What Exhibitors and Sponsors Say About the Show
CRUISE
“Product knowledge and education are still the strongest allies for any professional agent. The TW shows provide a great venue for all of us to learn the best practices for success and to grow our respective businesses. Look forward to seeing you all in Seattle.”
Rick Sasso, President & CEO, MSC Cruises
"Travel Weekly brings its editorial leadership to life on the trade show floor and in the conference programming. Agents are truly doing business at this show and learning more about how to grow and prosper as travel professionals. For Royal Caribbean, the Travel Weekly CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Shows are a must attend for our team. I know we will meet future Royal Caribbean star performers and reconnect with some who are already valuable producers to our business.
Vicki L. Freed, CTC, Senior Vice President Sales and Trade Support & Services, Royal Caribbean International
“As a long time participant of the Travel Weekly CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show, AmaWaterways has been able to reach a variety of informed and professional travel agents in a single venue. I appreciate the opportunity to create a personal connection with our loyal travel agents as well as meet new ones. Ten years after our first sailing, the industry has evolved tremendously and the Travel Weekly CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show has been wonderfully valuable within the industry.”
Kristin Karst, Executive Vice President & Co-Owner, AmaWaterways
“The Travel Weekly Cruise World & Home Based Agent shows are “gold standard” shows/opportunities for Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection. As a company that does no direct consumer marketing, shows such as these become an extremely important part of our interaction with the Travel Professional community. The opportunities and synergies created at the shows are stellar and we love the excitement and commitment of both the agents and suppliers that attend the shows! Thanks Travel Weekly!”
Scott Brandner, Manager, Sales Promotions, Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection
“The serious interest we experienced from the agents attending the show was excellent. Expansion of our brands Globus, Monograms, Avalon Waterways we were busy every minute with queries and agents requesting pertinent information for 2012”. Our Avalon Waterways Certification seminar exceeded our expected numbers reinforcing the interest in this growing segment. We will be back!”
Sharon Symons, Director, Travel Industry Sales, Globus Family of Brands
"The upcoming Travel Weekly CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show will provide travel sellers with the opportunity to enhance their selling and marketing skills via the contemporary content, the unique access to cruise executives from a spectrum of cruise brands across the industry and the opportunity to explore an array of great ships."
Mitchell J. Schlesinger, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Voyages To Antiquity
HOST AGENCY“The Travel Weekly CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show is a highlight of our year. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to interact and collaborate with travel agent professionals who are serious about being successful in our industry. Top notch content, top notch suppliers and top notch agents make this a “must do” on your 2012 conference agenda.”
Jackie Friedman, President, Nexion, LLC
“The dynamics of the travel industry are constantly changing and we need to gather and learn from each other. The Travel Weekly events provide a chance to engage with some very bright minds and share ideas. It is an excellent way for CruisePlanners/American Express to see what talent is out in the industry, connect with some of our existing members and meet some of our potential future partners in travel. The creative events, such as the Social Media Social, are truly unique and fun ways to network and learn and we love the fact that Travel Weekly is willing to help us provide the best learning experiences we can. CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show is definitely on our 2012 agenda.”
Vicky Garcia, ACC, Executive VP, Sales and Marketing, Cruise Planners/American Express
“Avoya Travel™ / American Express is excited to be a part of the upcoming 2012 CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show in Seattle. Not only is it nice to have a West Coast venue but the content provided throughout Travel Weekly’s tradeshows are excellent. We highly recommend CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show to serious travel professionals looking to learn and grow their businesses!”
Scott Koepf MCC, CTC, Vice President of Sales, Avoya Travel / American Express
"What you have at Travel Weekly's shows are a convergence of quality agents that are dedicated to continuing education, staying updated on destinations, and inspecting the ships they sell. The question isn't so much "Why would I go?" The question you should be asking is "Why wouldn't I go?" For Travel Quest, the Travel Weekly shows are a fantastic way to network with new agents, connect with our existing agents, and strengthen our supplier relations".
Stephanie Lee, Marketing & Operations, Travel Quest
“Quality time with travel agents is what you get when you attend Travel Weekly’s Tradeshows. These interactions turn into relationships which ultimately turn into sales. Travel Weekly’s CruiseWorld and Home Based Agent Show draws professional travel agents from all around the country who are serious and driven. As a growing host agency, Travel Planners International couldn’t ask for better quality agents than the ones who attend Travel Weekly’s Trade Shows.”
Ken Gagliano, President, Travel Planners International, Inc.
“Expedia CruiseShipCenters is a big supporter of Travel Weekly’s Cruise World & Home Based Agent Show because it delivers the 3 C’s. Content, Community and Commerce. The educational content from industry leaders is exceptional, the ability for Expedia CruiseShipCenters agents to meet and network with each other and the larger travel community, and of course, interacting with our preferred suppliers on how to grow our sales is essential.”
Geraldine Ree, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Expedia CruiseShipCenters
“As the nation's leading home-based franchise travel agent network, CruiseOne’s goal throughout 2012 is to continue to promote the value of a travel agent to consumers. We are proud to be a partner of the CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show, and we hope to encourage and inspire travel professionals by providing creative and innovative business tactics, tips and techniques that have proven to take businesses to the next level.”
Dwain Wall, Senior Vice President and General Manager, CruiseOne
SHORE EXCURSIONS
“CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show is a key element in our marketing plan. There is no better way to reach this upper echelon of travel retailers. Economically speaking - the cost per impression is the best of all travel trade shows.”
Barry Karp, ShoreTrips
HOTELS & RESORTS
“At Starwood Hotels & Resorts, we seek out the best possible opportunities to meet travel professionals and expand our relationship with the best sellers of travel. Travel Weekly's CruiseWorld and Home Based Agent Show has proven to attract top notch professionals who are there to learn from each other and to network. With hotels and resorts in more than 160 ports around the world and the most luxury hotel offerings of any hospitality company, we need to connect with the absolute best cruise sellers and be sure they know to pair our properties with their best cruise customers. We are truly grateful to Travel Weekly for creating this dynamic environment and we look forward to hosting many of the Travel Weekly attendees at the Westin in Seattle this coming June. Hope to see you there!”
Chris Austin, Vice President, Global Retail Leisure & Luxury Sales, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
“We embrace this opportunity to meet with those responsible for booking business into all the brands of IHG and first and foremost, say thank you. The Travel Weekly CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show gives us the opportunity to educate agents and agencies on how diverse IHG is, and that it's the right choice for their discerning clients.”
Alice McQuade, Director Travel Agency & Leisure Sales, IHG - InterContinental Hotel Group
“Our yearly attendance at Travel Weekly’s Cruise World & Home-Based Agent Shows have proven to be a great way for us to showcase the many new and innovative changes and upgrades that we have made to our resorts. These shows allow us to reach a wide audience of travel professionals. We are looking forward to seeing everyone in Seattle!”
Joy Fogarty, Training and Business Development Associate, Unique Vacations l Worldwide Representative of Sandals Resorts l Beaches Resorts l Grand Pineapple Resorts
TECHNOLOGY“Travel Weekly has become an outstanding partner for us as a travel technology solution provider. The Travel Weekly conferences have been productive in that we find the attendees engaged throughout the event, attending the seminars and spending quality time with us at the trade show. With the plethora of conferences annually, we have to manage our conference budget tightly. We know we will get a return on our investment at Travel Weekly's CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show and we appreciate being a partner. Hope to see you all in Seattle in June.”
Marilyn J Macallair, Vice President Business Development, Passport Online, Inc.
TOUR OPERATORS“CIE tours celebrated its 80th anniversary with an event at 2011 CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience and the agents couldn’t have been happier. Not only did we gain lucrative business from the show and event, but the fantastic staff at Travel Weekly made the whole process go very smoothly. CIE Tours has strengthened its already strong relationship with travel agents thanks to the folks at Travel Weekly. See you in Seattle!”
Jim Kelly, Vice President-Sales, CIE Tours International
“Attending Travel Weekly’s CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show was one of, if not THE BEST way to showcase our company to travel agents. Our booth was visited by a steady stream of professional and informed agents who were actively looking to sell our service to their clients. Travel Weekly Tradeshows has set the bar super high and have quickly become the premier trade show host in the industry. We look forward to attending many more of Travel Weekly’s shows in the future.”
Kier V.B. Matthews, CTIE, VP of Sales, Europe Express
“Travel Weekly’s CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show is the ultimate venue for networking, building your business, discussing opportunities, along with visiting with old and new friends and supporters. It is the perfect event for product education and for building your business awareness. Looking forward to yet another successful 2012 show!”
Janice Tully, CTIE, US Brand Manager- Global Voyages Group, LLC, US representatives for Scenic Tours & Scenic Cruises
INSURANCE
“Travel Weekly has become a leader in industry education. Their sessions fit well with our initiatives and we look forward to another great set of educational programs and meeting agents that are truly vested in their profession. Travel today can present many challenges and I am excited to continue to assist the agency community in making sure their clients are properly protected and Travel Weekly’s CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show afford us that opportunity every year and we look forward to seeing everyone in Seattle!”
Isaac Cymrot, Vice President, Sales & Industry Relations, Travel Insured International
OTHER EXHIBITORS
“If you can attend just one conference in 2012, make it the Travel Weekly CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show. There is simply no other event that attracts so many of the industry’s most dynamic travel advisors and suppliers, and offers such a wide variety of business development, learning and networking opportunities. The ARC team comes away each year inspired, informed and energized after spending time with industry colleagues – I promise you will too!”
Lauri Reishus, Vice President, Operations, ARC
“Travel Weekly’s CruiseWorld & Home Based Agent Show is one of the most educational events in the travel and cruise industries. As a leader in travel communication, Travel Weekly understands what the travel agents of the 21st century needs, and this trade show delivers. Thanks to Travel Weekly for the best and most relevant education experience in the industry; CareVacations is looking forward to Seattle 2012!”
Jennifer Alvarez, Public Relations & Business Development Manager, CareVacations
"Travel Weekly has recently emerged as one of the leading organizers of travel agent educational programs and their upcoming Seattle program will spot light Alaska's cruise programs bringing record numbers of agents and suppliers together in one of the greatest city's in the country."
Lawrence Dessler, CTC, Specialty Cruise Collection
...but the big question is: What will YOU say?
