VAX VacationAccess wrapped up its very first in-person event in Las Vegas. Prior to the Las Vegas Travel Agent Forum, advisors had the opportunity to attend VAX Connection. The platform is celebrating 25 years of enabling travel advisor success, and this event showcased its commitment to bringing brands and advisors together.
“It was only fitting to host our first live event during our 25th anniversary,” said Joe Shomperlen, vice president of business development at Trisept Solutions. “VAX is a community, and it’s important for us to continue connecting travel advisors and suppliers in new and exciting ways. Hosting educational events like VAX Connection is one way we can do this.”
VAX Connection, A Travel Advisor Event
The event took place on March 29 and 30 at Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino and had about 150 travel advisors and 18 suppliers in attendance. In the “Education at Your Fingertips” session, advisors learned about several different features they can use on VAX outside of the booking engine, and “Client Engagement Between Bookings” provided ideas on how to interact with clients even when they aren’t planning vacations.
Several suppliers, including ALG Vacations, Melia and Catalonia, gave helpful insights, and there was also a panel featuring representatives from all the bookable brands in VAX: Universal Parks & Resorts, ALG Vacations, United Parks & Resorts and Travel + Leisure GO. Attendees even got to hear from John Ische, the president of Trisept Solutions and visionary behind VAX VacationAccess, during an interview.
Saturday wrapped up with a cocktail and networking reception, where advisors and suppliers could continue conversations from the day in a laid-back setting, and Sunday morning attendees reconvened for breakfast and an informative trivia game.
“At this event, I learned that I have not been utilizing all the tools available in the system, and I also learned a lot of new info from the suppliers. My favorite part was the interactive trivia game on Sunday,” said Rikki M. Bradley, travel designer at Bradley & CO Travel. “I'm so glad VAX decided to do this event, and I hope they create their own regional events.”
Exciting Announcements
VAX is always rolling out new tools and resources for advisors, like the agency logo feature on articles and the destination guides. During VAX Connection, Shomperlen announced plans for two new features in the works. The first is an RSS feed, which is launching soon. Advisors who use RSS readers will soon be able to subscribe to The Compass and include it in an RSS feed. The second is the long-awaited VAX Community.
“This is something big that we’ve been dreaming about for a while,” Shomperlen said. “We’ve talked about how big the VAX community has become; over 200,000 advisors are part of VAX. We know it's vital for advisors to network and learn from one another, and we’re enabling that with something that we’re calling the VAX Community. We’re creating a forum, an opportunity for all the advisors registered in VAX to better engage directly with one another. We know that many of you go to Facebook and other groups, and you can of course continue to do that, but why not put this right here in VAX, where you are every single day?”
To stay up to date with VAX’s virtual events, and keep an eye out for future live events, visit the Industry Calendar under the “Resources” dropdown on vaxvacationaccess.com.
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