Sandals
Resorts hosted its 21st Annual U.S. Golf Tournament for Travel Advisors Sept.
10-14 at Sandals Dunn’s River in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
More than 100
travel advisors, guests and Sandals representatives played in the annual golf
extravaganza, which included two 18-hole scramble rounds at the nearby Upton
Estate Golf & Country Club, as well as product knowledge, education, networking, and golf.
The event
included resort tours at two other Sandals properties in Jamaica – Sandals
Royal Plantation and Sandals Ochi Beach Resort.
The
tournament attracts top-selling travel advisors, including many who sell trips
to Sandals properties with golf courses. Travel advisors were encouraged to
showcase the course and resorts on social media and could take advantage of
special incentives with value-added extras for bookings made for a limited
time. These advisors were
hand-picked by Jake Coldiron, Sandals’ national manager of golf sales, and business development managers.
Many of the
agents attend year after year, creating an almost family-like environment that's
filled with laughter on the golf course and after hours at the rum bar. One
night, dinner was at a Caribbean Carnival Beach Party with a buffet on the main
beach.
The final
night was a gala dinner at the ballroom at Sandals Ochi Beach with a steak and
lobster dinner, presentation of awards and an amusing speech by Gary Sadler, executive
vice president of sales and industry relations of Unique Vacations Inc., the
sales affiliate of Sandals.
The
relationship and support from the Sandals organization means a great deal to
travel advisors.
Sandals Resorts' national manager of golf sales, Jake Coldiron, and travel advisor Donna Cassie of Cassie’s Travel. (Photo Credit: Northstar Travel Group/Theresa Norton)
"Sandals is the only company in the entire
travel industry that treats us like royalty all the time,” said Kathleen
Lawson, owner of Vacation Cruise & Yacht Co. in Pensacola, Fla., and New
Orleans. “Sandals always has our back, and I just love them.”
The top three teams from this event will be invited
to the 2026 Global Travel Advisor Golf Tournament in St. Lucia, where they will
compete against Latin America and Canada.
The Tournament Champions was a team that included
Jeremy Lee and David Schutz of Cruise Planners of Dothan, Ala., and Adam
Anderson and David Anderson of VibeGetaways in Pleasant Prairie, Wis.
The best-dressed team from Everlasting Memories
Vacations in Buffalo, N.Y., included Larry Field, Dennis Field, Mike Zuch and
Craig Scime.
Four Unique
Vacations staff hosted the event, including Coldiron, Tony Ebanks, Jodi Hoeser
and Mark Harvey.
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