CUNARD Line has revamped its trade engagement platforms, as it prepares for its “post-home port world”, when Queen Elizabeth ends her long-running annual Australian program at the end of this summer (CW 06 Nov).
Commercial Director Katrina McAlpine exclusively revealed to CW Cunard’s revamped famil program, and its updated trade toolkit, as the line pivots to a full fly-cruise strategy.
“Because we’re not going to have a home port ship, we really had to rethink about how we work to make sure that the trade have all the tools they need to sell us confidently,” she told CW.
Cunard has created three new famil categories for the trade, which will include trips targeting new-to-brand agents, and itineraries for experienced sellers.
Travel advisors not familiar with Cunard will receive a ‘101’ on the fleet, the cruise line’s identity, as well as its guest profile, and how potential passengers can be identified among their clients.
Meanwhile, advisors more seasoned in selling Cunard will be hosted by the cruise line’s onboard sales managers for insider sales tips, and receive the same experiences their guests get while on board.
“What are the things that we can do to make sure that you’re really well-versed with the insider knowledge? How do you upgrade passengers into the high-value stock so you can have a higher value guest within your portfolio?” McAlpine explained.
There will also be famils crafted for marketing and product managers, with the first of these to depart in Jan next year.
“We’ve got our marketing manager [and] our media agency that go on board with them, give them a little bit of an overview of how we’re going out to market, share a bit of data with them that we wouldn’t otherwise share, [such as] booking lead times,” McAlpine added.
“[We’re] tapping into all levels of the business, not just frontline staff, and making sure that everyone has the tools, right from how they interact with their guests, with EDMs, and their own platforms, through to how they’re selling as well,” she explained.
Cunard’s toolkit has also been revamped with a series of 10 trade training videos, featuring the local Cunard team.
They are designed to be “fun, short, and punchy”, conveying key information to trade partners.
“We haven’t had a training platform for Cunard in Australia since we’ve been established here, and so what we have done is created some training videos for the trade partners,” she explained to CW.
“We’re not going to have the ships here for long periods of time, so we won’t be able to do as many walkarounds, but this video series really brings the whole experience to life,” McAlpine added.
The end of the Australian home port season for Cunard will not change the cruise line’s devotion to the country’s travel trade, McAlpine reinforced.
“We’re really committed to this market, [and] we’re really committed to trade partners.
“Since we’ve made the announcement of Queen Elizabeth moving to the Caribbean after the summer season, we have had a lot of questions around, how do we sell Cunard if we’re not going to be able to see her as often, and how are we going to be able to keep it front of mind?
“For us, that was something really important to address and making sure we can do it in a way that [agents] want to actually engage with…giving them confidence to sell,” she added. MS