This year, for the first time, the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention in Miami had a panel about social media, which focused on how travel suppliers can effectively market their products using media such as Twitter and Facebook.
It wouldn’t be surprising if next year’s looked at how to police social media.
Cyberspace is still the Wild West when it comes to being able to control content. Carnival Corp.’s brands were the first to set policies that protect their trademarks online with regard to the travel agent community, but they will not be the last.
While other cruise lines have not set policies with respect to the online treatment of trademarks and its brands, they are clearly talking about it, and some are even quietly making moves to try to gain some control over their intellectual property.
One of the cruise lines’ main concerns is that consumers not be confused by the plethora of information that Web searches provide.
Customer confusion was one of the reasons cited by the Carnival Corp. brands when they banned travel agencies from bidding on Carnival trademarks as keywords in online search engines.
While no other lines have implemented such a policy, many are concerned by third-party websites that sell cruises but could appear to the untrained eye to be affiliated with — or be — the actual cruise line.
"We are looking at some of the websites that don’t clearly mark who they are and seeing what we can do to make sure they don’t look like Silversea, so there is no confusion to consumers," said Steven Tucker, Silversea Cruises’ vice president of field sales.
This is a concern at Regent Seven Seas Cruises, as well. "Our policy is that we ensure there’s transparency in who the guest is speaking to," said Kari Tarnowski, Regent’s senior vice president of marketing.
Travel agent websites, she said, "are welcome to interact with consumers that way as long as the guest understands that they are looking at an agency website and not at Regent’s website."
Tarnowski said that Regent does this by limiting certain words such as "official site" and by asking that the agencies have their logo on the search results page so that it is clear it is not the Regent website.
While both Tucker and Tarnowski said they were not yet at the point where they are considering banning travel agents from buying their keywords, they are keeping track of their competitors’ moves.
"We’ve been watching what other companies are doing with interest," Tucker said.
Tucker said that the fact that Silversea’s competitor, Seabourn Cruises, has implemented such a ban is pushing retailers’ marketing dollars to Silversea.
"Some of our travel partners have indicated an interest in increasing their marketing with us as a result," he said. "Ultimately the more marking you do, the more people inquire about your product. Any opportunity to increase the marketing of Silversea and our brand name on the Internet means increased awareness of our product."
Tarnowski also said that rather than implement any sweeping policies, she wants to work with the travel agents to make sure they are mutually protected.
"At this point, instead of shutting the door on it, we just ask that they follow certain guidelines to make it transparent," Tarnowski said. "We look at this as a partnership. Just as an agent would want to protect their brand, we work to protect our brand."
Douglas Quinby, a senior director at PhoCusWright, suggested that now is the time for cruise lines to begin implementing some social-media policies, even if they might have to retract some of the policies, the way Carnival Cruise Lines did when it barred agents from using the Carnival name on social media sites; the line quickly rescinded the policy, calling it "far overreaching."
"Travel companies need to have social media policies in place," Quinby said. "It should not be restricting trade partners and bloggers and others from use. It should be a policy of engagement and one that would prohibit the use of inappropriate content but absolutely embrace negative feedback.
"The biggest mistake of all is not to be trying to formulate policies and introducing initiatives," he added. "This is the time to be doing it."
Quinby explained that travel companies are understandably concerned by the uncertain nature of the Web, and that it has changed the dynamic between the consumer and supplier.
"The consumers are now also the creators," Quinby said. "With the social Web, anybody with access to the Internet, which is pretty much anybody, can make a comment."
But that also offers opportunity, he said.
"This is an unprecedented opportunity to understand how a traveler experiences their product, in real time," Quinby said.