Our Weekend at the GIVC Awards
Our Crew at the 2010 GIVC Awards Gala
The Third Annual GIVC Awards Weekend was held this past weekend at the fantastic El Dorado Royale in the Riviera Maya, Mexico. Philip, Cathi, Terrah and Marty were all thrilled to be in attendance.
GIVC stands for “Gourmet Inclusive Vacation Consultant”. From the website: “A GI Vacation Consultant is a travel professional who is well versed, educated and prepared to provide exceptional service offering a tailor made vacation experience according to their client’s needs and expectations at El Dorado Spa Resorts & Hotels and Azul Hotels, by Karisma. A GI Vacation Consultant is a specialist in one or more of the following niche markets; destination weddings, honeymoons, adults only, romance, anniversaries, families and group travel.
A GI Vacation Consultant provides customers with confidence based on their first hand experience and knowledge after going through rigorous training and property site inspections at our hotels.”
Marty Receiving his Four Diamond Award
Marty and Terrah are both GIVCs. This year they were both awarded four diamond status. Four diamond is the highest level possible. There were only a total of 18 four diamond awards given. Only one other company was awarded more than one four diamond award.
Another honor bestowed on Marty and Terrah was the designation of “Gourmet Inclusive Wedding Consultant”. Again, from the website: “The “GI Wedding Consultant” logo designates GI Vacation Consultants who are our most experienced and productive partners in Destination Weddings at our resorts. This select group of travel agents have undergone specialized educational experiences focused exclusively on providing clients with the best possible service when booking a Destination Wedding and have firsthand experience in booking destination weddings to our resorts.”
Marty and Terrah at the After Party
Additionally, Terrah was also recognized as a Top 10 Wedding producer at El Dorado Resorts as well as at Azul Hotels.
The biggest thrill of the night for me was when it was announced that Marty and Terrah had tied for the honor of “Best Storefront Agent”. This means that out of any travel agency that you could walk in to, anywhere in the country, ours does more El Dorado Resorts and Azul Hotels than anyone else.
It was a great night. If you’re considering a Gourmet Inclusive Vacation, there is no where better to come check it out than Legacy Travel, Your Mexico Beach Vacation Experts.
Greenhouse at El Dorado Royale
I finally got to tour the greenhouse at El Dorado Royale. I’d wanted to do it during each of my last several trips to the area and I finally took the time to do it. I am a new gardener, so I was intrigued by the size of the 70,000 square foot facility made up of (I believe) 14 separate buildings. Its a hydroponic greenhouse and the main growing medium is shredded coconut husks. One of the buildings houses an advanced system of pumps and tanks that allows exactly the right amount of moisture and nutrition flow to each of the thousands of plants throughout the greenhouses.
In much of the US, a greenhouse is used to be able to extend the growing season into the cold winter months. In Mexico they have the opposite problem. Rather than using materials to keep the heat in, they use screen material and misting fans to cool the greenhouse off so as not to stress the plants.
Having a greenhouse and growing produce on such a massive scale allows El Dorado to live up to their commitment of preserving the environment. The quality of the home grown product is also superior in keeping with the Gourmet Inclusive concept of the resorts.
The greenhouses now supply all of the El Dorado Resorts and Azul Hotels by Karisma. They also trade some of the vegetables for fruits (which they do not currently grow) and they sell to their staff at a less than market rate.
I highly recommend taking the greenhouse tour during your trip to El Dorado Royale. You will really appreciate the lengths the to which the organization goes to deliver a superior product while protecting the environment and using resources of the earth wisely.
