Minneapolis, MN (November 7, 2011)—In a display of strength from both veteran franchise owners and relative newcomers to the cruise industry, Cruise Holidays celebrated the accomplishments of its top performers in a special awards ceremony during the cruise agency powerhouse’s 2011 Annual Convention, being held aboard Holland America Line’s ms Eurodam.
Awards were presented in the following categories to these winners:
Golden Anchor Award
Store Winner: Cruise Holidays of Kansas City, MO, owned by Mimi and Mark Comfort
Virtual Office Winner: Jim Carey, based in Washington
The Golden Anchor award celebrates the one store and one virtual office that stand out because of the following attributes: They must participate in Cruise Holidays programs, attend Cruise Holidays meetings and conventions, use Cruise Holidays tools to attain greater profitability, contribute to the success of the network by generating ideas or participating in focus groups, and generally be willing to help other franchisees reach their goals.
Top Overall Producer Award
Store Winner: Cruise Holidays of Kansas City, owned by Mimi and Mark Comfort
Virtual Office Winner: Sheri Clarke, based in Kentucky
The award is given to the store and the virtual office with the highest sailed revenue during the previous year, from July to June. A large part of Cruise Holidays of Kansas City’s success can be attributed to its highly skilled travel consultants. Six of the store’s travel consultants were honored with the award for Outstanding Individual Sales Achievement during the convention, including one of them who placed in the top three of all sales achievers (see more below). Cruise Holidays of Kansas City opened in 1988. Virtual office owner Sheri Clarke has been a franchise owner for six years and can attribute much of her sales success to large groups that she has fostered and continued to grow through the years.
Outstanding Sales Achievement
Cruise Holidays bestowed this award upon 31 exceptional franchise owners and travel consultants who reached or exceeded a pre-determined amount in commission.
The 31 Outstanding Individual Sales Achievers are:
1st Year Winners:
Bob Newman, Cruise Brothers (Rhode Island)
Larry Norstrom, Cruise Brothers (Rhode Island)
Robert Dipietro, Cruise Brothers (Rhode Island)
Elyse Zebede, Cruise Brothers (Rhode Island)
Kevin Grubb, Cruise Holidays Chicago on Magnificent Mile
Deborah Mitchell, Cruise Holidays of Kansas City (Missouri)
Dianne Neubauer, Cruise Holidays of Lawrence Park (Ontario)
Emma Warren, Cruise Holidays of Topeka (Kansas)
Lynda Jackson, Cruise Holidays of Viera (Florida)
Vera Chan, Cruise Holidays of West Vancouver (British Columbia)
Bill Walsh, Cruise Travel Outlet (New Hampshire)
Jim Carey (Washington)
Liz Fisher, Cruise Holidays (Georgia)
2nd Year Winners:
Victoria DeWildt, Cruise Holidays of Clarkson (Ontario)
Tal McKelvey, Cruise Holidays of Clarkson (Ontario)
Mimi Comfort, Cruise Holidays of Kansas City (Missouri)
Bob Wolf, Cruise Holidays of Paramus (New Jersey)
Joan Yam, Cruise Holidays of Scarborough (Ontario)
Sheri Clarke (Kentucky)
3rd Year Winner:
Jim Work, Cruise Holidays of Alexandria (Virginia)
4th Year Winners:
Samuel Spencer, Cruise Holidays of Calgary Centre (Alberta)
Gloria Currie, Cruise Holidays of Southlake (Texas)
5th Year Winners:
Krista Garney Cluett, Cruise Holidays of Etobicoke (Ontario)
Kitty Tam, Cruise Holidays of Scarborough (Ontario)
6th Year Winners:
Gail Buddemeyer, Cruise Holidays at the Stateline (Seekonk, MA)
7th Year Winners:
Patti Edwards, Cruise Holidays of Kansas City (Missouri)
Cassie Johnson, Cruise Holidays of Kansas City (Missouri)
Andrea Redding, Cruise Holidays of Kansas City (Missouri)
JoAnne Weeks, Cruise Holidays of Kansas City (Missouri)
Helene Kaplan, Cruise Holidays of Marlboro (Englishtown, NJ)
Ira Kaplan, Cruise Holidays of Marlboro (Englishtown, NJ)
Of the 31 Outstanding Sales Achievers listed above, the top achievers across the entire network are:
#1 – Bill Walsh, Cruise Travel Outlet (New Hampshire)
#2 – Andrea Redding, Cruise Holidays of Kansas City (Missouri)
#3 – Victoria DeWildt, Cruise Holidays of Clarkson (Ontario)
"Our roster of winners displays the strength of our network from the standpoint of longevity, and it also showcases the new energy we are bringing to the cruise industry. Our winners represent stores that have been successful for more than two decades, such as Kansas City and Cruise Holidays at the Stateline; our newer affiliates such as Cruise Brothers and Cruise Travel Outlet, as well as some very talented, high-potential virtual office owners such as Sheri Clarke. They represent just how powerful a business can become when successfully implementing the programs and services we’ve provided at Cruise Holidays,” stated Mark Schiffner, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Cruise Holidays.
Cruise Holidays will name two additional award winners – for the best Marketing Idea of 2011 and Best Group Promotion of 2011 – later this week during a special networking session during the convention.
For more information about Cruise Holidays, visit www.joincruiseholidays.com or www.canada.joincruiseholidays.com, email franchiseopportunities@cruiseholidays.com or call 1.800.824.1481.
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Cruise Holidays is the most established cruise-specialty retail franchise in North America, with franchisees in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Cruise Holidays is also a distinguished provider of land tour vacation packages. Founded in 1984, Cruise Holidays is part of Travel Leaders Group. With approximately 1,300 travel agency locations in the United States, Canada and the UK, Travel Leaders Group serves millions of individual leisure travelers, as well as select corporate clients and destinations.