"Alexa, call my Cruise Planners agent."
That's the command consumers with an Amazon Echo or Dot can use to instruct Alexa - the voice of the device - to connect with their personal Cruise Planners travel agent if they program it with an app that will be available starting December 4.
The devices can also be used by Cruise Planners travel agents to check on final payments, weather, calendar listings and more.
"This is absolutely ground-breaking," said Michelle Fee, co-founder and CEO of Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative. "We are the first host agency to break into the artificial intelligence game, but there's a lot more to come in the next 10 to 12 months."
The announcement about the new technology was made at the annual Cruise Planners conference taking place this week at The Grand Moon Palace Cancun. The agent attendees jumped to their feet and erupted in cheers when Fee told them they would all receive a free Amazon Dot to use as their personal virtual assistant.
The Amazon Echo and Dot recognize voice commands to play music and games, check the weather, look things up on the Internet and more.
If programmed with the Cruise Planners' app, it can be used for consumers and agents to make and check on travel arrangements. The program will integrate with Cruise Planners' new, next-generation booking and customer relationship management system called CP Maxx, which also is scheduled to launch on December 4.
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"To say CPMaxx is faster is an understatement," said CIO Brian Shultz. "In some cases, it's eight times faster."
However, despite the ground-breaking technology, agents will still maintain their personal relationships with their clients, Fee said.
"We want to bring high-tech solutions while the agent still provides the high-touch ingredient," she said.
The conference's first general session emphasized the themes of luxury and land travel, which experienced record growth in 2017. Overall travel purchases grew by 26 percent in 2017 while advance bookings for first-quarter 2018 are up 36 percent over this year and 73 percent for second-quarter 2018. The company also reported a 72 percent revenue growth in luxury sales.
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