CRUISE PLANNERS MEETING AT THE HARD ROCK

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fl. more accurately could be called "Cruise Central" this week as the annual convention host for Cruise Planners - American Express Travel, the nation's largest home-based travel agent franchise network. Nearly 500 agents are in attendance to hear the latest developments in the "Cruisitude Revolution." Vice President of Technology Brian Shultz announced a consumer smartphone app is coming in January for iOS and Android. He also announced new features to their websites, including MyTrips, "a client portal where anyone authorized can login to view upcoming trips and share them with friends and family via social media." Shultz also talked about Client Snapshots, which allows agents "to see an intelligent view of their clients’ buying and travel patterns as well as the highly-anticipated Cruise Fare Reduction tool that allows agents to easily see if a cruise fare has dropped since booking." 

In their press release, Vicky Garcia, executive vice president of sales and marketing, reinforced the importance of using social media to stay current and engage with clients. She also announced the company’s new social media platform, CPSocialsm. "The social media platform will provide a user-friendly dashboard for managing Facebook pages with suggested content and a calendar setting so posts can be scheduled to coincide with promotions and other news. The new platform will also incorporate Twitter, LinkedIn and Flickr to the dashboard system in the first quarter of 2013." Sounds like the very definition of "high tech, high touch." -- Gerry