TravelOnly’s Sarah Boville Named Collette Tours Brand Ambassador

Bruce Parkinson

Sarah Boville, a TravelOnly advisor who runs Barefoot Travel in Brantford, ON, has been selected by global tour operator Collette as a ‘Brand Ambassador.’

Collette’s new Brand Ambassador Program aims to give select advisors the opportunity to experience the brand just as clients do, and to then share the insights gains with client and advisor networks.

As a Collette Brand Ambassador, Boville will experience Collette’s Land Of Fire & Ice Iceland tour in September. As an ambassador, Boville will share her trip with her clients through social media, and with her TravelOnly colleagues through a ‘Share With Us’ function on the host agency’s online ‘Workplace.’

TravelPulse Canada has got to know Boville on a number of trips, including at this year’s 24th TravelOnly conference at Secrets the Vine Cancun. She’s clearly a top-tier advisor with a strong social media presence and a demonstrated willingness to share her successes and learnings with colleagues.

Collette Logo

(Photo Credit: Collette Logo)

How did she unlock the Collette opportunity? The same way she has built her business – with hard work and follow-through.

Boville met with Collette regarding business opportunities and set a goal to grow her business with the operator that offers more than 160 itineraries on all seven continents. She then went to work, booked group space, promoted it and sold it, ultimately achieving her growth goal.

With the success of her group and social media marketing, she’s booked another for Feb 2024 and is currently promoting it to her clients. In the meantime, she’ll travel with Collette in September taking her clients on a virtual journey to give them a taste of what they can experience on her group departure next February. 

“I was so delighted to see that Collette won our ‘Breakout Partner of the Year 2022’ as they’ve been such a great partner to work with, and the product line up is outstanding,” said Boville.

For advisors looking to raise their status with key suppliers, Boville offers the following advice:

“It’s so important to get face-to-face time, in person or even through Zoom, on a regular basis, to keep your marketing efforts aligned with what’s being offered through your partners.

“More importantly, it’s about numbers and setting goals with your BDMs, they are invested in your success and want to know how they can help, even if it’s a simple business meeting to review where you are and what more you need to do to get to goal.”

Check out Sarah Boville’s Barefoot Travel video promoting the September tour here.

Collette has promoted Ron Lonsdale to the newly created position of vice president of Canada at the tour operator.

Collette Canada’s Ron Lonsdale. (Photo Credit: Collette)

Ron Lonsdale, Collette’s Director of Strategic Partnerships, Canada, says the Brand Ambassador Program is designed to spread the word about the “amazing evolution” of guided touring. At this stage, the program will give free trips to five selected advisors, as well as a 50% discount for a companion.

For their part, advisors commit to a certain number of social media posts before, during and after the trip, produce a blog post, do an interview with Collette and attend a consumer show to share their experience.

“We’re not looking for a specific type of advisor,” says Lonsdale. “It could be someone who really loves our product, or someone who sells other escorted brands and wants to experience Collette. Or it could be someone with a large social media following or network of advisors.”

For more information on the Collette Brand Ambassador Program, contact Kaitlin Coughlin at 401-642-4657 or email kcoughlin@collette.com.  

Guided vacations are definitely getting their share of the hot travel market right now. Lonsdale says Collette sales are above 2019 in both Canada and the U.S., and current Canadian sales for 2024 are way above expectations.

You don’t have to be an ambassador to enjoy substantial savings on Collette trips. Advisors can book any tour for up to 50% off, with companions getting 25% off.

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