Travel agents now can create an individual or group reservation in as few as eight steps with the newly enhanced CruiseMatch, the industry’s most innovative and comprehensive online cruise booking and customer service solution. Following a preview by more than 3,000 travel agents nationwide, Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises have launched the powerful new tool for all travel partners on the cruise lines’ awarding-winning website, CruisingPower.com.
“We are committed to providing our travel partners with the best tools to help maximize their business opportunities” said Lisa Bauer, senior vice president, Sales, Royal Caribbean International. “From pricing hotels and cruisetours, to adding transfers and gratuities and cross-referencing details, CruiseMatch puts a comprehensive solution at travel agents’ fingertips. Travel partners have already told us that CruiseMatch offers efficiency and a variety of options that is enhancing sales, saving time and more effectively serving customers.”
CruiseMatch allows agents to seamlessly conduct the entire cruise selling-to-booking process from one integrated web-based solution. Intuitive design and navigation replace command lines and esoteric codes with easy-to-use drop-down menus, check boxes and buttons. Travel agents can search real-time availability, reserve staterooms, and assign dining times instantly, as well as access the resources of CruisingPower – such as deck plans; stateroom virtual tours; itinerary comparisons and price comparisons. CruiseMatch enables travel agents to deliver professionally-designed, custom eQuotes and information to customers’ email addresses in the middle of a booking, without losing information already entered.
“CruiseMatch will help our travel partners drive business opportunities while adding value for their customers,” said Dondra Ritzenthaler, senior vice president, Sales, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises. “We are giving travel agents the power to do nearly everything our own reservations agents can do, from the ability to execute a customer’s decision instantly to automatically comparing the value of the next stateroom category.”
The new booking engine also allows travel agents to execute more advanced vacations for their customers by enabling them to book cruisetours and group sailings. While booking any customer, CruiseMatch automatically displays the information for the next category of accommodations, so that agents quickly can identify whether there are up-sell opportunities that offer their customers greater value.
