New Book Engine For TA's To Use To Book Cruises For Clients

[Keith1010]

Hopefully ,this new book engine for travel agents to use to book clients cruises will make it easier to book the cruises themselves with less need for them to reach out to Crystal reservations personnel.

 

https://www.crystalcruises.com/press/crystal-announces-new-travel-advisor-booking-engine

 

Keith

[loriva]

A question related to TAs.  Has anyone heard anything about whether Crystal will be added to AmEx Platinum's Cruise Privilege Program in the near future?  OC was, but not NC to date.

[RoselleU]

As a TA, I was able to check out the new booking engine. It looks very easy and very intuitive. So happy this has finally launched.

[skybluewaters]

I hope the next step is for NC to allow potential passengers to book their own cruises online, including choosing specific cabins and putting down deposits, directly from their website. It puzzles me why this feature isn't already available. It would encourage more bookings and those bookings would be directly with NC, saving on TA commissions (although a portion of the bookings might eventually get transferred to an agent). 

 

Hmmm...could it be that the TA consortiums have pressured NC to not do this?  But then why do other luxury lines provide this service?

 

Seems as though NC is leaving money on the table by not allowing potential passengers to book directly online.

[BWIVince]

20 minutes ago, skybluewaters said:

I hope the next step is for NC to allow potential passengers to book their own cruises online, including choosing specific cabins and putting down deposits, directly from their website. It puzzles me why this feature isn't already available. It would encourage more bookings and those bookings would be directly with NC, saving on TA commissions (although a portion of the bookings might eventually get transferred to an agent). 

 

Hmmm...could it be that the TA consortiums have pressured NC to not do this?  But then why do other luxury lines provide this service?

 

Seems as though NC is leaving money on the table by not allowing potential passengers to book directly online.

 

 

Yes, they ARE leaving money on the table, they have been driving costs through the roof the way they've been doing it, and no, the consortiums have no say in how they accept direct bookings.  That's why they are rolling this out as quickly as they can -- every day they had to have agents calling in, or customers continuing to call in, it's costing them bigtime.

 

Travel supplier reservation systems aren't things you can just implement quickly.  They are exceedingly complex, must integrate with the supplier's other systems, and normally you implement them module by module.  Hence the reason the easiest one came online first, the next more complex one came next, and so on.

 

I'm sure we'll see a customer-facing web booking engine -- but depending on the particular platform they chose it may need to be implemented separately from the agent one (that's generally how most of them work), and it may be months away still depending on the platform they're using.

 

Vince

[moto_italia]

Vertical software providers for the cruise line industry are numerous and include iBS, Versonix, and Oracle, among others. In addition, there are too many CRM (customer relationship management) systems to name.

 

Versonix' Seaware system is utilized by NCL, Azamara, Lindblad, Windstar, Explora Journeys, Virgin, Disney, and ... Crystal Cruises. And others. There is indication on Versonix website that Crystal has been using Versonix since 2015.

https://www.versonix.com/seaware-for-cruise-lines/

 

Crystal's Seaware implementation is integrated with Salesforce Community Cloud, and a new website was developed for "new" Crystal, running on Sitefinity's CRM platform by a Sitefinity Partner called AmericanEagle.com

 

As Seaware handles reservations and other functions, and the Sitefinity handles the website CRM system, those two systems (among others) would be the focus of a passenger-based online booking system.

 

Having handled IT implementations of several multi-module enterprise system conversions/ replacements, they can be a lengthy and trying process. But that's what these software firms do, in conjunction with companies' in-house IT teams.

 

I concur that Crystal could benefit from a direct online booking module for passengers. Personally, I would prefer it over existing options, although I understand many of the reasons others prefer to deal with a TA or cruise line agent.

 

Maximizing customer choice is a key part of customer acquisition and maintenance, and CRM systems are designed with this in mind. It would be surprising if Crystal did not implement direct passenger online booking soon.

Edited August 6 by moto_italia

[ryndam]

TMI for those not in the industry.

But thank you for what appears to be a simplified/layman’s description of reservation systems.

 

We just delegate all of this to our TA and pay the Visa bill (automatically/electronically). 😁😁

 

Rob

[ctjon]

I think with all the questions even people on this board have about trips and details, self booking put a huge burden on Crystal trying to answer all the questions  that TA answers.

I aslo think that when things don't go perfectly having a great TA can make all the difference in a successful trip.  Hopefully, this type of thing will never happen again but we got off a cruise in Dublin on 9/11 and our great TA found us hotels, travel to Canada and then back into the US in a few days.

A good TA is worth the money when you need help.

[BWIVince]

Luxury travel suppliers in general definitely view direct sales as a double-edged sword and not a commission-saving windfall -- it's not the same game in every market of travel.  There is a large portion of the population that has been retrained by the internet (for better or worse, right AND wrong) that their direct sales either give them more control or a better deal, among other things.  

 

The problem with luxury travel is that it generally is more complex than other market segments, and generally requires more support.  More support means more cost to the supplier.  In fact, it usually requires more robust online info and collateral, which requires more labor from the marketing and digital teams to keep that stuff current, and not just dedicated customer-facing agents and a whole separate team of agents to handle those types of transactions.  Suddenly, most of the money you've "saved" (booked to an internal department to support) has been eaten up in labor.  The more you automate these interactions, the more of the labor leakage you save, but then you're spending more on digital support, software licenses, and the like.  That's its own slippery slope.

 

The other factor that comes into play, is that while suppliers have generally gotten better about packaging options and upsells to make them more attractive and robust during direct sales, agents generally make a better case advocating to their clients where they should be buying up and adding on, and their revenue per transaction comes in higher than direct web sales of similar offerings.  So not only does the cruise line (in this example) end up having to spend the money to support the booking, they end up getting less revenue on the booking in the first place.

 

...And that's just the challenge from the supplier's side.  Everything mentioned above is spot-on for the client side.  Without an agent, you're relying on the cruise line's staff to advocate for you when things don't go as planned, and they definitely are playing for the other team.  As we saw during Covid, a lot of people take on the role themselves thinking they can just advocate for themselves, and they're fine with it, but they don't know the laws, tactics and strategies that good agents do.

 

Direct sales do have a place, and many/most customers today do expect the option, I just wanted to remind everyone that they aren't viewed as such a slam-dunk in some segments of the industry as others -- hence the resources that Crystal has poured into agency support.

 

Vince

[FlyerTalker]

There you go again, Vince....supplying factual information to a complex question.  How dare you take away preconceived notions of what happens in the back rooms!!!

 

 

[BWIVince]

2 minutes ago, FlyerTalker said:

There you go again, Vince....supplying factual information to a complex question.  How dare you take away preconceived notions of what happens in the back rooms!!!

 

 

 

haha. Thanks...  🙂  I didn't have time the other day to go into that, but that's sort of an interesting piece of the puzzle that probably runs counter to many people's impressions, so that's why I wanted to chime in with it when I had a second.

 

Vince

[skybluewaters]

Very good points made by @moto_italia, @BWIVince and @ctjon.

 

Personally, I make my bookings by browsing the cruiseline's website. If there is an option to book directly, I know I will be much more inclined to do so there and then on the website. I especially appreciate that I can see precisely which cabins are available and secure them on the spot. If I go the route of first contacting my TA and requesting a specific cruise, then I might have to go back and forth nailing down a particular cabin (and I'm quite particular!).

 

Also, it's a false dichotomy to say you have to choose between either having a TA or booking on your own (and therefore not having a TA). After I book my cruise, with the cabin I want, I transfer my booking to my TA.  Therefore, I have the best of both worlds, control of the choices involved and the benefit of having a TA. I'm sure others do this, also.