Catching Up with Railbookers’ Cris David: “Rail is Having a Moment”

“Rail is having a moment,” says Cris David, Vice President of Global Sales for Railbookers, the specialized travel company that works with agents to create, plan, and book customizable independent train vacations across North America, Europe, and beyond.

“Rail is a product well aligned with industry trends,” David told Travel Market Report Canada during the conference for The Travel Agent Next Door, held recently aboard Celebrity Silhouette.

“FIT is really taking a primary position, so Railbookers is a good place to be. There’s a lot of excitement around the brand and the product,” David added.

Rail’s ‘moment’ is not just related to the trend toward personalized, independent vacations. There’s a romance and nostalgia about great train journeys that puts them on the wish lists of many travellers. Trains are one of the most sustainable forms of travel, and in places like Europe and Asia they are also one of the most convenient and speedy methods of moving from city centre  to city centre.

David has been with Railbookers for almost seven years now, following nearly two decades with The Travel Corporation, where he served at various times as president of the Canadian divisions of Contiki Holidays, Insight Vacations and Lion World Travel. 

In his rail role, he works exclusively with the travel trade to make it easy for them to plan vacations for their clients that combine rail tickets, hotel accommodations, sightseeing tours, and transfers into a single package.

“We make it easy, convenient and lucrative for travel advisors to plan trips with rail components,” David said. “It’s a custom product so we can plan as much time, sightseeing and accommodations as their clients want. Any rail product we sell in Europe has to be part of a package.”

Railbookers can do rail-only bookings in Canada and the U.S., with VIA Rail and as the official tour operator for Amtrak Vacations, thus giving travel agents the opportunity to earn significant commission on trans-continental and other domestic rail journeys throughout North America.

David says the typical client for Railbookers is not a ‘rail person,’ but rather an independent traveller. “We offer a solution for FIT travel and you have to understand the mindset. If you’re doing Europe for example, you’re very likely to be doing rail.”

Here are a few highlights of what Railbookers offers travel advisors:

Tailored Packages: Railbookers offers flexible, independent, and escorted rail journeys that can be customized with activities, stopovers, and hotel upgrades.

One-Stop FIT Shop: Railbookers can handle all logistics, including rail, accommodations, and transfers, reducing the need for individual bookings.

Expert Planning: Railbookers employs specialists who provide expert advice and support for scenic, high-speed, and luxury rail routes. Their job is to make you look like the expert.

Destination Range: Railbookers covers a wide range of popular routes, including in Canada (Rocky Mountaineer and VIA), the USA (Amtrak), Europe (including scenic trains like the Glacier Express), and Japan.

Advance Booking: Railbookers has the capability to book trips up to 24 months in advance, often before individual train operators release their schedules. 

“As an FIT solution, we invite travel advisors to give us a try by reaching out and asking for a quote. You can call by phone and have a live conversation with a real person. And we’ll get you a quote right away, without you having to make requests with DMCs and wait for responses.”

Railbookers also works closely with the operators of the world’s most iconic luxury train operators, like the Venice Simplon Orient Express, South Africa’s Rovos Rail, Australia’s The Ghan, The Royal Scotsman, the Golden Eagle Silk Road Express and Peru’s Andean Explorer by Belmond.

“Luxury rail is a burgeoning segment,” David said. “And it can be very lucrative. We recently has a booking for two people built around the Silk Road Express, and it topped $147,000, giving one happy advisor a very good pay day.”