On Location: Awards cap off TRAVELSAVERS' Travel Market 2026 in San Antonio

TRAVELSAVERS Connected 2026 wrapped up in San Antonio with a celebration of the advisors and preferred partners driving the consortium’s business forward. 

Learning to embrace AI and make it work for advisors’ businesses was a major theme at the conference, with various workshops, panel discussions and a keynote that tackled the topic.

Saturday night’s awards gala was, as always, one of the main events. 

Among the evening’s Canadian top honours, Groupe Atrium took home the Chairman’s Award for Agencies, Total Advantage Travel received the President’s Award and Air Canada Vacations earned the Chairman’s Award for Preferred Partner. 

Collette took home the Best Sales & Service Partner award for Canada.

The awards show wasted no time getting to business while keeping the audience’s attention—and appetites—engaged. 

Following the awards, the room got down to party business with a glitzy five-piece band playing funk, soul and pop covers.

Continued sales momentum

2026 was a year for TRAVELSAVERS to celebrate.

The network’s investments translated into strong sales performance, with significant year-over-year growth, particularly with both cruise and river cruise sales rising by 14 per cent and both guided and hotel room nights up by 8 per cent.

The growth followed a productive 2025, when network revenue increased 15 per cent. 

According to TRAVELSAVERS, 2027 bookings are already showing double-digit growth across most travel segments, underscoring continued demand for advisor expertise and personalized travel experiences.

Preferred partner expansions

In 2026, TRAVELSAVERS expanded its preferred partner portfolio to include more than 200 preferred suppliers, 51,000 hotel partners worldwide and 1,400 luxury hotels and resorts through The Affluent Traveler Collection.

The TRAVELSAVERS Hotel Program also recently welcomed three new partners: Choice Hotels, Global Hotel Alliance and Grupo Posadas in Mexico. 

Mexico remains a strong destination, where affiliated advisors increased room-night bookings by 28 per cent year over year.

The network has also established preferred partnerships with Royal Irish Tours, specializing in travel packages throughout Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales, and the Worldia platform, enabling advisors to build and book customized FIT itineraries more efficiently.

Confidence in the future

TRAVELSAVERS Canada advisors are predicting a strong finish to 2026, according to a recent poll conducted by the consortium, citing rising sales confidence, resilient shoulder season demand and growing interest in insurance.

The survey found that 65 per cent of advisors expect their sales to increase compared with 2025, while none anticipate a significant decline.

Shoulder season demand also held firm. 

Sixty-seven per cent of advisors say shoulder season bookings are steady or growing compared with the same period last year, including 17 per cent who report gains of 10 per cent or more.

"Our advisors are seeing firsthand what the data confirms, Canadians remain eager to travel," said Jane Clementino, senior vice president and general manager, TRAVELSAVERS Canada.

"It's less about whether clients will travel and more about helping them find the right moment and the right value. What has changed is how thoughtfully travelers are planning, from when they go to how they maximize their budgets."

The survey also highlighted changing booking behaviour among Canadian travellers. 

The most common booking window today is three to six months before departure, cited by 38 per cent of advisors.

Value versus premium spending

The TRAVELSAVERS poll data also showed that consumer spending patterns reflect a market split between premium-seeking travellers and value-conscious vacationers.

Thirty-five per cent of advisors say their clients are more willing to spend on travel experiences than they were a year ago, and 13 per cent report increased demand for premium upgrades.

Bridging generational gaps

Researcher Jason Dorsey, author of 2020’s Zconomy: How Gen Z Will Change the Future of Business – and What to Do About It, gave an animated keynote on crossing the generational divide in the travel industry, reaching out to younger generations and putting worries to rest when it comes to AI and other tech.

“Technology is only new if you remember it the way it was before,” said Dorsey. 

“Otherwise, it’s all you’ve ever known. This is a divide you can bridge, but only if you talk about it. All communication is learned behaviour.”

For example, teenagers nowadays understand phones as devices that let you see who you’re talking to thanks to video calling. 

Students are using physical textbooks less and less and using AI to get suggestions for exercises to learn about topics.

Essentially, Dorsey’s point was that being of a different generation isn’t a factor when trying to sell; what matters is how you relate to them. 

It’s the advisor’s first-hand knowledge and experience that will always be their strongest asset. 

And the younger generations are the number one driver of referrals.

AI-influenced economy

Putting anxiety over AI to rest was a major throughline at the conference.

While speaking on the Trailblazers & Trendsetters: Executive perspectives on the future of travel panel discussion, Kathy Mouw, vice president, global sales, US & Canada, Marriott International, said “there’s been a 14 to 47 per cent uptake in consumers using AI for trip planning AI in last three years. 80 per cent of Gen Z is using AI for travel planning research but 70 per cent want human interactions to make the final purchase, and 50 per cent have used a travel advisor in the past.”

It was noted that Gen X and younger generations are looking for experiences during what appears to be a global recession. 

The 2008 movie The Bucket List had a huge impact on people’s travel motivations with specific landmarks to tick off, “but now, everyone wants to slow down and meet local culture and create lasting memories. 

They want to see things that are completely real,” said Christian Leibl-Cote, EVP of global business, Collette.

Hands-on with advisors and AI

One of the most insightful parts of the conference was a panel discussion with four agency owners who are leading the charge when it comes to integrating agentic AI into their small businesses. 

Many of the advisors explained how they used AI to automate administrative tasks, process sales reports, track performance and more.

“I would hate to have to run co-op reports manually,” said Nikki Hendrix, Favourite Grampy Travels. 

“Another thing I did was have it assess my quotes on how I communicate with my clients […] So it did an analysis and it told me that instead of sending an email with my second quote, and I scheduled a call, I’d be 60 per cent more likely to close that sale.”

Hendrix also said she uses Muse, the Meta AI assistant, for lead generation to tap into her Facebook groups, analyze posts and determine if a commenter can be converted into a sale. 

She then shares those leads in her agency’s Messenger chat and lets her agents claim leads from there. 

Hendrix, who specializes in theme parks, also said she created AI tools that let clients figure out which parks are the right fit, based on age appropriateness and height.

Sarah Bonsall of Latitude 21 explained how she created her AI-based board of advisors, each programmed with its own areas of expertise and opinions. 

She can consult them and even have them consult with each other.  

“I have a blog writer, a book keeper who does all of my reconciliations for my CPA, an automated follow up sequence customized to each client. I also built a board of directors with five different executives.”

Michelle Gammond of Travel Potions started off as someone opposed to using AI but became a 100 per cent advocate for the technology, using AI as a sounding board for her branding and marketing decisions.

For agents out there still worried about AI taking over their jobs, Bonsall offered reassurance: “AI doesn’t have supplier relationships or relationships with clients that we build. it’s not going to replace those. AI isn’t going to fight for your client when something goes wrong. We’re the advocate and AI can’t do that."

Full list of winners

• Chairman’s Award - Agencies: Groupe Atrium
• President’s Award: Total Advantage Travel
• Soaring Eagle Award: 
  • Luv to Travel
  • GOwithHIPPO Travel
• Horizon Awards: 
  • Murdoch Travel
  • South Coast World Travel
  • Verona Travel
• Inspire Awards
  • Progress Travel Services Inc.
  • Travel Beyond Borders
  • Crowfoot Travel Solutions
• Brand Champion Awards
  • Vacances Inter Inc.
  • CM Travel
  • Walnut Grove Cruise & Travel
  • Markham Cruise & Travel
• Chairman’s Award - Preferred Partner: Air Canada Vacations
• Partner of the Year Awards: 
  • Cruise Partner of the Year – Celebrity Cruises
  • River Cruise Partner of the Year – AmaWaterways
  • Hotel Partner of the Year – Hyatt
  • On Location Partner of the Year – Abercrombie & Kent Global DMCs
  • Destination Partner of the Year – Discover Puerto Rico
  • Air Partner of the Year – Delta Air Lines
  • Tour Partner of the Year: Canada – TravelBrands
  • Specialty, Insurance or Ground Transportation Partner of the Year: Canada – Manulife
  • Best Sales & Service Partner: Canada – Collette
  • Luxury Partner of the Year - Silversea

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