New Espresso solution will be used across all Royal Caribbean's cruise line brands
By
Rebecca Gibson |
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has rolled out its new Espresso reservation system for travel agent partners selling Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises and Croisieres de France cruises.
Designed to help travel agents sell more cruises and earn more commission, the new Espresso reservation system is powered by CruisingPower.com and will completely replace CruiseMatch by 3 August 2015.
“We are very happy to bring the new Espresso reservation system to our valued travel agent partners,” said Vicki Freed, senior vice president of Sales, Trade Support and Service for Royal Caribbean International. “Espresso puts the industry’s best reservation system at travel agents’ fingertips and provides them the freedom to engage their clients wherever they are.”
Espresso is optimised for tablet devices and offers a simple and intuitive user interface to reduce the number of steps needed to make a reservation from seven to five.
“We created a brand new reservation system that serves the needs of our travel partners, based on what they tell us they need,” said Dondra Ritzenthaler, senior vice president of Sales, Trade Support and Services for Celebrity Cruises. “Espresso makes it so easy for travel partners to instantly access the resources and information they need to help their clients make the most informed decision for an unforgettable vacation.”
All inventory is centralised and travel agents can select up to four stateroom categories at once to quickly compare prices, while new interactive desk plans can be used to filter available accommodation by specific criteria. They can also select one or multiple staterooms and view photos, layouts and other details.
“We’ve significantly cut down the number of steps for travel professionals to find, compare and book a voyage, which gives them more time to connect with their clients,” said Ellen Bettridge, vice president of Sales and Marketing for Azamara Club Cruises.
Travel agents can also access a side-by-side comparison of selected itineraries, while the search engine help them to find the best available price and applicable promotional offers for each cruise.
Plus, the new predictive search function enables agents to find an existing reservation, or information about past guests, their accommodation preferences and any recent promotions they have received to help make new reservations quickly.