“Travel is resilient; it’s not going out of style,” said Michelle Fee, founder and CEO of Cruise Planners (CP), an American Express Travel Representative, as she unveiled the “Survivor” theme for this year’s Cruise Planners Forum event.
Due to the current pandemic, the typically in-person convention is being held virtually, but the brand’s positive “cruisitude” has not waned. Looking back at 2020, Fee and co-owner and chief operating officer, Vicky Garcia, reflected on a year full of pivoting — including developing an alternative all-inclusive resort booking system — to address COVID-19-related travel complications and cruise cancellations.
“We believe in this industry,” Garcia said. “We are definitely going to be here to build the industry back to its glory.”
And Cruise Planners is already well on its way. As promising vaccine news emerges — with the hope it will be available widely by April — “people are picking up the phone and people are booking,” Fee said. According to CP metrics, customers are mostly targeting the second half of 2021 and beyond, and are majorly eyeing Europe.
To that end, CP’s travel agent platform is showcasing many new programs and tools to assist franchisees. One such new feature is the aforementioned All-Inclusive Resort System, which expands upon CP’s land-based options with amenity information gathered into “resort sheets” that can be shared with clients.
Travel is resilient; it’s not going out of style
Meanwhile, crucial to cruise sales, Cruise Planners developed an FCC Management Tool to target and campaign to clients holding future cruise credits — what they aptly call “golden tickets” — and track their redemption. CP currently boasts an FCC redemption rate of 55%, above the industry average, according to its supplier partners.
Furthering marketing efforts are also new CP Social Pro Program enhancements, which facilitate scheduling posts to five social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google My Business. Included is an updated content library, social media analytics and available hashtags. The CP Marketing Hub has also been improved with customized planning, supplier co-op proposals and ROI (return on investment) tracking.
Rounding out recent program additions is the Where2Next Virtual Event Series of destination-focused client content and Where2Next Survey to determine which bucket-list places customers would like to have featured in the future. The series has been meant to give travelers something to look forward to in the near future.
“We are a very data driven company,” Fee said.
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The Where2Next program automatically issues invites, calendar reminders and post-event follow-ups to maximize reservations, and it also retains individual customers’ preferences for future marketing.
“2021 will be the rebuilding of travel,” said Garcia, who added that even more is coming to assist “what we believe is going to be a good year.”
In the first quarter of 2021, CP will add the ability to make live bookings in the All-Inclusive Resort System from within CP Maxx. By then, CP will also have launched a new Hotel Booking Engine, which will provide higher commissions and client savings, as well as encompass American Express hotel benefits.
Also coming in the first quarter will be a Partner Rating System which will allow travel advisors to share their supplier experiences with a written review and/or stars per five categories: Overall Experience, Service, Entertainment, Dining/Food Quality and Family Friendly.
The client-facing CP Mobile app is also set to be enhanced with an updated home screen, the new resort system, an escorted tour search, a Viator search engine and more. A new Task Manager will be helpful for agents, with the ability to organize daily activities and other reminders, in addition to a newly formed Care Team that offers a one-stop shop for inquiries.
Cruise Planners is excited for “the rebirth that is going to happen in 2021,” Fee said.
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Cruise Planners
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