CRTA Weekly Insider Feb 2, 2024

CRTA INSIDER
Vacation Ownership News & Updates

Canadian Resort & Travel Association

Feb. 2, 2024

CRTA MEMBER NEWS

MVP - A Takacs Company - Announces Banner Year

Source: CRTA

CRTA Member MVP - A Takacs Company - Announces Banner Year on behalf of timeshare owners. Joseph Takacs Jr., an industry leader in timeshare support for HOA Boards, reports the company recently complete its 4th repurpose (Indian Wells, CA) where more than $7M in proceeds were generated and distributed. TOWB has seven more in progress and distributions will total over $75M when those are complete.

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2024 ARDA Awards Nominations

Source: ARDA

Last call! Entries for the 2024 ARDA Awards are closing soon. Nominate your top people, products, promotions, and places. Check out the categories for this year through our Nomination Guide on our website. Nominations close on February 5, 2024

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VACATION OWNERSHIP & TRAVEL INDUSTRY NEWS

Canada issues travel advisory for Bahamas due to crime, following U.S. warning

Source: Toronto Star

The advisory level is the second of four levels. The first level advises travellers to "take normal security precautions," the second tells them to "exercise a high degree of caution," the third suggests to "avoid non-essential travel" and the fourth suggests to "avoid all travel."

Flair Airlines agrees to pay $67-million in unpaid taxes after court order

Source: The Globe And Mail

Flair flies 20 leased Boeing 737s to domestic, U.S. and tropical destinations. Canada’s domestic airline industry is dominated by Air Canada, which accounted for almost half of the market in 2023, followed by WestJet Airlines’ 26-per-cent share, according to Cirium, an aviation data company. Flair has about 10 per cent of the domestic market.

International Bookings Rose In ’23 Even As Hotel Rooms Got Costlier

Source: PhocusWire

Perhaps in response to the costlier rates, travelers did not book many extended stays at hotels, the report found. Only 3% of all bookings were for a stay of one week or more, while more than 4 in 5 check-ins were for only one or two nights.

Puerto Rico Tourism Breaks Records in 2023

Source: Travel Pulse

Puerto Rico celebrated a record-breaking year for tourism growth to the island in 2023, according to the island’s destination marketing organization, Discover Puerto Rico. Over the year, the U.S. territory welcomed over 6.1 million passengers at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, a year-over-year increase of 18.6 percent.

American Airlines to lay off 656 employees to provide 'elevated' customer service

Source: USA Today

The layoffs will eliminate 8.2% of its 8,000 customer service-related positions for a total of 656 employees, who are not represented by a union, according to Bloomberg. The impacted includes 335 who work in Phoenix and 321 in Dallas-Fort Worth. These workers currently assist passengers with their lost luggage and AAdvantage loyalty program service groups.

Canada’s Most Welcoming Places: And other Traveller Review 2024 favourites

Source: Travel Industry Today

Booking.com has opened its very big envelope to reveal the 2024 winners of its 12th annual Traveller Review Awards. Based on more than 309 million verified customer reviews, and in recognition of delivering consistently excellent service and hospitality, a record 1.48 million travel partners received a Booking.com Traveller Review Award 2024, including 7,725 in Canada.