by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 6:11 PM ET, Thu April 25, 2019
With nearly half of its bookings coming from travel agents, Club Med is always looking for ways to improve the agent experience and ensure that such a critical community of professionals has all the tools necessary to make their jobs as easy as possible.
During a recent interview with TravelPulse, Club Med's Joseph Nunez, the company's public relations and partnerships manager, shared the details surrounding the latest agent tools to be launched.
The brand recently rolled out two new offerings-the Club Med iFrame tool and also the Club Med Pick Your Room tool.
The Club Med iFrame tool (which is completely free for agents) is designed to be an effortless marketing resource. iFrame provides Club Med generated content that can be plugged into an agent's website.
"The tool works as a vertical content block-the HTML coding is provided directly by Club Med team. Agents would just have to input the code into a dedicated page of their website," explained Nunez. "Agents can also add text above or below the content since it works as a window inside the website to help customize further."
Created to auto-populate a section of an agent's website with the latest Club Med news, unique selling points and product details, as well as the latest offers and deals, the iFrame will be content rich. It will feature photos, videos and details about each Club Med resort to help an agent's clients decide which property is the best fit for them.
The content available through the new platform will be managed by the Club Med team who will automatically update it as soon as new information becomes available. In other words, said Nunez, agents don't need to worry about maintaining iFrame.
It's also worth noting that the iFrame tool is responsive, meaning it adapts to any computer, tablet or smartphone screen, said Nunez. In addition, the tool is hosted on the travel agent's website, with its own call to action.
"It's designed to ensure that it does not link the client directly out of the travel agent's website," Nunez explained.
Separately, Club Med also recently launched a Pick Your Room Tool, which is aimed both at agents and consumers.
"We built this tool because we were getting requests from guests saying 'I want to stay in this specific room,' and it was starting to overwhelm the resorts," Nunez explained.
Pick Your Room is a service offered to consumers that travel agents can capitalize on, Nunez continued.
An online interactive map, Pick Your Room allows guests the option of selecting their accommodation style and even specific room location at a resort, prior to arriving on the property.
"Some people like to stay near the sports areas because that's what they're focused on, and other people want to stay near the buffet or by the beach," explained Nunez. "So, we created an interactive online map that allows a travel agent or a client to go in and pick their exact room on the property."
Using the tool is not free, however. Those who want the privilege of being able to select a specific room in advance of a visit will be required to pay a fee based on their category of Club Med membership.
"The pricing depends on the client's loyalty tier," explained Nunez.
For new clients or Turquoise members, it will cost $80 to use the Pick Your Room feature when scheduling a stay. The price for Silver clients is $56 (a 30 percent discount) and for Gold, it is $40, a 50 percent discount. For Platinum members, Pick Your Room will be free.
One additional and important detail to note about this new feature is that it is only available at certain clubs thus far.
It can be used online at the following properties: Club Med Turkoise; Club Med Marrakech La Palmeraie; Club Med Marrakech Le Riad; and Club Med Columbus Isle.
At Club Med Ixtapa Pacific and Club Med Sandpiper Bay, this feature is available through resort contact only.
The plan is to roll out the tool worldwide to all resorts throughout 2019 and 2020.
Agents are able to earn a commission from the Pick Your Room process, as the fee to use the tool is added to the entire vacation package cost. The rate of commission is the standard rate pending an agent's tier.
However, a commission is earned only if the agent books a client within a 45 to 10-day booking window prior to their trip. If the trip is less than 10 days away, the client can still use the Pick Your Room tool but they must do so directly with the resort (meaning no commission for the agent).
"The tool assists travel agents to guarantee the best service and room placements for their clients and help customize their stay," said Nunez.
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