Plenty of sizzle. But also a good amount of steak.
Air Canada Vacations held its annual Toronto Dreamakers Product Launch near YYZ on 22SEP, with more than 1,300 advisors and dozens of industry types on hand to celebrate.
Advisors were encouraged to send in avatars of themselves as travel superheroes, “because you are our heroes,” said Director of Sales Erminia Gallina, who had a pretty spiffy avatar of her own.
“The memories you make and the work you do does not go unnoticed,” Vice President Nino Montages told the crowd.
Air Canada Vacations recently asked advisors across the country to name their favourite destinations in various categories. They also asked them to name their top hotel partners.
The results were unveiled at the Universal event complex in Kleinburg after voting from some 1.3 million advisors.
ACV TOP HOTEL PARTNERS
LUXURY: Sandals Resorts
GROUP: Hyatt Inclusive Resorts
FAMILY: Beaches Resorts
ACV TOP DESTINATIONS WORLDWIDE
BUCKET LIST: Cinque Terre, Italy
ROMANCE: Paris
CITY BREAK: New York City
FAMILY: Nassau, Bahamas
ARTS AND CULTURE: Prague
FOODIE FAVOURITE: Santiago, Chile
BEACH: Riviera Maya
WELLNESS: Phuket, Thailand
ADVENTURE: Rio de Janeiro
HIDDEN GEM: Funchal, Madeira
NEW FLIGHTS
Gallina said there are tons of new flights for advisors to book this winter, including Mazatlan, Roatan, Quito, Santo Domingo, Merida and Tenerife, Canary Islands.
Also new are flights from YYC to both CUN and PVR, as well as YUL, YHZ, YWG and YOW to MBJ, YHZ to BGI and YVR to LIR. In addition, there will be flights from Montreal to Aruba, Toronto to Copenhagen, Quebec City to Guadeloupe and Vancouver to Sapporo, Japan.
Gallina also noted that Air Canada rouge is transitioning to modern, new Boeing 737Max8’s which will provide more space, seat-back entertainment and free, fast Wi-Fi for Aeroplan members and those in business class.
“Please help us spread the word,” she said.
As well, Gallina noted the new Air Canada A321XLR planes coming on stream, which Open Jaw editor Nina Slawek profiled in a recent video.
“It’s a really game-changer,” she said.
The evening also included a game (with prizes, naturally) where advisors had to guess whether the group as a whole would prefer one type of travel over another.
Asked if their clients would rather have a luxury villa with a butler or a cruise with a balcony bigger than your average condo, advisors overwhelmingly picked the villa.
On the age-old question of window versus aisle on the plane, advisors went with the window, 57% to 43%.
