FORT LAUDERDALE -- Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Cruises unveiled new online group booking and management features on CruisingPower.com, at the Cruise Line International Association's cruise3sixty conference here.
The line's CruiseMatch system, launched in fall 2007, now enables travel agents to create a group booking "in a few easy steps," said Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean's senior vice president, sales and service.
At Freed's first press conference since joining Royal Caribbean, she said that through the enhancements, travel agents will receive their commission payment up to 66% faster than before.
She also said that the cruise line had enhanced its group contacts for telephone bookings.
"That frustration in the past has now been solved," she said.
In a separate interview, Freed said that Royal Caribbean had scheduled a meeting at the end of March with "important group producers" from around the country to help design a better way to do group business.
"We are going to figure it out,"" Freed said, adding that addressing group booking concerns was number one on her list since arriving at Royal Caribbean.
She said that the problems stemmed mostly from booking affinity groups, but that the open-ended group booking process was well-received.
"We are asking agents what they need us to do to be more flexible," Freed said
Freed also encouraged travel agents to use Royal Caribbean's extensive amount of "e-tools" to help them book.
"One of the major differences between Royal Caribbean and the company I used to work for," she said, is the number of "neat tools that are available to our travel partners."
"If travel agents can just start to learn how easy it is to incorporate these tools into making more money for them, and deliver a very professional impression to their clients, everyone wins in this game," she said.
To contact reporter Johanna Jainchill, send e-mail to [email protected].