Awards Celebration Exciting End to TravelManagers Conference
It was a night of celebration as the gala dinner and awards ceremony signaled the end of another successful national TravelManagers conference. The event was held at Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong Hotel with personal travel managers being recognized for their outstanding achievements, a member of the national partnership office team and a supplier were also acknowledged.
TravelManagers’ Executive General Manager, Michael Gazal thanked the entire TravelManagers’ personal travel managers’ network for their continued hard work, dedication and commitment and praised them for the outstanding results they had achieved in 2016.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our people. The awards evening is a way to recognise and celebrate those who are consistently outstanding at what they do and where the client is always top of mind and at the centre of everything they do. Our top achievers go the extra mile and inspire our customers and prove the personal travel model really does work,” says Gazal.
The first award for the evening presented by Gazal was the Dedication Award, a prestigious award that celebrates personal travel managers who have achieved ten years working in partnership with TravelManagers.
The Dedication Award was awarded to John Lengacher, Liza Beylerian and Rosemary Kates. Unfortunately Beylerian and Kates were unable to attend this years’ conference but Lengacher, who was also recognized as one of the Top 10 Personal Travel Managers of the Year, was honoured and humbled by his awards.
“I am thrilled to be in the top ten, but receiving the dedication award is truly an honour. I love being part of the TravelManagers family and I really can’t believe its been ten years – time flies when you’re having fun and I can honestly say I have fun every day. The fact that TravelManagers give an award for loyalty really speaks volumes about the company, its integrity and true partnership is what I value most. I just hope they invent an award for twenty years commitment as I have no plans to be going anywhere else,” says Lengacher, representative for Windsor, Victoria.
The announcement of the Top Ten Personal Travel Managers of the Year is always a highlight with
the supreme award of Personal Travel Manager of the Year going to Rebecca Crosbie.
The award for New Personal Travel Manager of the Year was won by an overwhelmed yet excited Louise McCarthy, representative for Castle Hill, New South Wales.
“This is such a wonderful surprise and I am simply thrilled to have won this prestigious award. I knew from the moment I joined the TravelManagers family I had made the right decision and now to win this award, really has topped this off as a fantastic first year.”
TravelManagers pride themselves on their supplier relationships and this year’s Partner Supplier of the Year award went to Pinpoint Travel Group, which comes as no surprise to Gazal.
“This award is even more special as it is voted by the personal travel managers themselves as their favourite supplier to work with. Working through their three brands Freestyle Holidays, Rosie Holidays and The Collection you really couldn’t ask for a better partnership with a supplier than Pinpoint Travel Group. They are incredibly supportive of what we do and are always keen to come on board to help with training, educationals and marketing initiatives.”
Personal travel manager Lauren Compton, representative for Condon in Queensland, won the popular Clovermark Award recognizing innovation in marketing. Condon’s clarity of purpose and measured results for her successful marketing campaign Networking through BNI impressed the judges resulting over a six month period a 66% increase in commission and a 75% increase in referrals as a direct result of the campaign.
” I was absolutely chuffed to receive the Clovermark Award as marketing is a real passion of mine. I was incredibly inspired after our conference in Adelaide with its ‘focus’ theme about the ways I could focus on increasing my BNI referrals. I madly scribbled ideas all the way home on the plane to Townsville. Most of those ideas I implemented as part of my campaign, so it just goes to show what you can achieve when you put your mind to it. The new range of advertising and marketing templates and support provided from the national partnership office was also invaluable – it really is easy to do our own marketing activity now and it all has a consistent brand look and feel which is great.”
The Advocate Award in recognition for actively promoting the brand within the travel industry went to personal travel manager Tanya Patterson representative for Clyde North in Victoria.
The Award for the National Partnership Office Support which recognises someone in the national partnership team who has gone ‘above and beyond’ in the past year was awarded to Gary Jensen.
“Winning this award is such a surprise. With all personal travel managers completing the implementation and transfer of their mid-office system to Tramada NextGen I think I’ve spoken to almost every single personal travel manager this year with one query or another. I love helping people and I really don’t think I do anything out of the ordinary. I am truly honoured though to be recognized in this way and know that I’ve added value to the business.”
The final award for the evening was the coveted Spirit Award awarded to personal travel manager Melanie Whyte, representative for Devonport in Tasmania by TravelManagers’ Chairman Barry Mayo.
“The Spirit Award epitomizes everything TravelManagers stands for. The award is for the person who lives, breathes and reflects the heart and soul of TravelManagers. I couldn’t be more thrilled for Melanie, she is without doubt a true TravelManagers champion who adds so much value to her clients and everybody around her,” says Gazal.
The complete list of winners is as follows:
Dedication Award ‘ Celebrating 10 Years Working in Partnership’
John Lengacher
Liza Beylerian
Rosemary Kates
New Personal Travel Managers by State
New South Wales/ACT Louise McCarthy
Victoria/Tasmania Jutta Portelli
Western Australia/South Australia Vanessa Maloney
Queensland/Northern Territory Amanda Anthony
Most Improved Personal Travel managers by State
New South Wales/ACT Peter Carmichael
Victoria/Tasmania Matthew Collins
Western Australia/South Australia Barbara Turner
Queensland/Northern Territory Aileen Collins
Top Personal Travel Manager by State
New South Wales/ACT Ric Pattaro
Victoria/Tasmania Rebecca Crosbie
Western Australia/South Australia Barbara Turner
Queensland/Northern Territory Simon Tinkler
Top Ten Personal Travel Managers – Australia
John Lengacher, representative for Windsor, Victoria
Ric Pattaro, representative for Haberfield, New South Wales
Lea Burford, representative for Torquay, Victoria
David Hull, representative for Mount Martha, Victoria
Barbara Turner, representative for Scarborough, Western Australia
Luke Vaughan, representative for Hawthorn East, Victoria
Peter Carmichael, representative for Merewether, New South Wales
Kylie Lutterell, representative for Black Rock, Victoria
Rebecca Crosbie, representative for Alfredton, Victoria
Jade Tziavaras, representative for South Yarra, Victoria
New Personal Travel Manager of the Year
Louise McCarthy, representative for Castle Hill, New South Wales
Most Improved Personal Travel Manager of the Year
Matthew Collins, representative for Keysborough, Victoria
Clovermark Award ‘Innovation in Marketing Award’
Lauren Compton, representative for Condon, Queensland
Partner Supplier of the Year
PinPoint Travel Group
Advocate Award
Tanya Patterson representative for Clyde North, New South Wales
Recognition Award
Tanya Barker, representative for Narre Warren South, Victoria
Best Customer Service Award
Sue Kuti, representative for Randwick, New South Wales
Personal Travel Managers Choice Award
Luke Vaughan, representative for Hawthorn East, Victoria
TravelManagers Support Award
Gary Jensen, National Partnership Office, New South Wales
TravelManagers Spirit Award
Melanie Whyte, representative for Devonport, Tasmania
Personal Travel Manager of the Year
Rebecca Crosbie, representative for Cardigan, Victoria
The final night gala dinner incorporating the awards ceremony proved to be a fantastic way to celebrate and bring to a close another successful TravelManagers’ conference. It also provided a good opportunity to announce that the 2017 national conference will be held next in Darwin from 07 to 09 September.
“Bangkok has proven to be a fantastic conference venue. The benefit that our personal travel managers have experienced first hand the destination will prove invaluable for their clients. The theme ‘adding value’ has been injected within every aspect of the three day conference and we know the personal travel managers are returning home inspired and motivated to look at new ways to going that extra mile,” says Gazal.
The TravelManagers 2016 national conference was held 19-21 August at the Renaissance Bangkok Ratchaprasong Hotel in Bangkok.
For more information or to speak to someone confidentially about TravelManagers please contact Suzanne Laister on 1800 019 599.
