In our ninth annual awards issue, we share the WAVE Award winners, as well as profiles of Trendsetter Award travel agents and the Excellence in Leadership Award winner.
We are thrilled to highlight the suppliers who have won WAVE awards, but perhaps even more inspiring are the Trendsetter Award winners. As you will read, the agents we profile are exceptional, but we know there are plenty more agents out there who deserve to have their successes celebrated as well.
Travel agents can sometimes be too modest about promoting themselves, but it’s important that we recognize individual agents for their dedication, as stories about hard-working travel planners enhance the image of the entire travel agent profession. Agents should be taking advantage of every opportunity they get to talk about the good work they do.
For instance, the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) is currently looking for nominations for several awards.
The Extra Mile Award is designed to recognize travel planners who have gone above and beyond by providing exceptional service to their clients. As the ASTA website explains, “The Extra Mile Award is our way to highlight and show appreciation to an agent who has awakened at 3 a.m. to resolve a hotel problem, had to re-plan an entire trip after a travel advisory was issued or simply went that extra step to make a customer’s trip perfect.”
The Sustainable Tourism Award is for travel suppliers and agencies that promote and encourage sustainable tourism, and the Travel Marketing Award is meant to celebrate travel agents’ most creative and imaginative marketing ideas.
Agents can apply for all of these awards on ASTA’s website (www.asta.org). And, of course, look for a call for entries in our 2015 Trendsetter Awards and check our website (TravelAgeWest.com) for instructions on how to enter.
Consumers sometimes need to be reminded about the hard work done by travel agents, and awards such as these can be an ideal way to get the word out.
