TARK TALK! - Apple Vacations Staff Newsletter | Vol. 1, Issue 5 | Sep-Oct 2019 | View Online

 

Dear Team,

Happy Fall! Since the last Tark Talk, we’ve been through a whirlwind of activity! Our busy show season came to a close onOct. 30, but we’re still in high gear as we work toward restoring consumer confidence in the DR, and ensure all hands are ondeck for SuperSale which launched on Friday, Nov. 1. Keep your eyes and ears open for a variety of radio and televisioncommercials running in nine markets. We count on SuperSale to bring in a good base of business for the Winter season, sothis is an extremely important campaign for us.

There have been several major announcements in recent weeks regarding changes in ALG leadership, most importantly theappointment of Alejandro Reynal as the Chief Executive Officer of ALG.  The new organization is designed to allow forincreased accountability and agility, putting Alejandro in direct touch with the leaders of their respective areas. Alejandrojoined Alex Zozaya in EGV on Sep. 11 and hosted a town hall and Q & A. They spoke candidly about our business andwhat’s in store for the future. Managers are encouraged to share the highlights with their staff.

While we’ve continued to face many challenges, the brand has made some great accomplishments and we have a lot to beproud of. As always, thanks to all of you for your contributions. I, for one, am looking forward to the close of 2019, and amconfident that all of this year’s hard work will begin to pay off in 2020, and into 2021 and beyond. 

John TarkowskiApple Vacations, President

 

Business Performance UpdateApple Vacations closed September down $600k from prior forecast, but down versus plan by $300k and up $800k vs prioryear. For the remainder of 2019, AV is targeting to come in slightly above plan and prior year. There are continued strugglesin the DR, but the recent release of the FBI toxicology reports should help accelerate the recovery.We are forecasted to end the year at $3.3M EBITDA which is up $900K from prior forecast, but down $3.1M vs plan.  It is anincrease of $600K vs prior year driven by $6.4M reduction in OPEX.  DR/share shift/operational issues in call center andgroups had a significant impact on our top line, which is what we are focused on growing in 2020. 

Congratulations to AMResorts for the opening of SunscapeAkumal Beach Resort & Spa in early October. The hotel isready to start accepting lots of ALG guests! There istremendous value and a great price point in the leadcategories. For guests looking for an elevated experience,please suggest upgrading to the Sun Club at all SunscapeResorts & Spas.

  I’d also like to recognize the AMResorts team for the re-opening of Now Sapphire Riviera Cancun in October! JasonNaito had the opportunity to hard hat tour the hotel prior tothe re-opening, and was impressed at the amount of workand investment happening at this resort. From guestrooms,to the facades of buildings, to adding brand new heatedbeachfront swim-out suites, there have been many fantasticupdates. This is a perennial top 10 producing hotel forApple Vacations, and these updates will ensure thiscontinues!

New DestinationsWe recently launched more than 60 new domestic sun and sand destinations throughout Florida, California, Nevada andArizona, along with a dozen new exotic Caribbean Islands, Belize, the South Pacific and several European beachdestinations in Italy, Greece and Spain to support the AMR expansion. Click here to see our expanded product portfolio. Abig thank you to all departments that contributed to the successful rollout of these new destinations and products – ProductBuild, Supplier Engagement, Destination Services, Air Contracting, Call Center, Marketing and Sales! Las Vegas has quicklybecome the top seller of the new product, with Florida beaches coming in next. We also have our first Bora Bora andGreece bookings!

We’re Honored! Kudos to the entire ALGV Marketing and Sales teams on cleaning house at the Travel Weekly Magellan Awards this year!Apple Vacations alone took home two gold awards and six silver awards. Winning programs included Agents Give Back,Amazing Agents, and the Apple Vacations 50th Anniversary campaign!

Apple Vacations is nominated for five awards in the “Best Tour Operator” category in the 2019 Travel Weekly Reader’sChoice Awards:  Mexico, the Caribbean, Group Packaged, Packaged Sales & Service, and Packaged Overall.  But that’snot all! We also scored four nominations in the 2020 Travvy Awards (Travalliance Media) in the Best Vacation Packagercategory: Mexico, the Caribbean, Family and Overall.

Please kindly ask your travel agent contacts to support Apple Vacations with their vote.

Golden Apple Gala & Ascend Shows

The Golden Apple Gala was held at Theater on the Lake in Lincoln Park on September 10, where 229 hotels were honoredfor exceptional ratings on our Vacation Satisfaction Surveys, and our twelve 2019 Crystal Apple Award winners wereannounced. The following day, a panel was held at Fairmont Chicago-Millennium Park, where trade press had theopportunity to learn from ALG leadership and owners/ presidents of major hotel chains about trends in the all-inclusivespace. 

We hosted our first ALGV Ascend trade show at Drury Lane later that day, drawing 950 travel agents to 110 booths. Theentire ALG leadership was present and introduced on stage during the theatre presentation. We were humbled by theappearance of the Honorable Francisco Javier Garcia, Dominican Republic Minister of Tourism, who delivered anemotionally-charged speech about the effects of tourism caused by this summer’s sensationalist media coveragesurrounding the DR. Afterward, the Second City cast lightened up the mood with a hilarious audience-interactive improvsession.

ALG hosted a total of 13 fall shows and seminars across the Midwest and Eastern regions. The major 3-day Ascend eventheld in King of Prussia, PA Sep. 16-18 was a big success, and included a myriad of workshops and roundtable discussions.Cee Reyes and Joey Lesiak (EGV) entertained agents after an action-packed day with some spirited karaoke!

Dominican Republic Update

I had the opportunity to talk about the current state of DR tourism for this TravelPulse article Oct.8, published prior to theFBI’s release of the highly anticipated toxicology report on 10/18. Results showed that several highly publicized “mysterious”deaths were actually due to natural causes. Since the report was released, we’ve seen improvement in sales. In the fourweeks after the DR media coverage hit this summer, we lost 4,000 passengers (down 200%); as of the latest weekly trendswe're seeing volume near previous year's levels (down 12%).

Be sure to visit www.travFACTS.org, created by TravAlliancemedia, in partnership with Apple Leisure Group Vacations.travFACTS is devoted to serving the travel industry globally by pointing out what's false or misleading in a travel relatedstories and detailing actual facts surrounding it. This is a valuable resource for us to communicate with our clients. I stronglyrecommend that you subscribe to their newsletter, share the articles on your social media, and most importantly with yourtravel agent colleagues!

  

ALGV launched its new rewards program, WAVES™ on11/4. While the program is like Royalties, agents will beable to accumulate point across all ALGV brands. TopWAVES earners will be rewarded via a tiered agentrecognition program known as Wavemakers™ that willprovide additional benefits.

New Travel Protection Program On Dec. 4, ALGV will launch a simplified travel protection program for 2020 travel.  Pricing tiers will be based on packageprice rather than travel duration.  The benefits of our current AV-OK plan will remain intact including TripMate® post-travelprotection. Added benefits include protection for travelers whose vacation plans are cancelled or interrupted due to ahurricane.

 ALGV360 is a new online marketing tool offering one,easy-to-use portal designed to enhance and streamlinetravel advisors’ marketing, advertising and social mediaengagement. ALGV360 arms agents with customizableand aspirational content they can use to enhance theiradvertising strategy with a few simple clicks. Advisors caninclude their own logos and call to action on promotionalmaterials featuring our destinations, hotel partners andbrand specific sales and promotions. 

Happy 30th Amstar DMC!In September 1989, ALG founder John Mullen created Amstar DMC to provide in-destination travel services to AppleVacationers in Cancun. Amstar DMC is now one of the leading DMC’s in the industry, with more than 1,500 staff members in26 destinations across Mexico, Jamaica, the DR, Costa Rica and Hawaii. Over its 30 years, Amstar DMC has providedservices to 18 million customers, operated 36 million transfers, and ensured that 11.5 million customers have enjoyed greatin-destination experiences.  Watch their commemorative video.

NSO Gives Back- CRC Fall Tree Maintenance and Stream Clean Up The ALG NSO office and the Chester Ridley Crum Watersheds Association (CRC) hosted a fall tree maintenance andstream cleanup event on Oct. 25 at Cheyney University in Thornbury Township, PA. Over 35 staff enjoyed a beautiful dayoutdoors helping to clean up the banks of Chester Creek as well as do some  maintenance work on native trees and shrubsthat were planted several years ago. This forest maintenance is essential as it removes invasive plants and weeds, whichallows the trees and shrubs to grow healthy and be able to sustain the habitat that supports both the creek and the naturalwildlife of the area. Sincere thanks to all those who participated!

ALG Sales Team Gives Back During their team building meeting in Puerto Vallarta, the ALG Sales Team donated items to the Heart of a Child Orphanage,

as well as a school about an hour from PVR that was impacted by the September storm. Thanks to Amstar for delivering theitems!

11/7      Give Back! EGV Feed My Starving Children event followed by pizza party

11/8      EGV Milestone Anniversary Luncheon

11/8      EGV Fall Marathon Challenge concludes-get those steps in soon! Log 26.2 miles by 11/8 and be treated to a saladbar lunch with a chance to win prizes!

Best Wishes to Becky Luksa on her recentmarriage to Brad Burkhardt!

A warm welcome to our new Reservationsclasses in EGV and NSO!

Congratulations on Recent Milestone Anniversaries!

30 years- Laura Skol, Creative Services, 8/14/8935 years - Nancy Staubich, Reservations, 10/15/8440 years- Colleen Caponi, Marketing, 10/29/79

 Welcome to new EGV staff! From left:

Emma Keszei, Senior Production Designer- ALGCreative ServicesJessica Server-Brand Content Coordinator, AVMarketingKatelyn Hanley- Media Coordinator, ALG MarketingJoey Lesiak- Senior Copywriter, ALG CreativeServicesEmily Koepsel- Marketing Coordinator, ALGMarketingAlex Ragusin- Sr. Graphic Designer, ALG CreativeServicesNot Pictured LaKeya Sanders – Groups SpecialistBeverly Tucker – Airline System Coordinator

 

We had witchy weather in both Chicago and Philly, but that didn’t stop staff from getting in the Halloween Spirit! Funniest Costume – Ilene Pantek, Spandex CheerleaderFunniest Pumpkin- Ops Loading, Full of SheetScariest Costume– Crystal Muehlschlegel, ZombieScariest Pumpkin- Hotel Ops, ALG websiteMost Creative Costume – Product Build Team, Sheet PeopleMost Creative Pumpkin- Team member/employee travel, DinosaurHonorable Mention- Groups, Las Vegas theme

For more great pictures visit ALG connect

 

Thomson Vacations 40th Reunion On Sep. 21, former Thomson Vacations staff gathered at Island Party Hut on the Chicago River Walk. Thomson Vacationswas purchased by John Mullen in June 1988, and the Apple Vacations Chicago office was born. Many fond memories of theThomson era were shared and $1050 was collected for the Alex Roberts-Miller Foundation (in honor of the son of TVPresident Richard Roberts-Miller who was tragically killed in an accident).

If you have an update or photo that you would like to share in the next issue, please send to tarktalk@applevac.com

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