Holland America Line (HAL) recently launched a series of live and recorded video presentations called “Mondays with Michelle,” featuring Michelle Sutter, vice president of North America sales. The episodes are posted weekly to the brand’s trade Facebook page.
Topics will encompass everything from personal happiness to professional know-how, and guests will include her team and others from behind the scenes. Live sessions will be interactive, with questions and comments posted via Facebook.
Following, Sutter shares her vision for the company as sailings prepare to restart soon.
What is your vision for Holland America’s cruise recovery, and what are you most looking forward to accomplishing?
My vision is aligned with the rest of Carnival Corporation’s vision in terms of our cruise recovery being directly tied to our highest responsibility and top priorities, which have always been compliance; protecting the environment; and protecting the health, safety and wellbeing of our guests and the people in the communities we touch, as well as our crew and shoreside employees.
But what I'm most looking forward to is when we can welcome our guests back onboard with our intense health and safety protocols to ensure that everyone can get back to what we all want to do — travel.
In addition to that, I'm really looking forward to connecting face to face again with the trade. This has been the longest period of time in our history that we haven't connected, whether through conferences or sales calls. So, that's definitely something that I'm looking forward to — to share our gratitude for all that they've done to support us during this really challenging chapter.
How are you looking at this year differently than previous years as it relates to the trade?
I’m now in a position to be able to affect change, where in other positions as an individual contributor or a leader of a smaller team, I haven't been able to affect change in the way that I can here.
What we started to do — and when I say we, I'm referring to Gus Antorcha, our president, and myself — is really asking questions of the trade [related to] how could we be showing up differently? What can we do to better partner with you?
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We’re listening to that feedback and then being really intentional about staying connected and listening to what they’ve shared. How can we add value and also deliver on our service excellence commitment? That is something that we've been working on internally within the sales organization over the last few weeks and months.
And we're basing that on three core values: being insightful, authentic and consistent; leading and engaging authentically in all of our interactions; and being relentlessly reliable.
During this pandemic, the one thing I've noted that has been very different from pre-pandemic has been the hunger and need for people to really connect authentically. We’ve all been disconnected from our social networks.
During this pandemic, the one thing that has been very different from pre-pandemic has been the hunger and need for people to really connect authentically. We’ve all been disconnected from our social networks. So, my goal during this pandemic has been to build a long-lasting community that provides the trade with the support that I believe they deserve. I genuinely care about them.
I started a group that's essentially like a book club, and we have discussions not only about how they can grow their business, but also how they can get through this time with a different mindset in applying happiness.
Something else we're doing differently is also sharing webinars that are more inspirational-content driven versus brand-content driven. That is helping travel advisors grow their business, through learning how to sell using storytelling, or how they can change their mindset to be able to focus on positivity, presence and community — all to help advisors move from survival mode to thriving mode.
It's really important for the overarching message to be that it's about building a community — having authentic connections and not only adding value to their business but as individuals, and helping support them through this time.
How should travel advisors stay connected to and serve their customers during this transition period?
We've all had to endure a lot of challenges this past year, and as we approach the future, I would love the trade to remember that people still want to travel. As this pandemic has extended much longer than we all anticipated, travel [demand] is continuing to grow.
One of my colleagues refers to this new spending trend as revenge spending. We didn't get to go on vacation in 2020; we didn't get to go on vacation this past holiday. So, there's this added desire to travel.
What I would encourage advisors to think about is how to connect with their clients [even if they are] not necessarily booking travel now. Ask: When will they be ready to travel? Where would they like to go? How would they like to go? And really lean into their databases and take the opportunity to learn how their clients are looking at travel and what exactly they need in order to book or rebook.
That is helping travel advisors grow their business through learning how to sell using storytelling, or how they can change their mindset to be able to focus on positivity, presence and community — all to help advisors move from survival mode to thriving mode.
I think right now it's [about] having those authentic connections and calling them just to check in, just to see how they're doing, because everyone's going through different stages during this time and that will really help grow loyalty.
How does the extension of commission tiers play in?
We've extended commission levels through 2022. So, whatever commission level our trade partners earned in 2019, we’ll be honoring through 2022 as an appreciation and acknowledgment of our travel advisors' loyalty and commitment.
Holland America Line was founded more than 140 years ago, and travel advisers have always been a part of our journey. And an overwhelming number of our guests are booked by travel advisers.
We want the trade to know that we appreciate their support and their efforts during these challenging times. And we hope to continue to strengthen our partnership as we move forward to return to cruising with them.
One of my colleagues refers to this new spending trend as revenge spending. We didn't get to go on vacation in 2020; we didn't get to go on vacation this past holiday. So, there's this added desire to travel.
How are bookings looking for this year and next, and what’s the outlook for future cruise credit (FCC) redemptions and perhaps upselling opportunities?
We're seeing strong demand for 2022, and we're seeing our repeat guests book further out than before. Loyal guests [are also] booking longer voyages. We're seeing definite demand as it relates to homeport destinations such as Alaska, Canada/New England and the Caribbean.
We’re definitely seeing a lot of FCC redemptions in Alaska and Europe. [Customers are also] upgrading because of that extra disposable income.
On behalf of their clients, when will travel agents know more about exact travel requirements such as any vaccine expectations?
We're continuing to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other authorities on a comprehensive plan for the eventual restart of cruising, and as soon as we have really clear guidelines as to what that will look like, we’ll be communicating that to the trade and to our guests.
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At this point in time, we don't have any clear direction of when that will be, but we will certainly communicate that as soon as we do.
The Details
Holland America Line
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