November wrap-up: Gladstone Hotel

For the final meet-up of 2011, the Toronto Travel Massive hosted a lively event at the Gladstone Hotel in late November. This funky venue is both a hotel and bar, popular amongst travelers and locals alike – making it the perfect spot to hold our final event for the year.

Here’s an interesting tidbit of Toronto history for you – built in 1889, the Gladstone is actually the oldest continuously operating hotel in the city – surprising, right? We spent the evening enjoying a few bevies, while mingling with some of our favourite Canadian travelers.

We had an excellent turn-out for the event with many Travel Massive regulars in attendance, along with some new faces we were happy to meet. Our group is growing and growing fast! We met some great Travel Massive newbies like Chad Klyne, Clayton Klyne and Lyndon Wiebe, the three guys behind the new travel show Chefs Run Wild, which you can catch on the Travel+Escape channel.

Andrew Swartz from Google Canada was also out for his first Travel Massive event (here’s a hint for our January meet-up: if you attend you will get to check out Google Canada’s head office!).

Janice Waugh, (Solotraveler), had just returned from World Travel Market (WTM) in London, England and took the time to share some helpful advice with the group. For bloggers looking to delve further into the travel blogging world, put yourselves out there and NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK (investing your money in conferences such as WTM or TBEX is a great way to do so).

Deb from ThePlanetD also provided a useful tip when she suggested that travel bloggers work at connecting with tourism boards directly. If you’re going to take this approach, make sure to have a solid media kit you can provide them with, along with details of the coverage they would receive if they were to provide press trip support.

Meredith Howard from High Road Communications provided the group with a PR perspective, with some helpful tips that bloggers should keep in mind when approaching PR agencies for media visit assistance. As the wise Evelyn Hannon, or as she is more commonly known, Journeywoman, emphasized, “Be present and show up and you could be surprised. Being there is half the battle. If you sit at home, nothing will happen.”

Thanks again to the Gladstone for hosting us and generously donating a prize (dinner for two at the hotel) which was won by Natalie Taylor of NearAfar. G Adventures, a constant supporter of Toronto Travel Massive, kindly donated two prizes packs won by Angus Robinson (Jaunt.ca) and Tammy Burns (anywhereandhere) and Flight Centre provided another great prize pack.

We celebrated the holiday season with a small gift exchange, travel related gifts – of course! We can’t wait to see everyone again in 2012. Happy holidays!

Very special thanks to Lindsay Tessis and Natalie Taylor for writing this month’s wrap-up post!