by Jason Leppert
Last updated: 12:50 AM ET, Tue February 13, 2018
From the 2018 Travvy Awards, Cruise Planners happily took home two statues: the gold for Best Travel Agency Consortium Cooperative or Franchise Group and the silver for Best Travel Technology Provider.
"What is special about our Travvy win for Best Travel Franchise is that it's voted by our peers," Michelle Fee, CEO and Founder of Cruise Planners, said. "To be the best travel Franchise two years in a row makes us feel confident in what we are providing not only to our agents but also for our suppliers and partners as well."
The American Express Travel Representative represented the victory in the video below.
Recognizing that technological innovation is a key element of success, Cruise Planners worked to introduce a suite of tools for franchise owners in 2017 to glean targeted insight and efficiently market to and facilitate clients. The goal is always to bolster the relationship between agents and customers, and those efforts paid off.
"I started in this industry 35 years ago as a travel agent so I'm proud to say that I tapped into my understanding of an agent's needs and frustrations and I know time is precious for a home-based agent," Fee said. "We build tools not just for the sizzle, but to help our agents tackle their business quickly, easily and more efficiently. We do the heavy lifting for the agents, leaving them more time to make the personal connections and close sales."
"Cruise Planners consistently blurs the boundary between franchisor and family and the meaningful relationships we have between our Home Office Team, franchisees, their clients and our partners - combined, of course, with the industry's most innovative technology and marketing - is the secret to how we continue to sizzle," Fee added.
[READMORE]READ MORE: Cruise Planners Offers Innovative Solutions[/READMORE]
Technologies contributing to Cruise Planners' Best Travel Technology Provider award as well as an International Franchise Association FranTech Award include:
-CP Maxx™: a next-gen reservations and client management system "Maxximized" for efficiency and profit.
-Alexa Skills: first-ever voice-activated skills to utilize artificial intelligence for a travel franchise company. One of the two skills serves as a virtual personal assistant for Cruise Planners agents while the second allows clients to connect with their agent during planning.
[READMORE]READ MORE: Alexa, Call My Cruise Planner Agent[/READMORE]
-CP Insights™: targeted information for custom client marketing and travel offers.
-CP View™: a client buying-habit anticipation tool for targeting ideal customers and increasing sales and brand credibility, as well as strengthening relationships
"Just as our franchise owners rely on technology to run their business, we know that technology is essential to how their clients book travel and if we can think of it, our IT team can build it," Fee explains. "We are proud to say Cruise Planners has kept up with the fast-paced world of technology and we are not slowing down. We want to be the high-tech solution, so our Cruise Planners agents can be the high-touch ingredient to better serve their customers."
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