ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Agents can use GRSNetwork's new CruiseExpert
system for free for up to two years if they make just 24 cruise
bookings during their first year on the system, the Corte Madera,
Calif.-based company said.
CruiseExpert gives agents with a PC and an Internet connection
the ability to book nine cruise lines that are in Apollo
LeisureShopper, in a point-and-click Windows environment.
Agents need not be subscribers to Apollo or any other CRS in
order to use CruiseExpert, which GRSNetwork is marketing as both a
stand-alone system and as an enhancement for its existing travel
agency customers.
GRSNetwork offers an Internet-based distribution system that
gives agents access to Galileo under an umbrella agreement between
GRSNetwork and the CRS, which means the individual agencies do not
contract directly with Galileo.
Michael Kell, GRSNetwork's vice president of marketing, said,
"CruiseExpert is immediately available to all GRSNetwork customers,
and for a limited time it will be offered free as a stand-alone
system for all agencies selling cruises."
The nine lines that can be booked via CruiseExpert are Carnival
Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Holland America
Lines, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Radisson Seven Seas
Cruises, Royal Caribbean International and Windstar Cruises.
Kell said, "CruiseExpert is the perfect tool for CLIA-only and
outside sales agents. Using a standard [Internet service provider]
connection, outside agents can book cruises from any location and
link sales to a host agency.
"By not requiring any CRS connectivity and by getting the first
year of CruiseExpert free, agencies can immediately decrease costs,
improve productivity and increase revenue."
As for the free use of the system, Kell explained, "We're not
making our revenue directly from the travel agencies. We're paid
contractually by Apollo for the segments."
GRSNetwork set a 24-cruise booking threshold for agents' first
year of using CruiseExpert in order to make sure it covers its
internal costs for maintaining them on the system, he said.
"It's a very nominal expectation. We don't want agents to
install it and do nothing," Kell said.
For an extra charge, agents have the option of using
GRSNetwork's CruiseLink product, a cruise booking engine they can
put on their Web sites or on a home page set up for them by
GRSNetwork if they don't have a their own sites. GRSNetwork has a
number of other projects in the pipeline.
Beta testing is in progress, for example, on TourExpert, which
will provide a point-and-click interface to more than two dozen
tour operator participants in Apollo LeisureShopper.