Cruise Brothers, a 39-year-old, family-run travel company with 1,500 home-based agents, is going back to its roots and offering more than just cruises.
“When my father started the business it was known as Anywhere Inc., and he sold everything,” said company President Steven Gelfuso.
As the firm grew, it found a successful specialty in cruises. Gelfuso and his brother, Russ, built the Rhode Island-based company — whose name was changed to Cruise Brothers 13 years ago — into one of the largest family-owned cruise retailers in the country. It ranks among the top producers for Royal Caribbean, Princess, Norwegian, Celebrity and Carnival.
Now another change is coming. Home-based agents have been asking for more vacation products to diversify their sales, and the Gelfusos are responding.
The company recently signed agreements with resorts and tour operators for preferred agreements. They include TNT Vacations, Sandals, Apple Vacations, Insight Vacations, Globus, Monograms & Cosmos, Collette Vacations and African Travel.
Cruise Brothers doesn’t charge fees to join or participate in the host program, and some agents rarely make a sale. But “this recession has given us a lot of people out of work who are very good salespeople, and they are going out and selling like crazy,” Gelfuso said.
Training is a part of Cruise Brothers' offerings. Each Thursday is set aside for webinars from suppliers. Increasingly, those suppliers will be resorts and land-based tour operators, Gelfuso said.
And the new land products will be promoted at the company’s annual travel expo held in Rhode Island each January. The event typically draws between 9,000 and 10,000 consumers.
Visit www.cruisebrothers.com.