Universal Orlandos new senior vice
president of sales, Dan Cupertino, has put his new sales team in
place and begun to carry out his mandate to assemble a world class
sales organization.
Cupertino, a
34-year industry veteran who joined Universal last June after a
year and a half as a sales executive with the Walt Disney Co., told
Travel Weekly he intends to rebuild Universals travel industry
relationships, and he has the full backing of top management to do
it.
In the last four
weeks Ive either promoted or transferred from outside the company
four vice presidents, said Cupertino. Besides growing the sales
team in size, were also trying to concentrate on markets where
there are opportunities to bring in more travel agent ticket
sales.
Cupertinos mandate
signals a change of emphasis at Universal, which is moving its
focus from online sales to travel industry sales.
We didnt have the
resources committed to calling on the agency community, at least
for the last few years, said Cupertino. There was more focus on
consumer direct online sales. But now there is a reassessment of
the value of the travel agent community.
While Universals
market research shows that selling online is still the most
economical way of selling a ticket, online selling only reaches a
certain portion of the market.
If Universal wants
to grow beyond that base, it needs to increase its penetration of
the part of the market that prefers to plan vacations through
travel agents.
One of the things
Dan has done is taken the focus off trying to drive the Universal
experience in Orlando, to pre-arrival sales, said Dennis Quinn,
vice president of travel industry sales. Were trying to make the
decision to visit Universal a decision that takes place before they
come to Orlando. Were driving that sale to the outer
market.
And for that, the
company is tapping travel agents.
Besides building up
its sales force in the field, Universals new EarlyBird Exclusives
deal, announced last week at ASTA, is designed to give agents an
edge, and the motivation to sell Universal. The pass is
commissionable to travel agents and is not being offered for sale
at the gate.
The offer gives
purchasers an entire week of access to both the Universal Studios
and Islands of Adventure theme parks for $85, a far better deal
than they can get as a walk-in customer. The price for a one-day
pass to both parks for a walk-in customer is $77. A two-day pass
for both parks, the most popular purchase, costs
$114.95.
For more
information, see www.universalorlando.com or call (800)
331-3134.
To
contact reporter David Cogswell, send e-mail to [email protected].