S. Nathan DePetris of PRIDE Travel
TravelAge west magazine announced the 2010 Trendsetter awards as the feature article on the cover of the June 21, 2010 Issue. Among those received its top industry honors of TrendSetter, PRIDE Travel’s S. Nathan DePetris received the winning award in the category of travel agent SuperStar. The award marks the second category out of four that PRIDE Travel was honored for at this year’s gala ceremony; Marc R. Kassouf, the company’s co-owner and CEO, also received the runner-up award in the Best Community Service Effort category.
The TrendSetter award for travel agent SuperStar was conferred at the black tie annual TravelAge West WAVE awards ceremony held June 10th at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills. The travel industry’s top executives, experts, and figures were in attendance recognizing the best of the best in the industry. Accepting the winning award in the category for PRIDE Travel was S. Nathan DePetris, its co-owner and COO. Mr. DePetris and PRIDE received the award for their overall efforts as an agency and agent providing superlative service, forward-thinking innovation, and consistently hard work under unusual circumstances. As a token of recognition, the award’s sponsor Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises bestowed a seven night Caribbean cruise for two on a Celebrity Solstice-class vessel, in a veranda stateroom. Mr. Kassouf and Mr. DePetris are planning to book a western Caribbean cruise February of 2011 to celebrate this accomplishment. Although they have sailed on countless Caribbean cruises, they find Celebrity Cruises’ offering of Roatan, Honduras intriguing and are excited to sail on the Celebrity Solstice which they had previously toured extensively but not had the opportunity to sail; Celebrity Cruises’ new Solstice class of vessels are arguably destinations unto themselves, designed for the discerning guest. Additionally, the sailing presents an opportunity to further enhance their first-hand experience of this unique and superlative product and the additional port knowledge in order to better serve PRIDE Travel’s clients.
In winning the award for SuperStar, DePetris noted that Read the rest of this entry »
In announcing its nominations for the prestigious TrendSetters Award, industry magazine TravelAge West has nominated PRIDE Travel’s S. Nathan DePetris in the category of Travel Agent SuperStar. The nomination marks the second category out of four that PRIDE Travel is being honored for at this year’s gala ceremony; Marc R. Kassouf was previously named as a nominee in the Best Community Service Effort category.
Two days before the news broke about escalating violence in Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok, PRIDE Travel owner Marc R. Kassouf was putting the finishing touches on a premier ad to launch the new marketing campaign in San Francisco’s theatre district. By many accounts, a resolution to mounting tension was being reached in negotiations with incumbent government officials and the demonstrating “Red Shirt Army” opposition movement. The advertisement, a full color page featuring a Thailand Gay Group with multiple departures throughout the end of 2010 and beyond, was to be PRIDE Travel’s debut into the San Francisco market in print advertising and is slated to run for four weeks in May and June. What better product to feature, thought Kassouf, than a customizable program to the Land of Smiles, where warm gracious hospitality sets the bar for the world to follow, and a destination that has been welcoming the gay traveler warmly for decades. But, when the news two days later reported the death and purported assassination of one of the opposition movement’s key figure, PRIDE Travel’s management was faced with several difficult decisions.
In announcing the winners of the 31st Annual Telly Awards, the Silver Council recognized PRIDE Travel with one of its highest awards, a bronze Telly Award, for the independent in-house. The commercial was produced in-house by PRIDE Travel’s owner and CEO Marc R. Kassouf using only readily-available media tools found on a standard office PC. The original footage was provided by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and Mr. Kassouf initiated the project last year in order to promote the destination with a short commercial video at trade shows and events, and add it to other similar destination videos. “We’re very excited that PRIDE Travel has won a Telly for the Amazing Thailand commercial” said Kassouf, adding “this makes the second major creative industries award that the video has won, including a Gold Davey Award last year. The Amazing Thailand commercial is available for online viewing on YouTube directly via the following URL : 
In announcing the winners of the 2009 Davey Awards, the International Academy of Visual Arts recognized PRIDE Travel with its highest award, a Gold Davey, for the independent in-house production of the “Amazing Thailand” commercial promoting Thailand as a travel destination. The commercial was produced in-house by PRIDE Travel’s owner and CEO Marc R. Kassouf using only a standard office PC, readily available home and office video editing software Roxio, and old fashioned trial and error until the final finished product was attained. The original footage was provided by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and although informative was not intended as an audiovisual whole or to be used as a commercial. Mr. Kassouf initiated the project in order to promote the destination with a short commercial video at trade shows and events, and add it to other similar destination videos. “I am ecstatic that PRIDE Travel has won a Davey Award for the Amazing Thailand commercial” said Kassouf, adding that “to win a Davey is a great honor, a Gold Davey even more gratifying as recognition for all the work done and many hours spent on the production” The Amazing Thailand commercial is available for online viewing on YouTube directly via the following URL : 
For the month of October 2009 PRIDE Travel will join thousands of cruise-selling travel agents in World’s Largest Cruise Night, an exciting event designed to showcase the incredible choice, diversity and value of cruise vacations. Travel agencies across North America will team up with 24 member lines of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) to provide consumers with information on cruise vacations and exceptional offers.
This week’s TravelAge west magazine, the leading trade magazine for travel agents and the travel industry in the 14 western states, announced the 2009 Trendsetter awards as the feature article on the cover of its magazine. Among those honored, Marc R Kassouf and PRIDE Travel were awarded Best Community Service –runner up, for their exemplary and continued contributions to the Center of Long Beach. The Center, which provides extensive community and health programs to the local and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer community, has been the beneficiary of Marc’s and PRIDE Travel’s contributions individually and as a company for almost a decade. Contributions have helped the non-profit charitable organization raise in excess of $100,000 to supplement its annual budget enabling programs such as youth suicide prevention, health awareness and disease prevention, counseling and mentorship, elder-care, and numerous other local programs benefitting the community.
.1
.2
.3
.4
.5
.6
.7
PRIDE Travel Additional Experiences