A new website by El Dorado Spa Resorts and Azul Hotels, by Karisma, more prominently features travel agents who participate in the company's GI Vacation Consultant program, enabling consumers to search for an agent familiar with the product and giving consultants a boost to their marketing power.
The two Karisma resort brands include six properties on the Riviera Maya south of Cancun. Each features the Gourmet Inclusive concept of a la carte dining included in their rates.
The new Karismahotels.com site emphasizes that no-buffet dining concept and provides agents with an easier tool to sell the Karisma product line, said Mandy Chomat, vice president of sales and marketing for Premier Worldwide Marketing, the resorts' representative.
"We've been working on the site for a number of months and wanted to make sure that it was an agent-friendly site and that it showcases our Gourmet Inclusive philosophy," Chomat said.
GI Vacation Consultants
Karisma has 600 agents enrolled in its GI Vacation Consultant program.
The agents are "handpicked" and must specialize in honeymoons, romance packages or other types of luxury travel that mesh with Karisma's customer demographic.
"We want professional agents who fit in our business mix," Chomat said. "We don't want to dilute the distribution by having a lot of them, so we choose them so that they also fit in geographically. We're not trying to get high numbers and expect to max out at 1,000 agencies across the country.
"We know how to market and create a product, and the agents know how to close a sale," Chomat said.
Agents who participate in the consultant program pay $250 a year. They receive an exclusive toll-free hot line for sales and marketing needs, a listing on the new website, certificates for clients to use as added value for extras such as massages or candlelight dinners on the beach, Web training, an annual awards event and free marketing materials.
Travel agents can also embed links on their websites that direct customers to click through to a special version of Karisma's site, with information and images but without reservations capability.
Banners enable clients to click back through to the agent's website for booking and contact information, including phone numbers.
Another feature is a sweepstakes promotion in which participating agencies put boxes in toys stores, bridal shops or at travel or bridal fairs to gather registration forms to win vacations to the resorts.
The bottom half of the form, which the consumer keeps, is the agency's business card.
When the top half of the form is entered in the sweepstakes, information is collected and entered in a database and leads are generated for the local agency.
In late May, Karisma launched a TV campaign on cable stations in major markets, starting in Texas.
The 30-second ads showcasing the resorts feature the name and contact information for a local GI Vacation Consultant.
It is part of Karisma's aggressive marketing following a summer season that was hammered by the U.S. economic conditions and the swine flu scare.
"There's pent-up demand out there, and agents are telling us they are seeing phones start to ring again," Chomat said. "But clients want value."
Courting couples
The company continues to focus on the destination wedding business at its resorts, which include two beachfront chapels. Chomat said the wedding and honeymoon business has held up during the downturn in travel to Mexico because costs are competitive with U.S. weddings.
"With the value of the Mexican peso so low, couples see that they are getting more in a wedding in Mexico. We're seeing the numbers in the wedding parties drop but the number of weddings go up."
The company's two brands are geared toward different markets, with El Dorado adults only and Azul for families, featuring Fisher-Price and MyGym's children's programs. All are four-star rated or above and all have the Gourmet Inclusive dining plan.
The company comprises the El Dorado Royale, El Dorado Casita Royale, El Dorado Seaside Suites, El Dorado Maroma, Azul Beach Hotel and the Azul Sensatori Hotel.
A seventh property, the Azul Fives, was scheduled to open this year, but construction has been halted because of the tight lending market. Chomat said no opening date has been set.
See www.karismahotels.com.