The 2012 London Olympic Games have been a spectacular event for countries all around the world and Luis Féliz and his wife, Yamiler, were able to enjoy the event first-hand, as the winners of a competition sponsored by Visa and Butterfield. The winning couple received free flights and accommodation, entry to the Olympic Games and two, £200 prepaid Butterfield Visa cards.
“It was a blessing from God,” Mr. Féliz said, adding that he would never have been able to make the trip without this good fortune.
“It was a dream come true, and winning this prize made it possible because it would have been very difficult and costly for us to do otherwise,” he said.
Mr. and Mrs. Féliz have been long-standing customers of Butterfield since arriving in the Cayman Islands three years ago from their native Dominican Republic.
In order to win the competition, the couple simply had to use their Butterfield Visa cards in their normal daily routine. Butterfield then drew their names at random from its thousands of Visa card customers and the couple’s name came up as the eventual winners.
“We just used our Butterfield cards as usual, and one day we received a phone call from a radio station letting us know that we have won this prize. At first we did not believe it and thought it was a scam, but it was all true,” he said.
Mr. Féliz said his favourite experience was being able to enjoy the impressive opening ceremony, along with all the other people from many different countries. “Seeing everybody cheering for their home countries while they were presented was pretty special,” he said.
All in all, he said, it was a wonderful experience.
“We were in London from 25-29 July, so we were able to see other events as well such as gymnastics and basketball. The facilities were impressive, very modern and beautiful, especially the Olympic Stadium,” he said. “It was amazing to be in those places as you could see and meet people from many countries. That was an enriching experience.”
This was the couple’s first time in London and, indeed, Europe. Mr. Féliz described London as an “amazing city” and the couple managed to visit many of the historic sites. “It is a place where you can walk through beautiful gardens, visit many different historic places, and meet wonderful people from many different cultures,” he said. “We had tours of the city and visited places like Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, the London Eye, the River Thames and so on. It’s impressive how many things you can do there.”
Butterfield Director Sheree Ebanks said she is delighted that Mr. and Mrs. Féliz had such an incredible experience.
“We are thrilled that Mr. and Mrs. Féliz were able to get so much out of the experience,” she noted. “The 2012 Olympics has had us all glued to our television sets as we have watched all the great athletes compete, especially of course our own superb athletes who have done the Cayman Islands proud.”
Mrs. Ebanks said that the partnership between Visa and Butterfield has been important for the bank and has been instrumental in developing and enhancing banking services at Butterfield.
“A Visa card is now pretty much in everyone’s purse or wallet these days as it is such a convenient means of payment,” she said. “We wanted to find a way to thank our loyal customers for making the Visa card such a successful service, so what better way than to reward them with such a tremendous experience.”
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