Dedicated to helping travel agents grow their business and increase profits, Royal Caribbean International today announced Groups Now. For new groups created by July 31, 2009, travel agents can take advantage of the Groups Now sale and convert Royal Caribbean Groups Amenities Plus (GAP) points into cruise price reductions of up to $100 per stateroom on more than 150 select worldwide sailings and advertise it. Additionally, Royal Caribbean is increasing the maximum number of staterooms for groups without a written contract, from 99 to 199 staterooms, for most new promotional groups created before December 31, 2009 and sailing in 2010 and 2011.
“In these unusual times, Royal Caribbean is exploring new ways to support our travel agent partners,” said Vicki Freed, senior vice president of Sales, Trade Support and Services, Royal Caribbean International. “In the spirit of our Groups Your Way program that we launched last year, Royal Caribbean is making our groups policy even more flexible for travel agents and giving them the tools to win their clients over and book a Royal Caribbean cruise vacation. With the unprecedented value that Royal Caribbean cruises offer vacationers, the time for travel agents to book groups is now.”
Groups Now allows travel professionals to ability to redeem two GAP Points for $25 off per stateroom; four GAP Points for $50 off; six GAP Points for $75 off; or eight GAP Points for $100 off. Eight staterooms are required to assign points and GAP points used for price reductions must be assigned by July 31, 2009. GAP points used for price reductions may not be reassigned after the final assignment date. If the group size is below the minimum stateroom requirement, different term and conditions may apply.
Travel agents can access real-time group pricing and inventory of Royal Caribbean International sailings, and can instantly create group bookings; allocate staterooms; make payments; and manage individual bookings within a group through CruiseMatch on CruisingPower.com, the cruise line’s dedicated website for travel agents. For more information on booking group travel, the Group Travel portal on CruisingPower.com – found under the Trip Details drop-down menu – offers details about groups policy, the GAP program, and instant group report requests.
