Archive for January, 2010

Sundance Vacations recently teamed up with Dun and Bradstreet. D&B is a financial rating company that is the world’s leading source of commercial information and insight on businesses, enabling consumers to decide with confidence. D&B has been in business for the past 167 years.

The Dun and Bradstreet website report will display financial details on Sundance Vacations including: trade payments, history and operations, public filings, risk of financial stress, risk of payment delinquency, supplier evaluation risk, credit capacity, and financial overviews. Sundance Vacations holds one of the highest financial ratings with D&B.

“Through Dun and Bradstreet customers can feel confident about the financial stability of Sundance Vacations,” explained Sundance Vacations Founder Tina Dowd.

For more information, please visit the Sundance Vacations corporate website at www.sundancevacations.com and click on the D&B logo at the bottom of the homepage.

Imagine waking up under a pile of rubble or in a hospital all alone without your family. That’s how many people started their day on January 12th after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti, just outside the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The lives lost, people injured, and families displaced are colossal.

People from around the world including many celebrities have made it a point that Haiti is in dire need of help! Ryan Seacrest held a telethon on CNN with Larry King called Haiti: How You Can Help. The benefit raised $8,944,956 for UNICEF and the American Red Cross to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

Another telethon courtesy of Actor George Clooney will air on Friday, Jan. 22. Clooney will host the live telethon to benefit earthquake victims in Haiti. The telethon will air on all of the MTV channels worldwide, along with ABC, NBC, HBO, and CNN. The show will air 8-10 p.m. ET.  Be sure to tune in!

Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton are also on board to help Haiti victims.  With the help from President Obama, the duo agreed to lead a major fundraising effort for relief: the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund. http://clintonbushhaitifund.org/index.php ONE HUNDRED percent of donations made to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, go directly to relief efforts. The website also gives three secure ways to donate.

Many employees from Sundance Vacations have helped the victims of Haiti. Sundance Vacations Marketing Manager Patty Barney donated to the American Red Cross, UNICEF, and YELE Haiti. “Giving money is the least I can do. I can only imagine waking up and having nothing, no food or water. It was my moral obligation to give what I could,” explained Barney. Administrative Assistant Natalie Cassarella also donated via text message. “I heard about donating and I thought what an easier way then directly from your cell phone,” said Cassarella.

Speaking of texting, there are plenty of ways. Including: Texting “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.  OR text the word “QUAKE” to 20222 to donate $10 to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, also charged to your cell phone bill.

If you haven’t yet, it’s easy to help. Please use the outlets provided and remember ANYTHING helps! One dollar, or one hundred, whatever you can give will make a difference!

Sundance Vacations is, for the second year in a row, participating in the Tax Refund Program. The Tax Refund Program was created to help potential customers travel more during tough economic times.

The Tax Refund Program allows customers to use their tax refund toward a travel package and get an equal credit from the company. Customers have the opportunity to choose any portion of their tax refund and apply the whole amount or any smaller portion to a vacation package. The credit you receive from Sundance Vacations is equal to the portion you apply toward a travel package. The tax refund benefits the customer because Sundance Vacations is actually doubling their refund.

The tax credit does exceed the actual purchase price. The maximum credit is the total amount of the tax refund. The actual credit is the amount the customer chooses to apply toward the purchase of a Sundance Vacations package. Customers are not eligible for cash back. In order to receive the credit, customers are required to provide a copy of their official refund check. The Sundance Vacations Tax Refund Special started at the beginning of the tax season. The program ends April 30, 2010.         

Please visit a local Sundance Vacations sales office for more information.

Sundance Vacations is a finalist in THREE categories in the 4th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, an international competition recognizing excellence in disciplines that are crucial to business success.  The company became finalists in the following categories: Sales Director of the Year-Shane Lewis, Best Sales Team-Hospitality and Tourism, Best Contact Call Center-Sundance Event Marketing.

The awards are presented by the Stevie® Awards, which organizes several of the world’s leading business awards shows including the prestigious American Business Awards.

Stevie Award winners will be announced during a gala banquet on Monday, February 22 at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. Sundance Vacations representatives will be in attendance for support and to hopefully bring home a Stevie Award.

More than 500 entries were submitted to this year’s competition. There are 27 categories for customer service professionals and 41 categories for sales professionals.

Wish Sundance Vacations best of luck as they prepare to attend the February 22^nd Gala in Miami Beach.

Sundance Vacations hosted the Northeastern Pennsylvania Customer Service Consortium Leadership team at their corporate headquarters located at 264 Highland Park Blvd. Wilkes-Barre, Pa 18702.

The NEPA Customer Service Consortium is a core leadership group that is charged with planning networking events where all NEPA companies can come and share best practices in Customer Service.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Sundance Vacations Founder Tina Dowd, provided advice on how Sundance Vacations struggles with online reputation management. “Anyone’s brand can be high jacked. I was happy to share the Sundance Vacations unique experience in how to fight online slander,” explained Dowd.

Some of the leading local companies in attendance were: Frontier Communications, Vector Securities, TMG Health, Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, and Penn State University-Wilkes-Barre.

Customer Service leaders with exceptional reputations in their communities will converge again at the next meeting to be held on February 10^th at the Sundance Vacations corporate headquarters.

Dreaming of the warm sunshine on your face, walking in the hot sand, or how about a cool margarita poolside? Forecasts for 2010 predict that more people will be traveling, but the numbers are still well below what they were before the recession. Still, if you can afford to get away, interesting events will be drawing visitors to destinations around the world, from Shanghai to South Africa to Orlando, FL. And here’s a surprise, Mexico is turning up on some top 10 lists for 2010, despite the swine flu epidemic and worries over drug violence.

According to the Associated Press and the US Travel Association Website: Several destinations will be in the tourism spotlight in 2010 thanks to headline-grabbing events, including the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Feb. 12-28; the FIFA World Cup soccer games in South Africa, for a month beginning June 11; and the Shanghai World Expo, May 1-Oct. 31, a 21st century world’s fair that organizers are hoping will attract as many as 70 million visitors.

Universal Orlando will open the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure this spring. The marquee attraction will be a high-tech ride called “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” that will take guests through scenes and rooms from the blockbuster Potter movies. EXCITING! Sundance Vacations offers many great properties in or near Orlando, Florida.

Universal Hollywood also has news for 2010. Its King Kong attraction, which burned down in 2008, is swinging back onto the Universal Studios Hollywood with a tram tour next summer. The new 3D attraction, King Kong 360, will transport visitors to Skull Island where they will witness “the eighth wonder of the world” tussling with dinosaurs and other critters. SCARY!

To get some deals on airfare, it’s key that you sign up for frequent flyer programs, e-mail alerts, and Airline Twitter feeds. The big trend with airlines happened in 2009, when many airlines used different marketing channels to go directly to consumers with promotion codes and offers.

Go Ahead-Get Away! Check out Sundance Vacations right now and go on your dream vacation.

Are you looking to book a vacation? Are you anxious to see the Excess Inventory list? Gosh, website redesign can be a pain in the neck! Our sister company Travel Advantage Network who currently fulfills all vacation requests and needs for Sundance Vacations is undergoing website redesign.

 The new site is going to be so much more beneficial to customers. The site will feature a new career area, property listings with better and more up-to-date photos, and customers will now be able to search by city, resort, region, and start date! The site is set to launch on January 8^th, 2009!

Until the TAN website is complete, please call 1-800-976-6968 to hear an automated listing of excess inventory and contact 1-800-223-0088 ext. #3 to speak to a reservationist.  The reservationist will be able to give information about the inventory, take requests, check availability, and book a location for you.

If you have any questions, you may call New Client Services at 1-800-264-3802, Mon. – Fri. 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. or TAN at 1-800-223-0088 Mon. – Fri. 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

One of the biggest benefits of working for Sundance Vacations is having the ability to help families reconnect.  This may seem corny to some folks, but we as Americans are so overwhelmed with hectic schedules. From work, to soccer practice, to school fundraisers, yoga class, and everything that ties up our lives…people in general NEED to take time as a family to reconnect.  With the value of our vacations…families can now afford to take much needed R&R and yet not feel guilty spending near the amount of money down the traditional way-retail.  If I am to make a difference in people’s lives, I believe I may have found my ‘calling’ at Sundance Vacations!  I can’t put money in people’s pockets nor can fix obstacles in their lives.  But, I can save them money and offer them the opportunity to enjoy LIFE.  Are you working to live or living to work?

-Shannon Hobaugh-Holtzinger (Harrisburg)