VAUGHAN — “Toronto, what’s going on?!”

With those words Adam Stewart, Executive Chairman, Sandals Resorts International greeted hundreds of travel advisors at the #ACVDreamMakers 2024/25 event – and got enthusiastic cheers and applause in return.

Last night’s get-together, the final stop on Air Canada Vacations’ annual product launch roadshow, was as strong as ever with travel agents coming out in droves to get all the latest updates from ACV, plus mingle with 90+ supplier partners at the tradeshow.

As the guest of honour – and introduced by ACV’s VP Nino Montagnese, who told Stewart “you are a friend, you are a colleague, and we are thrilled to have you here” – Stewart got the first chance to express his gratitude to Canada’s retail travel community.

“I was taught about the importance of the Canadian travel industry before I could do basic mathematics,” he joked, adding that the strong relationship between Sandals and ACV was often a topic of dinner conversation at the Stewart house. The younger Stewart was born in 1981, the same year his father, Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, founded Sandals Resorts.

Stewart said his relationship with Canada’s travel advisors “has been one of my greatest privileges in the 25 years I’ve been at Sandals.”

He gave a shout-out to Maureen Barnes-Smith, UVI Canada’s VP Sales & Marketing, who earlier this month celebrated her 30th anniversary with Sandals.

“Maureen and Gary Sadler opened the office here 30 years ago and have been the real backbone for getting Canadians down to the Caribbean. Maureen, you are a rock star, happy 30th,” said Stewart.

UVI Executive VP Sales & Industry Relations, Gary Sadler; SRI Executive Chairman, Adam Stewart; and UVI Canda’s VP, Sales and Marketing, Maureen Barnes-Smith

He added that Sandals could never have achieved the heights of its success without travel advisors.

“You guys have built our company and we owe an incredible debt of gratitude to you,” he said. “My father was the king of Caribbean tourism and he absolutely loved what he did, and he loved travel advisors and Air Canada. None of this is possible without your support, and I wanted to come here personally, on behalf of the team, to say thank you, thank you, thank you. We’re going to continue to build resorts for our mutual customers and continue to showcase the best of the four corners of the Caribbean.”

SANDALS & ACV, A DECADES-LONG PARTNERSHIP

The rollout of ‘Sandals 2.0’ continues with showstopper properties like Sandals Royal Curacao and Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. “Sandals 2.0 is what we’ve always been,” said Stewart.

The relationship between Sandals and ACV goes back decades. “For as long as I can remember we’ve had a relationship with ACV, and it’s an honour to continue that legacy and relationship,” said Stewart in an earlier Q&A session with the trade media. “Both companies are all about high-value experiences. I think ACV has been the gateway to allowing Sandals to share the four corners of the Caribbean with Canadians.”

Bookings for Sandals and Beaches Resorts in the last two weeks from ACV “have been off the charts,” he added. No doubt some travellers were waiting out the potential labour action from Air Canada’s pilots, which so far has thankfully been resolved thanks to a tentative agreement.

“MY FATHER KNEW THE IMPORTANCE OF TRAVEL ADVISORS”

The travel advisor community is as strong as it’s ever been, said Stewart.

Making connections at the tradeshow

Agents have long been the company’s #1 booking channel and “it’s grown substantially post-COVID in the past four years,” he added.

“From the beginning my father figured out the importance of the relationship with travel advisors. They could explain why it’s a more premium product,” he said.

“Through my leadership and following in my father’s footsteps we have done everything we think needs to be done to ensure agents have everything they need to sell the product, from education, transfer of knowledge, sales support through BDMs, to marketing support and more,” said Stewart.

Case in point: next month Sandals will host the single largest privately-run fam trip ever in the history of Jamaica, to showcase the best of Jamaica, with some 700 travel advisors from Canada, the U.S., Latin America and UK staying at Sandals properties and experiencing the island.

“It’s a major global initiative for Jamaica,” said Gary Sadler, Executive VP Sales & Industry Relations, Unique Vacations Inc.

Jamaica is home, added Stewart, pointing to “massive transformations” like Sandals Dunn’s River, and further investments including Beaches Runaway Bay and a new village at Beaches Negril.

“Air Canada is in every destination we’re in, with 60 gateways across Canada,” said Stewart. “Any destination we choose, Air Canada follows us and we build it up together and we build something amazing. That’s exactly what’s happened with Sandals St. Vincent.”

Stewart added: “We’re pulling out every stop imaginable to show our commitment to travel advisors, more than anyone in our competitive space, by far. It’s elevated product, it’s higher commissions.”

ACV 2024-25 PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS

ACV’s five-city roadshow enjoyed blockbuster attendance, with more than 3,000 travel professionals attending in Vancouver, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal and Toronto to hear what Air Canada Vacations’ VP Nino Montagnese and the team and ACV partners have in store for 2024-25.

With title sponsors Sandals and Beaches Resorts and Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts, ACV rolled out an amazing event with dining, drinks, tradeshow and presentations.

Under the banner ‘Dream Bigger and See the World’, the presentation included these highlights …

• The launch of ACV’s winter travel collection includes a digital sun guide with 600+ warm weather travel options to choose from. The guide can be found at agents.dreamofsun.aircanadavacations.com
• Enhanced self-serve tools available to travel agents via the Manage Your Booking page on aircanadavacations.com allows travel agents to effectively serve their customers.
• Air Canada Vacations’ Sun Collection offers more than 600 resorts across 60 destinations, plus hundreds of cruise itineraries.
• The company’s enhanced ePackages program offers flexibility and equips travel partners with the tools they need to book flight and hotel packages for customers anywhere Air Canada operates.
• ACV’s Vacation Promise, Cruise Promise and its CareFlex and Carefree programs allow customers to travel with peace of mind, ultimately providing agents with turnkey tools to support their clients.
• The company’s expansive product offering in Europe, Asia and South Pacific, the U.S. and Canada “allows agents to book the long-awaited vacation of their client’s dreams.”
• Group Insta Quote and Group Care
•  ACV&ME Loyalty program with more rewards, flexibility and automation
• ACV@HOME
• Travel Agent Advisory Board
•  The ability to earn Aeroplan points on all flight inclusive packages
• Noting that its digital initiatives “are built around the evolving needs of our travel agent partners”, ACV recently rolled out its social-first campaign designed to put Canadian travellers at the forefront. The company invites travellers to share their vacation mood on social media using the hashtag #MyVacationMood and tagging @aircanadavacations for a chance to be featured on ACV’s social channels.

SKTA CEO Kelly Fontenelle (left) with Paul Minich, Marketing Consultant, Canada and St. Kitts Minister of Tourism Marsha Tamika Henderson