Canadian members, suppliers honoured at TLN’s POP Awards

Canadian members and suppliers were honoured at the Travel Leaders Network’s (TLN’s) “Power of Partnership” (POP) awards recently at the consortium’s EDGE conference at the Gaylord National Harbor Resort & Convention Centre in National Harbor, MD.

Eight agencies were given POP Awards as a recognition of their superior performance in the last year. President’s Awards were given to agencies in the small, midsize and large categories.

These agencies are the top of the top in their particular sizes. President’s Awards were given to:

• Cruise Holidays/Be Our Guest (Small Agency President’s Award)
• Vacations Yorkton (Midsize Agency President’s Award)
• KVI Travel (Large Agency President’s Award)
• Kyle Oram of KVI Travel was also given the Most Engaging Member Award.

Travel Leaders Network recognized two of its top Canadian producers with the Chairman’s Elite and Chairman’s Pinnacle Awards.

The Chairman’s Elite Award was given to Northstar Travel for the largest percentage in annual growth. The Chairman’s Pinnacle Award was given to the Canadian agency with the largest sales, The Travel Agent Next Door.

Centre Holidays took home the Host Agency of the Year Award in recognition of their sales, agent growth and overall participation in TLN programs.

VIP Travel Group was honoured as the New Member of the Year for their promise as a successful new member and embrace of TLN’s offerings.

Every year, Travel Leaders Network gives its top individual Canadian member the Member of the Year Award. The award winner is chosen in part because of their superior sales. However, they are also evaluated on their participation in TLN programs, attendance at meetings; and overall engagement and support of the partnership between their agency and Travel Leaders Network.

The 2024 Member of the Year is Travel Best Bets.

“Our Canadian membership is thriving, and these awards demonstrate that,” said Christine James, VP, Travel Leaders Network Canada, in a press release. “We offer agencies of any size and niche the opportunity to soar as members, and all the POP Award winners may be very different, but they have one thing in common: excellence. I look forward to watching their future success and partnership with our Network.”

Supplier partners honoured

Canadian and North American supplier partners were also honoured.

In this category, the POP awards are a people’s choice award, having been voted on by Travel Leaders Network members in Canada.

Members were asked to vote on their experiences in various categories for the 2023 calendar year, based on suppliers’ overall support for the travel advisor sales channel and Travel Leaders Network members.

The most prestigious POP Award is the Pinnacle Partner of the Year, awarded to Royal Caribbean International.

“Royal Caribbean consistently provides a great cruise experience on innovative ships,” said Roger E. Block, president, Travel Leaders Network, in a statement. “Even more than that, they always support travel advisors. Their team are true friends to our members, and I am delighted that our advisors recognize that friendship with the Pinnacle Partner of the Year.”

Travel Leaders Network also awarded many other supplier partners with POP Awards.

Canadian POP Supplier Award Winners:

• Overall Support: WestJet
• Best Sales and Service: Travelbrands
• Mass Market Tour Partner of the Year: Sunwing
• Best Educational Programs: Manulife
• Most Innovative Partner: Air Canada Vacations
• Adventure Tour Partner of the Year: G Adventures

North American POP Supplier Award Winners:

• Sales Support Partner of the Year: Royal Caribbean International
• Sales Achievement Partner of the Year: Celebrity Cruises
• Innovative Marketing Solutions Partner of the Year: Virgin Voyages
• Contemporary Cruise Partner of the Year: Royal Caribbean International
• Premium Cruise Partner of the Year: Celebrity Cruises
• Luxury Cruise Partner of the Year: Regent Seven Seas Cruises
• Upper Premium Cruise Partner of the Year: Oceania Cruises
• Expedition Cruise Partner of the Year: Viking Cruises
• River Cruise Partner of the Year: AmaWaterways
• Tour Partner of the Year: Globus family of brands
• Luxury Land Partner of the Year: Tauck
• Car Rental Partner of the Year: Enterprise Mobility
• Airline Partner of the Year: Delta Air Lines
• Destination Partner of the Year: Tourism Australia
• Resort Partner of the Year: Sandals Resorts
• Hotel Partner of the Year: Four Seasons

Travel Leaders 2024 updates

In Q4 2024, Travel Leaders Network will launch a new Leaders Alliance based on the interest in TLN’s Specialist Certifications and overall sales among members: the Active & Adventure Leaders Alliance.

Agency owners will be able to nominate prospective members later this year, and a full range of programming will become available at that time.

TLN will make SNAP tool available to Canadian members on July 2, 2024. This is an easy-to-use booking tool that gives non-GDS users the ability to book their clients’ travel while leading them to greater earning opportunities.

Travel Leaders Network’s operations in Canada changed their name to Travel Leaders Network from TL Network in 2023.

Their lead generation site will now match the Travel Leaders name, switching from CanadianTravelAgents.ca to TravelLeaders.com (the existing URL will redirect to the new site).

Canadian travel advisors can expect a site that runs on the same technology and platform as the U.S. site and can expect to see an increase in high quality leads.

Searches coming from Canada will also be shown Canadian travel advisors first, TLN says.

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