Capital.
