In March 2020, no one would have believed you if you told them the cruise industry would come to a standstill for more than a year. And here we are, exactly a year later, still waiting to hear the confirmation of when ships will begin to sail for U.S. travelers.
Looking back over the past year, there were so many false hopes along the way, and it felt like every time we took three steps forward, we got shoved 10 steps back.
Travel Advisors Are Tired, but Proven To Be Tough
How many times did you feel like Rocky, continually getting punched in the gut, knocked down, only to get up again and again to continue the fight?
I believe the heroes who stood out in the travel industry are definitely travel advisors. Throughout this pandemic, they have been the ones on the front lines dealing with clients through the good, the bad and ugly. It's been an exhausting year, and they persevered as they endured rebookings, more rebookings, oh, and even more rounds of rebookings. All the while, advocating to maintain future cruise credits, shifting to selling other types of vacations in order to keep their small businesses open and doing their best to service frustrated clients who wanted refunds.
It's no wonder you all are tired, but I remain in awe and inspired of how travel advisors are handling it with grace ... and sure, some days we all had pity parties, needed pick-me-ups and poured ourselves another glass of wine. However, at Cruise Planners, our travel advisors are the heartbeat of our company, and we remained laser-focused on that. This is a relationship business, and our travel advisors hold the most important relationship - their relationship with their clients. That is why travel advisors will be vital to the resurgence of travel as we navigate closer toward the end of this pandemic. I see you and am proud of you for keeping your heads high, explaining (and re-explaining) safe travel protocols to clients and keeping your eye on the prize.
Positive Cruisitude Carries Us All Through
For years, we have fostered the most incredible culture at Cruise Planners - from our franchise owners supporting each other to our Home Office Team and our partnerships with our amazing travel industry suppliers - and this year, those partnerships and relationships were put to the test - and I for one believe the travel industry has aced it!
From the executive level to regional BDMs calling to support travel advisors, the sense of community throughout this crisis has been undeniable. I know it's easy to be a good partner when times are good, but it's even better to be a great partner when times are tough. Now, that's Cruisitude!
I want to recognize and thank all of the suppliers who, from the very beginning, made the tough decision to protect commissions on canceled sailings and trips. Without that, I honestly don't know how many agencies would've made it through this time. And the reality is that financially, travel advisors have been hardest hit, most of the time not earning commission for their additional time, effort and attention from work they initiated years ago ... not to mention the stress and new grey hairs we all have from 2020.
And hats off to leaders from Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Inc. for helping fight for our industry through the Healthy Sail Panel. As outlined in their findings, the idea that ships would be sailing and be totally COVID-free is unrealistic, but like other aspects of life, we are learning to live with COVID and must take the proper steps to isolate and follow recommendations. I know many of us are still struggling with the fact that cruising has been singled out and our industry hamstrung. While others in hospitality, such as casinos, hotels, restaurants and more, could open, cruise lines have not yet been given the opportunity even to roll out the proposed safety protocols.
Necessity Drove Innovation and Efficiency
The word "pivot" became our favorite, go-to expression during the pandemic. In fact, several new and exciting programs were developed for Cruise Planners' network during this time such as our All-Inclusive Resort System - giving rich content for more than 200 resorts, all in one convenient location for our travel advisors as they focused on selling land-based vacations. And while our advisors were busy rescheduling their client's cruises, we leveraged Zoom video conferencing and created a consumer-facing, turn-key virtual event series called, "Where2Next." It is now a monthly program offering consumers a web-based event focused on various destinations with exclusive offers, prizes and more, and best of all - it's here to stay.
Despite not having any official in-person events, a staple in our amazing culture, we were still able to connect closely with our travel advisors - through video conferencing, digital chats, social media and more - always trying to see the glass half full and celebrating the wins as we always do, with Cruisitude. By reevaluating our Business Development structure, we improved efficiency of our coaches' time, rolled out our CARE Team helpdesk and have facilitated more collaborative opportunities to share ideas among our agents.
Consumer Confidence on the Rise
I love seeing our travel advisors safely traveling, experiencing fam trips and showing their clients where it is safe to travel - and their clients are responding. In fact, bookings are picking up; our advisors are commenting that their phones are ringing, and they are busy with making new bookings instead of cancelations for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. And although we continue to sell cruises in late 2021 and into 2022, our shift to land-based vacations has certainly helped our advisors stay afloat during this time and set them up for long-term success. We have also recently seen our FCC redemption increase from 20 percent to 25 percent of new bookings being tied to an FCC, which is a good sign about consumer confidence.
With the distribution of the vaccines and herd immunity increasing, we are hopefully seeing a light at the end of the long, dark tunnel.
Traveler Demand Driving Sales; Higher Costs
Over the past few weeks, travel bookings have spiked as we have consistently seen our bestselling weeks since the pandemic began for Cruise Planners. According to an American Express Travel survey, nearly 80 percent of respondents indicate wanting to travel in 2021 to relieve the stresses from 2020. Savvy travel advisors who are out there, marketing themselves and staying top of mind, will be the ones leading the charge as travel returns. We feel hopeful and confident that the pent-up demand will soon be unleashed. And those agents who encourage their clients to book now will be seen as the heroes again because it will come down to supply-and-demand economics where we anticipate prices will increase. Our top travel advisors are seeing their loyal customers now ready to book a future vacation, especially the high-end luxury traveler who is the demographic that has access to the vaccines.
It's time to start focusing on the future as we inch closer to the end of this incredibly challenging time. So, what's next for travel advisors? Let's do what we do best - sell travel - because when cruise lines announce a start-up date, buckle up, it's about to get REAL!
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