Celebrity Cruises’ new managing director has added his voice to those urging agents to focus less on price, saying some have an “unhealthy obsession” with finding the best possible deals.
Giles Hawke warned agents risk losing customers if they do not take into consideration a client’s wishes, adding that a focus on finding the lowest prices could be damaging for the industry.
Echoing comments made by Clia UK & Ireland chair Ben Bouldin, Hawke, who is also Celebrity’s EMEA vice-president, urged the trade to articulate the differences between cruise lines to show the value in more expensive cruises and to turn away from a current “one‑dimensional” fixation on cost.
“The focus of some agents is on getting a cheaper price,” he told a Travel Weekly webcast. “They say they could sell lots of volume at a lower cost, but that doesn’t help the industry be more profitable overall, and doesn’t mean you’re selling the customer the [best] cruise for them.
“There’s a risk that customers pay a really cheap price for their first cruise and then don’t like it, which puts them off cruising overall.
“There’s an unhealthy obsession with cheap, cheap, cheap rather than with quality and matching the product to the customer.”
Hawke encouraged agents to not only work with Celebrity Cruises to secure sailings but also to create their own unique packages to add value to a holiday.
He said one of his focuses since taking up the role in September had been to add more pre and post-cruise accommodation options to make it easier for agents to package trips.
“The best way to create a unique product that is exclusive to you is to design your own packages where you can add a huge amount of value and create extra earning opportunities for yourself,” he said.
“I’m looking at how I make it easier to book [pre and post-cruise stays] and creating more availability to help agents with that.”