You have to think they’re not hockey or basketball fans. Or soccer enthusiasts, for that matter.

The folks at Travelzoo Inc. released its 2012 Travelzoo Awards list on Thursday and there was a rather large surprise in the category of “Best Overall Provider of Entertainment Experiences in Canada.” The winner? Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

I had to give my head a shake. At first I thought it was an award for “best condo builder.” But no. Then I thought it was “most outrageously profitable entertainment experiences where fans are continually hosed by owners who don’t care if their teams win.” But no. It was “best overall provider of entertainment experiences.” IN ALL OF CANADA!!

MLSE? The folks who struggle to put even a mediocre product on the ice and the basketball court and the soccer pitch? The laughingstock of North American sports? The organization that's part of a league that isn't even playing this fall?

You gotta be kidding me. Yes, Real Sports is a great sports bar. Yes, the Raptors dance pack features some pretty hot routines. And yes, the Raptor himself continues to dazzle (I think, I haven’t seen a game in a couple years).

But this is an organization that has run Toronto FC into the ground and can’t field a hockey playoff team and a basketball team that's consistently below average with a general manager that is riding on his success in Phoenix a century or two ago.

Good concerts at the ACC? Maybe that’s what did it, but not if you judge that category by the feedback from fans at this week’s mysterious Bob Dylan show.

The other Canadian categories in the Travelzoo awards were for best overall provider of Airfare (Porter), best overall provider of hotel deals (Sutton Place, Vancouver, which is often on sale on various websites) and best provider of vacation and cruise packaging (Cruise Connections, Inc.).

 

QUEBEC CITY HOTELS KICK BUTT

Congrats to Quebec City for having the highest rated hotels in the U.S. and Canada.

CheapHotels.org released a survey this week of 30 destinations north and south of the border. It was based on evaluations written by customers over the past 12 months following their stays.

To ensure proper comparisons, the study was based only on 3-star hotels (the kind most of us stay in most often) in the city centre. Two booking sites, Expedia and Priceline, served as the aggregator from which reviews were drawn.

The winner, with 75 per cent positive reviews, was Quebec City. Next was Washington D.C. at 73, followed by Chicago (72) and a tie between Boston and Montreal at 71. So, good on La Belle Province for a great showing.

The bottom five were Las Vegas (61), Honolulu (59), Ottawa (a terrible 57 score), Atlantic City (56) and, at the very bottom, Miami at 54.

Sounds like theirs food for thought down Florida way….

For the record, Toronto was pretty much in the middle (slightly above average) at 67, one spot behind Niagara Falls (68), although the study doesn’t say whether that’s the U.S. or Canadian side of the falls.

New York City was at 65.

 

THIS AND THAT

Fairmont is opening its first-ever property in the Philippines, which seem to be getting more and more travel press these days. The Fairmont Makati opens Dec. 3 in Metro Manila. Fairmont Makati will have 280 rooms and suites with a Filipino design. The tower housing the Makati also is home to the 32-room, all-suite Raffles Makati and to condos under the Raffles Residences brand. Raffles is a sister brand of Fairmont under the parent company Fairmont Raffles Hotels International … Kudos to Cabot Links on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia for being named best new golf course by SCOREGolf. It’s a no-brainer, really, as it’s by far the best new course opened in this country in some time. It’s a true links course, the only one in Canada, and it’s absolutely marvelous.

 

Comments

[Jason Sarracini]

Hi Jim,

Unfortunately, some of the awards distributed by Travelzoo are not always based on quality of offer. MLSE were able to offer up some pretty inexpensive Raptor tickets last year!

Keep up the great work - Jason