Crystal Cruises has introduced a new Custom Marketing Center among the features included on its revamped travel agent website. Designed as a user-friendly and comprehensive marketing and sales resource, the Crystal website introduces several features to assist agents in personalizing communications to clients, organizing travel information and easily referencing the line's latest promotions and offerings.
The dedicated agent site offers easy access to collateral, reference material and educational tools, including the Custom Marketing Center, a one-stop online shop that allows agents to personalize, print and mail their own marketing collateral to their own selected client lists; a Cruise Calendar, a chart specifically designed for agents that provides cruise date, cruise number, embark/debark ports and lead fares in an easy-to-reference format; and a Priority Check-in & Planning Center, a new online pre-cruise planning tool that allows agents to customize their daily schedules and make pre-cruise confirmed reservations for dining, spa, shore excursion, and more.
The Priority Check-in Checklist, available once guests make an initial deposit, gives access to the check-in center, available at https://checkin.crystalcruises.com. Here, guests or their travel agents may submit required information including immigration forms, credit card information for onboard charges, onboard preferences such as bed configurations and air itineraries for transfer arrangements
Once guests have completed the check-in process and paid in full, they have access to the Planning Center, which allows them to plan and confirm reservations for spa and salon appointments, dining room reservations (through Open Dining by Reservation, beginning in 2011), specialty restaurants, and Crystal Adventures ashore.
Guests can also request reservations (to be confirmed on board) for the new tuxedo rental service, Vintage Room winemakers' dinners, and Creative Learning Institute and Computer University@Sea classes.
Once made, all reservations are displayed on guests' personal Cruise Calendars in a convenient day-by-day layout. The Cruise Calendar also advises dress codes, docking times and port locations for each day of the voyage, and will alert guests to any conflicts between their planned flight itineraries and embarkation/disembarkation schedules. Travelers can print their completed itineraries and present them at embarkation for priority boarding.
These services join Crystal's existing CruiseBuilder, E-mail Builder, Crystal Cruises Academy, as well as links to all of the line's latest value propositions. There are a number of support materials available, including an online marketing kit with detailed promotional flyers, value and comparative "cheat sheets," plus information about enrichment programming, product developments and other new offerings.
"The agent website provides convenient, efficient access to a library of tools and information that will enable travel professionals -- home-based or at an agency -- to productively market to their clients and be their clients' most informed and trusted resource," said Nitsa Lewis, Crystal's vice president, marketing. For more information, call 800-446-6620 or visit www.crystalcruises.com/agent.
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