Green Apple Café

Cantrav, along with a client due to host 40 committee dinners for an international convention later this year, embarked on a marathon effort restaurant tasting in Vancouver last week.  The aim was to make sure the restaurants and menus reached the high standards required by the client for their event.  Cantrav and the client dined at 42 restaurants over just 6 days, cramming in 3 lunches and 3 dinners each day (48 menu items per day!).  Due to the large number of high quality restaurants Vancouver has to offer, almost all were selected by the client as ideal for their event meals.

Vancouver was again awarded the top spot in the “Best in Destination: Canada” category of the Travel Weekly Readers’ Choice Awards.  US Travel Agents and readers of the influential US travel trade publication named Vancouver the best destination in Canada. The awards are widely recognized in the industry, and are presented annually to travel suppliers who excelled in product and service during the past year.  Vancouver has been named best destination in Canada each of the seven years that the awards have been held.

Ascend to the world’s first and only elevator accessed ViewPOD and you’ll feel like you’re walking on the wind.  As of January 2010 Grouse Mountain Resorts will open the world’s first wind turbine with an elevator- accessible public viewPOD.  The viewPOD is connected to the top of the wind turbine and rotates around the tower as driven by wind direction.
Quick facts: Height: 65 metres (from bottom of tower to tip of blade pointing up is 102 metres)
Produces 25 % of the resort’s annual energy usage
viewPOD capacity: 36 people
Blade Speed: 260 km/hour at top speeds

Cantrav was honoured amongst some of the most esteemed marketing and events companies, winning a silver award for its Leisure Services corporate brochure at the Meetings Industry Marketing awards.  Held on October 16th, at the Park Plaza Riverbank London and organised by Meetings & Incentive Travel magazine, the annual awards event brings together the various sectors of the industry to reward excellence of service and product while also raising funds for Save the Children charity.

Other winners include Force Four Creative Marketing (Gold for Best Live Marketing Event), JLA (Gold for Best Website), and Tourism Montreal (Bronze for Best Print Advertising Campaign).  Email sales@cantrav.com to receive your free copy of this brochure.

The Rocky Mountaineer GoldLeaf Service has won a 2009 World Travel Award as “World’s Leading Travel Experience by Train.”  The train service offers four spectacular train trips through British Columbia, Alberta and the Canadian Rockies.

This is the fourth time Rocky Mountaineer has been recognized with a World Travel Award – hailed by the Wall Street Journal as the ‘Oscars’ of the travel and tourism industry. There were nine other iconic trains nominated in the “World’s Leading Travel Experience by Train” category, including, The Blue Train (South Africa), The Royal Scotsman (Scotland), Venice-Simplon Orient Express (Europe) and Rovos Rail (South Africa). 

We all know how it goes when you have a party, everyone ends up in the kitchen.  It’s natural really, you are the first to get the food, it is always warm, and the atmosphere is convivial. So what about when we take our guests literally into the kitchen for an event?  Well it ends up being a great party, such as we helped create last week, when we brought together ten planners and a group of local hosts and took them into the kitchen at the stunning new Vancouver Convention Centre.  With a small lounge area, a granite topped bar, and four stations where every bite was incredible, the guests LOVED it.  “Alton Brown” stopped by to explain some of the action, and definitely added some spice to this kitchen!

Now, we know it is not very practical to imagine that with each event we could take the guests into the kitchen, but we can definitely take the kitchen to them!  This goes way beyond adding an action station to your buffet, although that is a good start.  Imagine… an actual kitchen with cupboards all around, a fridge with help-yourself beverages and a stove where delicious treats are being cooked up and served by the house chef.

A kitchen table is filled with treats, and throughout the room small and tall tables provide seating, with centerpieces naturally filled with spices!  For those guests that venture into the luxe and comfortable “living room”, won’t they be surprised to sit down and see the action in the kitchen playing on the plasma screens!

We could even turn this into a true Canadian Kitchen Ceilidh – add a great band playing your favorite tunes on the guitar and fiddle, and a selection of your “best” dinnerware brought out! Really, just thinking about this has made me hungry, so I am off to get some lunch…

The Rocky Mountaineer spectacular train journeys between British Columbia, Alberta, and the Canadian Rockies was voted the most exciting and scenic train experience in the world by the Society of American Travel Writers this month.

The Whistler Mountaineer which travels the picturesque British Columbia Coast also made the top ten, coming in at number 8.

Why not hold your meeting in the exciting mountain resort of Whistler?  Cantrav is offering a 5 day/4 night Whistler meeting package which includes accommodation, a themed welcome reception, complimentary meeting space, hosted day activity, breakfasts, transfers between Vancouver and Whistler, hospitality staff, and a full final night Dinner of Champions, plus more.  Hotel options for this package include The Westin Resort & Spa Whistler, Four Seasons Resort Whistler, or the Fairmont Chateau Whistler.  Offer available until Dec 15, 2010.  Contact Cantrav Whistler for more details or an info sheet: 604-938-1992.

Vancouver offers the best of all worlds for your meeting or incentive program.  Cantrav is offering a fabulous all-inclusive 3 night Vancouver meeting package which includes accommodation, a themed welcome reception, complimentary meeting space, Vancouver tour, breakfasts, airport transfers, and full final night dinner.  Hotel options for this package include the Hyatt Regency Vancouver, Sutton Place Hotel Vancouver, or the Pan Pacific Vancouver Hotel.  Offer available for 2009. Contact Cantrav for more details or an info sheet: 604-708-2500.

Vancouver was recently named as the most liveable city in the world, as it was also in 2008, according to the liveability survey conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit.  The survey ranked cities on factors that included healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.  Vienna came in at second place and Melbourne at third.