The cruise company launches the most cutting-edge booking system for travel agencies that market Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises and CDF Croisières de France.
Faster, more powerful, and more intuitive—that's ESPRESSO, the industry's most advanced new booking system recently launched by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. for partner travel agencies that sell Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Club Cruises, and CDF Croisières de France. The new ESPRESSO booking system uses cutting-edge technology to help the cruise line do business more easily, facilitating sales for travel agencies and thus helping them grow their businesses.
Travel agents can book a cruise at www.cruisingpower.com, the web portal that contains everything necessary to market, sell and book a cruise with any of the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. brands.
“We are thrilled to offer the new ESPRESSO booking system to our most important partners, the travel agencies,” said Vicki Freed, Senior Vice President of Sales and Sales Support and Service at Royal Caribbean International. “ESPRESSO puts the industry’s best booking system at the fingertips of agents, giving them the freedom to engage their customers wherever they are.”.
For the first time in the industry, ESPRESSO is optimized for tablets, so it can also be used outside the office. ESPRESSO's new, simplified, more intuitive, and modern user interface reduces the number of steps in a booking—from seven to five—and places the most frequently used functions at the top.
“We’ve created a new booking system that meets the needs of our partners, designed around their requirements,” said Dondra Ritzenthaler, Senior Vice President of Sales and Sales Support and Service at Celebrity Cruises. “ESPRESSO makes it incredibly easy for partner companies to instantly access the resources and information they need to help their customers make the best choice for an unforgettable vacation.”
The entire inventory is centralized, and travel agents can select up to four cabin categories at once for faster and easier comparison. They can also use the new interactive deck plans, which allow them to view the best available cabins and filter by specific criteria, such as connections or distance to access points, as well as select one or more cabins simply by clicking on them to see photos, layouts, and other details.
“We’ve significantly reduced the number of steps agents have to take to search, compare, and book a trip, giving them more time to focus on their customers,” said Ellen Bettridge, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Azamara Club Cruises. “The new ESPRESSO offers professionals an unprecedented tool that will help them create unique experiences for their clients.”
In addition, ESPRESSO offers a service for viewing and comparing selected itineraries to help travel agents identify the best possible cruise for their clients. Once selected, the search engines display the best available price and applicable promotional offers.
In addition, ESPRESSO's new predictive search feature can help travel agents find existing bookings using a unique identifier, saving valuable time during the booking process. ESPRESSO can also identify past customers and display previously sent promotions and accommodation preferences when a new booking is initiated.
The new ESPRESSO By CruisingPower.com booking system replaces CruiseMatch. To facilitate the transition, travel agencies will have access to CruiseMatch until August 3, 2015.
