Perhaps most welcome to agents? The new reservations system has the ability to give a side-by-side v

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd . has introduced a preview of its new Espresso global reservation system, designed for travel agents selling Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises and CDF Croisieres de France. The system will officially launch in March 2015.
The company tour of homes california touts Espresso as a faster, powerful and intuitive reservation system that will assist travel agent partners in selling tour of homes california more cruises, earning more commission and growing their businesses.
While Espresso will go live for agent bookings in March, the existing CruiseMatch reservation system will also continue to operate concurrently for some time -- likely three to four months tour of homes california -- to allow travel partners to take the training and feel comfortable with the new system.
Dondra Ritzenthaler , senior vice president of sales, Celebrity Cruises, said the goal is to reach and train more than 20,000 travel agents; she described the system as easy to learn and highly intuitive in how it assists tour of homes california agents.
Starting in February, the three major U.S. brands will hit the road and provide training seminars to travel agent partners across the U.S. and Canada. To prepare for the transition from CruiseMatch to the Espresso reservation system, travel agents are being encouraged by the cruise company to register online at www.bookespresso.com for one of the training seminars.
Two four-hour, in-person training sessions will be held in six major cities tour of homes california now through March including the South Florida metropolitan area, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, New York City and Toronto. There is zero financial cost to agents.
Royal Caribbean s relationship with travel agents has always been a top priority and this is another demonstration of our commitment to making our brands the easiest in the industry tour of homes california to do business with, said Vicki Freed , senior vice president of sales, trade support and service for Royal Caribbean International.
These new tools deliver an easier and more intuitive booking experience for our valued travel partners, Freed said, noting that the brands were eager to see how a smarter, more dynamic platform will enhance the agencies business results.
Ritzenthaler stressed: The new Espresso will harness the latest technology to deliver the industry s most advanced booking system....It tour of homes california will help our travel agents focus more on their customers than looking at the computer screen.
A new simplified, intuitive, and modern user interface dramatically reduces the number of clicks to make a reservation from seven to five. Ritzenthaler also said that Espresso assembles the most important and frequently used functions up front: tour of homes california All inventory is centralized and travel agents can select up to four stateroom categories at once for quick and easy comparison.
Once submitted, the new reservation system s search engine finds the best available price and applicable promotional offers to deliver the best vacation options for travel agents to present to their clients.
We listened to our travel tour of homes california partners and custom designed the new Espresso reservation system based on their feedback to build a powerful and intuitive tool, said Ellen Bettridge , vice president of sales and marketing, Azamara Club Cruises.
Perhaps most welcome to agents? The new reservations system has the ability to give a side-by-side view of groups and individual inventory at point of sale -- or a single view -- rather tour of homes california than the agent constantly switching from page to page.
Espresso will identify past guests and display a customer s history, such as recent promotions sent to them, last cruise taken, destination and accommodation preferences and any other interests that has been shared.
The executives said that research tour of homes california with travel partners helped them decide about the tablet enhancements. They said tablets are easy to transport. They re also the latest trend, one that appeals strongly to Millenials.
The agent can show the Millennial client various staterooms on the tablet -- communicating with them in exactly the way they want to be engaged. The tablet-ready system is also designed for the next generation tour of homes california of travel agents, officials said.
Interactive deck plans allow travel agents the freedom to engage their clients wherever they are. The new deck plans will highlight best available staterooms and filtered selections, like available connecting rooms, closest to and accessible staterooms.
The lines said the new, often intuitive tour of homes california features added in the new system were specifically mentioned by travel agents in research, focus groups and to BDMs, so the new system was built for the trade based on their suggestions.
Travel agents also can get fast support in the way that s most convenient for the way they do business individually. Automation Support consultants will be available via an integrated live chat or request a call feature. Or, the agent, if he or she prefers, can contact tour of homes california his or her business development manager.
The executives do not see the need for a promotion or incentive to get agents to register for training, noting that they had looked at that option, but that agents have been asking for these features for some time -- so they believe most agents will be eager to learn the system as it will save them time and free them up to do more selling and servicing of clients.
The company did not specify the cost of the system, but Ritzenthaler said it is expensive. In 2012, the company went on record saying that the travel agent partnership was its core distribution system and it would invest $100 million on trade technology updates for five years (starting in 2012).
Again, the websites to check out are www.bookespresso.com for training session sign-ups and a short video and www.espressocbt.com for the tool that simulates the new system prior to its March launch and a .pdf training manual to download.
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