Every day, 10,000 US Baby Boomers retire, building on the pool of potential customers of the cruise industry.
Traveltek, a Glasgow, UK-based leisure travel technology developer, believes that is a signal that the time is ripe for a major push into the Americas.
For nearly two decades, the company has provided travel agents and tour operators in the UK and Europe with booking systems, CRM systems and, a product of which it is particularly proud, a dynamic packaging system for cruise sales.
In selecting a senior vice president of sales to lead the charge in the western expansion, Traveltek turned to Francis Riley, a 13-year incumbent of the cruise industry. The former senior vice president, international sales, marketing and operations at Norwegian Cruise Line is well known in in US cruise industry circles.
Selling cruises is not as easy as it looks, Riley said, and he is reaching out to the travel agency community to help them take advantage of Traveltek’s tools.
“It’s one of the most complex products in the travel industry,” he said. On a single sailing, “there can be 20 to 30 ticket categories.”
That can be a scary proposition to an agent who is new to the business. Riley said Traveltek’s sophisticated technology handles not only the core cruise product but also enables agents to bundle products such as pre- and post-cruise hotel stays and land attractions. “The technology provides a lot of help,” he said.
Traveltek’s cruise toolkits come in three flavors:
The Cruise Pro solution provides all cruise brochure content; enables the booking of every major cruise company online, and offers full administration capabilities for both consumer and trade-facing websites.
All Inclusive provide the tools needed to package a cruise with flights, hotels, transfers and other ancillary providers. An optional feature, Cruise Super Itineraries, can be added to present multiple flight, hotel, transfer and attraction options.
Traveltek Cruise API, which connects with about 200 cruise lines, allows agents and operators to build customized content and packages on their own servers, with complete access to all Traveltek cruise data.
Three business development managers are joining the new US team. Ivonne Turcios, a former business development manager at Amadeus, and Yenedi Perez, who worked at Cruise & Tours Center and Doral Travel, will be based at Traveltek’s Miami headquarters. Clarice Bongolan, who is responsible for US West Coast sales, is based in Los Angeles. She is a former luxury travel adviser at Kontiki Tours.