Written By Brett Tollman on December 22, 2017

Season’s Greetings

“You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give.”

~ Winston S. Churchill

Season’s Greetings to one and all. I hope you are looking forward to the upcoming holiday celebrations and a little R&R, as I am with my family.

I just returned from my favorite city in the world, London. I love this festive time of the year. The city was full of holiday cheer, and our six Red Carnation hotels were beautifully decorated with their own unique and elegant style. I had the pleasure of attending both our Travel Corporation’s and Red Carnation Hotels’ holiday party for the children of our London-based team, both hosted at our Montague Hotel, which also hosts the ultimate “alpine experience” at their very popular hot spot, the Ski Lodge, on their deck.

My inspiring, brilliant mother, Bea Tollman, constantly shows our appreciation to all of our RCH team members with her immense kindness, and personally gives a holiday gift to every single team member, each year. I also had one of several delicious, memorable meals at our Rubens Hotel’s new The English Grill, serving exceptional classic British food with modern finesse.

I certainly hold Executive Chef Ben Kelliher, who has been with us for over a decade now, in the highest esteem and consider him to be one of the best, most talented and NICEST British chefs, in the world. (Here is a photo of him, Mr. Hendry (General Manager of The Rubens and 41 Hotels) and I next to the large snowman Ben’s brigade made, all out of meringues)

2017 was an outstanding year for TTC and we are thrilled to continue offering all of our highly valued guests authentic and immersive experiences, throughout the new year. We appreciate that they have many choices from whom to choose to take their holidays with, and we work so hard to ensure we surprise and delight every traveler who decides to buy their holiday from one of our brands.

We will be celebrating the “Evolution of Transformative Travel” in the new year. For our 2018 #TTCTOP10, we are showcasing several of our most transformative travel experiences. Our guests all over the world are seeking special, memorable journeys that are not only experiential, but which also cultivate deeper connections with the places they are exploring, with meaningful interactions with nature, wildlife, locals and their unique cultures.

Our not-for-profit, TreadRight Foundation is also celebrating its 10 year anniversary in 2018, and its sustainable tourism principles have guided our amazing brands and socially engaged team members to travel with purpose, by giving back to many of the local communities and places we visit across the globe. We also have a couple of exciting new TreadRight partnerships and some new projects which we will announce in the new year.

Here is the link to our 2018 #TTCTOP10 list to inspire your wanderlust:

https://ttc.com/top10/

I will be sharing with you shortly my personal 2018 #TTCTop10 list including my upcoming ME to WE immersive and life-changing trip in Rajasthan’s Araveli mountains in July, which will be my wife’s and my first visit to timeless India, which has always been on my bucket list. If time permits, I would also like to enjoy some of our Luxury Gold experiences in Udaipur which is considered the “Venice of the East”.

Here is my recent Travel Press interview with WE Charity co-founder and good friend, Craig Kielburger about our ME to We partnership goals during our event at their new WE Global Learning Centre in Toronto (page 24): “Travel with a Purpose”

A sincere, very heartfelt “thank you” to all of our dedicated, passionate TTC team members. Each of you are very much appreciated for all you do to take care of our guests in such a superb, personal manner, each and every day. Our remarkable, superb service delivery is some of the best in the industry, and this makes such a difference to each guest’s experiences with us.

We also sincerely thank each of our guests – past, present and future – for inspiring us to keep creating these fulfilling travel experiences with meaning and purpose, and for choosing our brands to holiday with. And lastly, a big thank you to all of our loyal, hard working partners as well, for helping us deliver such superb, best-in-class experiences.

Looking back on this year, our hearts go out to everyone who has been badly affected by the many awful events that have occurred, from the numerous natural disasters, from hurricanes to fires and volcanic eruptions, to the tragic terrorist attacks, ongoing wars and continued displacement and too many people from their homes for many unfortunate reasons. Those of us unaffected must certainly appreciate fully how fortunate and blessed we all are, and hopefully we can all dedicate ourselves to do more to help others in need throughout the new year.

Looking forward to 2018, we wish everyone the very best of health, some happiness and prosperity throughout the new year. We at TTC are dedicated to working hard throughout the new year to continue to help lead and inspire our industry through innovation, good practices and super service delivery, and to delight and inspire every traveler who comes with us to discover, explore and enjoy new destinations, new cultures and amazing experiences.