CORAL SPRINGS, Fla., Sept. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- For the first time ever, Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative, hosted a two-day workshop dedicated to technology and focused on new website coaching, mobile productivity, interactive Q&A's as well as the brand's signature "Cruisitude labs" where advisors get one-on-one tech advice. This on the heels of Cruise Planners releasing all new websites for its travel advisors with three different yet distinct design options: Land, Luxury and Contemporary. Along with the modern designs came new features, enhanced productivity and updates to the program dashboard. Cruise Planners invited its travel advisors to its new Home Office to provide a hands-on experience and fully immerse the franchisee family in their new websites.
"Offering our advisors training on their re-designed websites is one of the many ways we provide continuous support to each franchise through their travel agency business journey," says Michelle Fee, Cruise Planners CEO and Founder. "We teach our franchise owners how to be successful and technology is an important part of that. Ensuring they get the best technology training and products within the industry is what comes with being a part of the Cruise Planners travel advisor network."
Tech Days exclusively offers the franchise owners opportunity to engage, ask questions and in turn learn about how to best leverage technology within Cruise Planners and beyond.
Re-Designed Travel Advisor Website Training
Cruise Planners kicked off with the new website overview. CIO Brian Shultz highlighted the customizable website designs allowing Cruise Planners advisors the ability to focus on their chosen types of travel they wish to promote to their clients. Advisors have three website theme options: Land, Luxury and Cruise. All three options allow advisors customizable features throughout the site. The websites are designed to be modern, more responsive and faster. "What I love the most is that my clients can go into MyTrips and they can favorite the cruises that they are interested in, and I actually get an email about the cruises they liked," said Adriana Matos, Cruise Planners Franchise Owner. "It was really interesting the past few days, right after the re-designed websites launched, one of my clients was logged into her profile favoriting all the vacations she liked and a few days later ended up booking one of those cruises—that I think was pretty awesome. CP Technology is the foundation of our business. In order to run a home-based business, automation is paramount and having that website is very important."
Technology Workshops & Data Protection
Running a home-based business online requires data protection. The Home Office tech team gave travel advisors the run down on how to manage their business safely and securely. With Cruise Planners technology and guidance, advisors are equipped with the tools and knowledge necessary to protect their business data from all sides. "Managing passwords and data encryption is especially vital nowadays, it's important we make franchisees aware of resources provided with the support from our team. We are here to make sure their business is running securely and efficiently," said Shultz.
Tech Days included various workshop. One specifically focused on Outlook's full range of features. The technology team presented an overview of useful practices and tools within outlook to run their business efficiently. Cruise Planners Franchise Owner, Allan Conoval and his wife Linda made the trip down from New York to attend CP Tech Days. "We picked up on a lot of good pointers on how to better improve our skills on the IT aspect of Cruise Planners," said Conoval. "My chosen website theme now exudes luxury, which is exactly the clientele we cater to. Our clients have told us that the site is attractive and classy, and we agree it works well for our business."
Additional workshops available to agents throughout Tech Days included:
- Mobile Productivity
- SEO Training
- Ask MAXX
- Cruisitude Labs
About Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative
Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative, is the nation's largest home-based travel agent franchise network in the travel industry. Cruise Planners operates a network of more than 2,500 franchise owners who independently book vacation and travel experiences for their clients. Headquartered in Coral Springs, Fla. since 1994, Cruise Planners supports its network of franchise owners with innovative marketing, booking and technology tools, professional development and training with the industry's top executives. Cruise Planners and has been named the No.1 travel franchise by Entrepreneur magazine for 16 consecutive years and was recently featured in Entrepreneur as one of the top 30 franchise innovators in technology. Consistently named as one of the Top Women-Owned Businesses by the South Florida Business Journal, Cruise Planners is on the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, has been ranked as the #1 travel franchise by Franchise Business Review for 6 years and is recognized as one of the Top Workplaces by the Sun Sentinel.
Cruise Planners has achieved top producer status with every major cruise line including Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America Line, MSC Cruises, Viking Cruises, Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, as well as many land vendors such as Travel Impressions and Sandals and Beaches Resorts. As an American Express Travel Representative, Cruise Planners maintains a reputation for quality and offers exclusive American Express Travel benefits such as Pay with Points. Cruise Planners has earned the American Express Travel Representative Excellence Award since 2004, as well as numerous marketing, technology, franchise and philanthropy awards including an International Franchise Association FranTech award for innovation, Magellan Awards from Travel Weekly and Travvy Awards from travAlliance media. Cruise Planners celebrates diversity and supports are troops as one of the Top 50 franchises for Veterans according to GI magazine, the Top Franchise Brand for Veterans according to Franchise Business Review, one of the Top 25 franchises for African-Americans by Black Enterprise magazine and a member of the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association. Visit our website, http://www.cruiseplanners.com, for more information or to view the complete list of awards and honors.
Stay in Touch: Media can stay up-to-date with Cruise Planners by visiting our media room or Socially Yours page for social media updates and handles. For additional information or to make reservations, vacationers should locate a travel advisor near them. For those interested in becoming a franchise owner, please visit the Cruise Planners franchise website.
Media Contact:
Caitlin Gardner, Director of Corporate Communications and Digital Strategy
Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative
[email protected]
954-344-8060
SOURCE Cruise Planners
Share this article