HX To Go All-Inclusive this Fall

HX, formerly Hurtigruten Expeditions, will go all-inclusive starting with Antarctica and Galapagos sailings in October. The entire fleet, in all destination, will be transitioned to all-inclusive by the end of November.

The all-inclusive offering include all of the expert-led daily expeditions and science-led activities that were always included, as well as alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, Wi-Fi, gratuities, professional photographs, and more.

According to Alex Delamere-White, HX’s chief commercial officer, the change is in response to feedback from past guests, travel advisors, and travelers who have never been on an expedition cruise before but are interested in one.

“One of the things that came across really clearly is that customers want a clear and simple proposition to understand,” he told TMR. “They want to understand what’s included and what they’ll get for their money. They don’t want any surprises.”

Similarly, travel advisors want a simple message to be able to sell.

“What our partners said was, make it as easy as possible for us,” he said. “When we added those two things together, it became clear to us that an opportunity for us was to simplify and enhance our proposition.”

Expedition should be all-inclusive
The long and short of it, he added, is that expedition should be all-inclusive.

“At the heart of adventure is the expedition experience, and we want to spend our time and energy telling people what an incredible experience an expedition cruise is,” not explaining what is and isn’t included.

The move to all-inclusive is part of HX’s overall rebranding strategy, designed to differentiate the brand from its sister brand, Hurtigruten.

“In terms of the move to HX, we’re being quite ambitious in the U.S. market, and we’ll be really pushing ahead full steam to educate both the trade and our customers about HX and what it means,” Delamere-White said. “We know that our customers have a sense of curiosity. They’re looking for mindful adventure… the key focus for us is landing that story.”

It’s why HX has expanded its sales team in the U.S. and increased its outreach to the travel advisor community with a greater presence at industry conferences and an all-new webinar series. In just this quarter alone, HX will reach more than 1,000 U.S. and Canadian advisors, he told TMR.

No success without advisor support
“To be candid, we will not be successful as a brand without incredibly strong trade partnerships. We are a brand that benefits so much from travel advisors, talking through and explaining what can be, as backed up by our research, a complicated product to sell.”

As for Delamere-White’s vision for the U.S. and Canadian market, he is crystal clear. “The Americas should be our single largest market. Simple as that. It’s not at the moment.”

In the short term, he said, the brand is aiming to reach 25% of HX’s total business. But overall he expects to see the majority of the business come from the Americas over the next few years.

“But we need to make it easy for them [advisors] to book and sell us. That is our core focus at the moment. If I could have one wish for the [Americas] market, let’s make us as effortless to do business with as possible. That’s central to our focus at the moment.”