Following his appointment as P&O Cruises’ boss, Paul Ludlow tells Hollie-Rae Merrick why the line needs to become ‘obsessed with travel agents’
Taking the helm at P&O Cruises is almost like coming home for Paul Ludlow. He spent 10 years working his way up in the British-focused brand’s sales team before switching to sister brand Princess Cruises, where he worked for five years, most recently as managing director for the UK and Europe.
Since being appointed as P&O’s senior vice-president of sales and marketing two months ago, Ludlow has spent time learning and understanding the brand and its relationships with the trade.
He said his priorities would be to help agents grow their business with the support of his sales team, and to expand the brand’s audience, while retaining the passion that existing guests have for the line.
One of the first actions Ludlow took was to appoint Alex White, currently head of sales at Princess Cruises, to the role of vice-president of sales. White will take up the position on December 1.
Ludlow and White are best known in the trade for establishing a dedicated and individual sales team at Princess Cruises, moving away from the Complete Cruise Solution brands. They have also taken on new technology in recent months after agents criticised the CCS booking platforms and flight‑search engines.
Brand differentiation
While he believes he will apply elements of the Princess model, Ludlow said it was important to recognise the differences between the brands. He said P&O needed to demonstrate the importance of agents, to the extent that he wants his team to have “an obsession with travel agents”.
He said: “I’ve proved over the years that agents are always at the centre of my plans. They were at the core of our plans at Princess and that will remain the case at P&O. When I was at Princess, agents became a huge pillar of our strategic plans and I’m going to take that focus and make it core to the way we do things at P&O.
“I want to apply what I’ve done previously to P&O and I want us to have an obsession with travel agents. I want us to work with them as business partners, so that we can have mutually profitable relationships that drive repeat and new-to-cruise business.”
Ludlow said bringing in White would show agents how agent‑focused he wants P&O Cruises to become because White had already established strong ties with the trade.
He said the pair would work together to establish priorities for the brand. This would include looking at booking platform technology, if P&O’s key agent partners highlight it as an issue.
Commission
Asked about commission, Ludlow insisted that over the past 12 months the brand had made great headway in winning back the trade, after commission cuts in 2012 led to a turbulent couple of years.
Ludlow said he believes the line’s commission is no longer the hot topic among agents, and that agent feedback showed that discounting was now more under control than before.
“Commission isn’t the thing agents talk to us most about anymore,” he said. “From our perspective, the commission programmes we have at the moment are working.
“We will always talk to our agent partners and listen to what they have to say; however, I think the strength of agent relations is built on more than just commission. There are so many other things we can do with them that are going to help them grow their business.”
Asked if he would consider changing the commission structure, Ludlow said: “Nothing is ever permanent. But we think we’ve reached a point where it is balanced well.”
Ludlow believes the trade is looking for more training and investment in training resources – something he pledged to deliver. He also revealed he was looking at the structure of the sales team and how it operates, which could result in expansion if the need arises.
He claimed an “overwhelming majority” of P&O’s bookings came through the trade.
With no desire to change these booking patterns, Ludlow said the main aim was to expand P&O’s market as a whole, and that providing extra clarity to agents would be key to this.
“Agents want clarity from us more than anything,” he said. “They want to understand brand distinction, so we need to be articulate in how we present the brand and highlight our Britishness, which is something that makes us unique.
“They also want clarity around training and target markets.
“We also need to highlight the tools available to agents and support they can receive. If we can clarify and show the wealth of resources available, that will help them be more successful.”
New identity
Last December the line unveiled a new brand identity, 12 months after revealing the union flag design, which is now emblazoned on the hull of the ships. According to Ludlow, this new look makes it easier for agents to understand what makes P&O different.
“I’ve come into a really solid foundation,” he added. “We’ve drawn out the Britishness of our brand and all of our collateral is distinctive, with the new logo.
“The team has done a great job of making the brand more distinctive. We know what P&O Cruises is now and what the brand proposition is.”
Ludlow said he was excited with the challenges afoot and said they were different from the challenges he had experienced with the Princess brand.
“When I was at Princess, we made a huge contribution, but in a global context. When you’re part of P&O Cruises, given the nuance of our brand, the UK is the primary and dominant source market.
“We’re responsible for the entire result of P&O Cruises, which is an exciting challenge. Success starts and finishes with the activities here in the UK. I’ve been spending time listening and learning and understanding how everything links together and works internally and externally.”