Skylord Cruise and Holidays aims to become trade’s ‘go-to’ cruise supplier

Skylord Cruise and Holidays is aiming to become a leading cruise supplier within the next three years after becoming a contracted partner of Protected Trust Services (PTS) in the first step of its projected B2B growth.

 

The new division of Skylord Travel Plc, launched in June, is led by ex-Jetline Travel director Andrew Todd and former Forever Cruises director Manish Suchde.

 

Todd said: “We’re definitely going to be a big name in the cruise and holiday industry – that’s not in doubt. I think we’ll be a big part of everything next year.”

 

Having supplied flights to travel agents since 1983, Skylord’s decision to move into the holidays and cruise sectors came amid recognition that there was untapped potential in the business.

 

Todd said the company’s database has a “couple of thousands” agents in it, about 400-500 of which are active partners.

 

“A lot of these agents now get a lot of questions from customers about cruise – they’ve seen that increase a lot in the past few years,” he said.

 

“Skylord wanted to be able to say, ‘Yes, we can help you’, rather than say no.

 

“There was an opportunity to cater for the growing demand for cruise through the agent database.”

 

The vast majority of the new division’s sales will be cruise, Todd added, in line with ambitions of becoming the trade’s “go-to supplier” in the sector.

 

The cruise product will range from budget options to “ultra luxury”, while the holidays focus will be on multi-centre trips.

 

On the holidays strategy, Todd said: “We’re not trying to be a copy of an OTA – it’s not about volume for us.”

 

Separate ‘holidays’ and ‘cruise’ brands are viewed as a possibility in the future.

 

The agreement with PTS will give the consortium’s agents early access to exclusive offers and prices.

 

They will also be able to draw on technology enabling them to host a live feed of “handpicked, high-margin” packages on their own websites.

 

Technology which is expected to be rolled out at the end of October will enable agents to showcase dynamically priced offers that will be updated daily using AI and other tools without the need for agent input.

 

“It’s a bit of a game-changer in terms of technology,” said Todd, adding agents would be presented with accurate prices for packages containing between six and 10 elements.

 

“Our system allows for 99% accuracy on price every single day,” he said. “AI and technology will continue to monitor the prices and combine them into a price that is relevant.”

 

Giving an example of how quickly a price could be generated, he said if a cruise line were to release its 2027 schedule today, the prices of various tailored trips could be made available the next day.

 

“We could have it all live tomorrow with accurate pricing from loads of different airports,” he said.

 

Over the coming months, the brand aims to strike deals with other consortia and B2B partners.

 

“We’re talking to other people,” said Todd. “There will definitely be other agreements that come in, but my focus for now is PTS.”

He added: “The reason we signed with PTS first is because they understood us straight away, they were very quick with communication and because we had a solution that I think they needed.”