CRYSTAL Cruises is aiming to expand its base of travel agent partners by drawing in recruits who currently book luxury resorts for clients as opposed to cruises.
The cruiseline works with 250 core agents at present, but wants to expand this number to 350 by the end of 2000. UK sales and marketing director Edwina Lonsdale said:”We are looking for independent agents with clients booking at high-revenue resorts. They aren’t booking cruises because they think the cruise specialists have got the market tied up.”
She is offering agents who want to sell Crystal cruises 10% commission, marketing support and a cruise on either Crystal Symphony or Crystal Harmony at a special trade rate at £62.50 a day for holidays on the company’s two ships.
Lonsdale also wants to boost membership of its Crystal Alliance scheme for high performance from 18 to 30 agency partners by the end of next year. Agents have to do between £50,000 and £175,000 of business a year to qualify for a range of benefits in the scheme, including an extra 2.5% in over-ride commission and the chance to take a Crystal cruise at a special rate of £31 a day.
A top tier of 12 agents doing in excess of £175,000 of business a year get basic commission of 12.5%, override commission of a further 2.5%, and one free cruise a year.
Lonsdale pointed out that since the average selling price of a Crystal cruise is £4,000, agents only have to make around 12 bookings a year to join the lower tier of the Crystal Alliance.
“While the ships have a six-star rating, they are affordable,” she claimed.
She said that UK sales rose by around 30% last year and are set to increase by the same percentage in 1999, although she refused to give precise figures.
Meanwhile, Crystal’s four top performing UK agents were invited to its annual Achievement Awards Gala this month – the first time agents from outside the US have participated.
All four generated more than £218,000 of business for Crystal in 1998. The event in Monte Carlo was attended by two of the four – Daniel Essex of Cruise Direct and Robin Maclear of The Cruise Line. The others were Paul Mundy of Paul Mundy Cruising and Jeremy Scott of Atlantis Travel.
“It’s good to feel that UK independent agents can reach the same sales levels as US agents, who are operating in a much larger market place,” said Lonsdale.