Vision Travel principals have good news to share with more than 450 employees, management and suppliers at its annual Power of Vision conference at the Harbour Castle Westin this weekend.

“We’re part of a $7B global company,” said Joel Ostrov, president of Vision Travel. Quebec-East Region.

“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind,” observed Brian Robertson, Vision Travel president of Ontario-West Region, in looking back at 2017, noting Vision is on track to reach its goal of $1B in Canada in 2018.

This year saw Vision, Canada’s largest independent travel management company, go global by completing an April merger with a leading U.S. corporate travel management services provider, Direct Travel, Inc.

It’s a move that gave the company “more clout,” but didn’t diminish what makes Vision Travel stand out, said Ostrov.

“It’s a great combination of the old and the new that has been our number 1 success,” he said, crediting the mix of what he calls the “wow” factor from individual customer service in corporate, leisure and meetings markets, paired with competitive pricing and the most current technology. He said the company made a “seven-figure” investment in technology this year.

“Everybody has the same online booking tools,” Ostrov said, but it’s customer service around more complex itineraries that make a difference.

He points to the recent events in New York, where a man is accused of killing eight people by driving a truck on a Manhattan bike path. New York is Vision’s second-biggest destination after Toronto and they had “hundreds” of clients in the city, said Ostrov, all of whom were able to be in immediate contact with their Vision team member for information and assistance.

#POV17 kicks off today! @WestinToronto pic.twitter.com/sTH6mpOf3x

— Vision Travel (@visiontraveller) November 3, 2017

The bulk of Vision’s customers are on the corporate side, but Robertson said the company plans to grow all three verticals of corporate, meetings and the leisure market by 10 per cent in 2018. Acquisitions may push that number higher, Roberston says.

“We see our clients going multinational and global,” says Roberston, “and we’re servicing global, so that’s great.”

But both said airline distribution surcharges, like those implemented by Lufthansa, British Airways/Iberia, and announced Friday by Air France-KLM, will present challenges for 2018.

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