On the momentous occasion facing us this Saturday, October 26, 2019, the fourth anniversary of the historic partnership between PlanNet Marketing and InteleTravel, I’ve been thinking about other things that take four years.
Leap year. The Olympic Games. The World Cup. American high school or university. An Honours Degree in Scotland. The recent renovation of Big Ben in London. The Battle Star Galactica TV series. The entire lifespan of a guinea pig. Countless success stories of famous brands in business and cultural celebrities. All of these are impressive, but not all see that next, fifth year (poor guinea pig). I propose we can look at the real achievements of our fourth year together and see the rock-solid foundation for many years of success to come.
2019 was another record breaker in travel sales for InteleTravel Agents, doubling sales for the third year in a row. That means InteleTravel has grown to be a quarter-of-a-billion-dollar travel company, one of the largest in the world. Just this year, over $12,000,000 in commissions was paid out to agents, with a record-shattering recent month distributing over $2,000,000. We invited agents on 15 exclusive FAM and learning trips. Over 20 cities hosted dream maker events ... plus two in Mexico and four in the UK. Top Agents and Ambassadors (of which there are now over 80 serving across the world) were invited to the Pinnacle Top Seller Summit. Other agents learned how to sell to millennial travelers onboard our Project NeXtGenCruise or competed in our Boot Camp inside CLIA Cruise360. UK Agents celebrated a phenomenal year of recognition by ABTA and became the largest home worker agency in the UK, at the first InteleTravel Quest (ITQ) UK held in Scotland. And of course, nearly 2,000 InteleTravel Agents celebrated and learned at the award-winning ITQ International aboard Norwegian Epic.
In fact, InteleTravel garnered dozens of awards in 2019, including Platinum, Diamond and President’s awards from a host of top travel brands, and not one but TWO Travel Weekly Magellan Awards honoring “The Best In Travel” and recognizing our agent education programs and overall innovation. That’s fitting because if our 28-year history tells us one thing, it’s that education is the key. (So where will you be next February? At Caesar’s Palace, Las Vegas, at the most important learning event of the year, ITQ 2020 with 100 Travel brands, 195 hours of workshops and classrooms, pre/post FAMs and all sorts of Vegas-style surprises - with 5,000 fellow InteleTravel Agents!)
Our fourth year together brought even more technology enhancements, because that investment in our agents and the tools to support them is never-ending. Now we have exclusive hotel discounts, city locations for car rental, and more.
We did all that - in one year - together. And we are only four years old. Not pausing too long to rest on our accomplishments, I see these goals for our partnership for Year Five:
Renew our vows to each other. These two companies are a pair for the history books.
Affirm the evidence and the excellence of your product. #whatcompetition
Achieve our best selves.
As Thanksgiving approaches, I don’t think it’s inappropriate to share that I wake up every morning and count each of you among my blessings. I am also profoundly grateful for the extraordinary talents of the Directors of PlanNet Marketing, your corporate team, our partners Donald Bradley and Andy Cauthen, and the amazing superheroes that are the staff and executives of InteleTravel.
If this is four, just imagine where we will be at five! I bet you know someone who deserves to know about our year.
James R. Ferrara
President
InteleTravel
