Following last night’s “sail-away” party hosted by Carnival Cruise Lines, several hundred CruiseOne Franchise Owners, Cruises Inc. Independent Agents and key travel industry players this morning kicked off the official start to the companies’ joint annual National Conference. Together as part of World Travel Holdings (WTH), CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. comprise the nation’s leading retailer of cruise travel.
Aboard Carnival’s Pride, CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. Senior Vice President/General Manager Dwain Wall opened the weeklong festivities with a recap of the year’s highlights. During Wall’s opening address this morning, he also officially announced the details of a groundbreaking new program designed to motivate the 1,000+ CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. agents amidst challenging economic times. As part of an innovative “override program,” Franchise Owners and Agents who sell the companies’ “Preferred Partners” will now benefit from their efforts, receiving exciting bonus commission incentives.
“Through our affiliation with WTH, we are fortunate to enjoy extremely close, profitable relationships with the world’s leading travel companies,” said Dwain Wall, Senior Vice President and General Manager of CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. “This revolutionary program – unrivaled in the industry – is our way of rewarding agents for supporting those partners who most proactively support us. In the end, everyone wins, from our agents to our most loyal partners.”
In order to be eligible for participation in the new override program, agents must have worked with CruiseOne or Cruises Inc. for one year and meet other criteria. Bonus commissions are based on year-over-year sales increases for “Preferred Partners” and will be paid to agents in an annual lump sum. It is estimated that the first round of participating agents will earn an average annual bonus commission of 1.5%, based on their total sales of those companies in the “Preferred Partners” network. Those agents will be paid at the end of 2009.
“We feel that this program could not have come at a better time,” said Wall. “We are confident that by creating a unique new source of revenue for our agents, we will help ensure their profitability and success.”
Following this morning’s announcement, the several hundred agents and industry executives in attendance at the 2009 CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. “MISSION: SUCCESS” National Conference were treated to a presentation by Jeff Gaines, President of WiseGuide Trainings. Gaines’ “Habitology – The Art & Science of Succeeding by Habit” was the first installment in a series of sessions that will take place this week. Agents are rounding out their first day of National Conference festivities with a variety of workshops this morning and afternoon, ranging from “Planning Gatherings,” “Land Round Table” and “World Cruising” to “Super Success Business Coaching” presented by Stuart Cohen and “Professional Selling” presented by CLIA.
