Expedia Adds New Tools to Support its Advisor Partners

Expedia Cruises is getting ready for the cruise industry’s recovery by rolling out several new tools for its travel advisor franchise owners.

This week, Expedia said it was adding the new capabilities to its back-office platforms for advisors to be able to secure bookings and earn repeat clients.

“Boosted by encouraging search data at the end of last year and January this year, we want to equip our cruise partners with the best possible technology to allow them to harness demand and ensure repeat customers when travelers are sailing again. Both our new suite of tools and the omnichannel strategy allows them to do just that,” Matthew Eichhorst, president of Expedia Cruises, said.

The tools include:

• A Cruise Search Results view for advisors using Expedia’s back office system that allows for better comparison.
• A new Port of Call Filter that can segment cruises by destinations.
• An updated Date Picker to help advisors see inventory into 2023, along with an updated Itinerary Filter that will allow advisors to search for multiple cruise itineraries, such as the Bahamas and the Caribbean.
• A new Promotions filter that will also advisors to sort by promotional inventory and rates, including member-only pricing.

While ongoing restrictions and the vaccine rollout continue to be the biggest factors for the industry’s return, the announcement comes as Expedia says “positive search data” from Q4 last year shows a “substantial pent-up demand from cruise travelers eager to sail again.”

According to Expedia, in January there was a 35% increase in U.S. search compared with the month before, for 2021 sailings. The two most popular destinations for those sailings were the Caribbean and the Bahamas.