Article repost from Travel Agent Central
Ensemble Travel Group hosted its annual Destination Vows conference last week, as 20 members of the consortium’s romance travel specialist program from the U.S. and Canada gathered in the República Dominicana for a series of wedding-themed site tours and workshops.
The weeklong event, which began on August 12 in Punta Cana and ended in the Cap Cana region, was designed to both inform and inspire Ensemble members working in destination weddings.
“The goal of the program is to provide our members with the tools and ingenuity to thrive in this unique sector, where one well-executed wedding can lead to countless other booking opportunities, as well as lifelong clients,” Ensemble’s Co-President Lindsay Pearlman said. “Couples’ getaways can lead to proposal trips, stag and doe weekends, group weddings, honeymoons, babymoons, family vacations, and so much more.”
The conference kicked off at the CHIC Punta Cana resort with several days of interactive training sessions covering 2018 wedding trends, product familiarization, social media marketing, and strategic business planning. Attendees were also given the opportunity to tour an expansive collection of all-inclusive luxury properties throughout the week, while benefiting from the event planning expertise of more than 12 resorts, including the recently-opened Secrets Cap Cana Resort & Spa.
Ensemble’s romance travel specialists even became guests of the bride and groom while visiting Majestic Mirage Punta Cana, where the events team threw a fictitious wedding that started with a beachfront ceremony and ended with a rooftop reception of dinner, dancing, and a bouquet toss.
“Before this conference, a lot of our destination wedding specialists said they came close to selling some of these brands to their clients, but held back because they didn’t know the properties well enough,” Liz Scull, DestinationVows program manager, explained. “Being able to visit these places in person and really get a sense of how the resort teams organize and execute these lucrative and large-scale events is, we believe, invaluable to our members’ success moving forward.”
The educational event was sponsored by Air Canada Vacations, Blue Diamond Resorts and Hotels, AmStar, Hola Tours, and AlSol Hotels and Resorts, which hosted the DestinationVows specialists for a final three nights at the Sanctuary Cap Cana. Here, Ensemble members mingled in accommodations rumored to have hosted the likes of Beyoncé and Kanye West.
For many of the attendees, the annual conference provides an opportunity to focus on emerging wedding trends, get a refresher on property products, and exchange ideas with like-minded peers, Ensemble said.
