Costa Cruises Redesigns Portal for Travel Advisors

Italian Costa Cruises has launched a redesigned portal called Costa Extra for U.S.-, Canada- and Caribbean-based travel advisors, providing key information, courses, and marketing materials.

The new interface includes a bright and organized homepage with a navigational tool bar, convenient cruise finder, the latest news and videos, a downloadable content search, access to Costa Academy, and quick links for simple Costa Extra navigation.

The navigational toolbar at the top features four tabs: Booking Tools, News, Academy, and Marketing Tools. The Booking Tools tab – where advisors can make and manage reservations, web check-in, a travel document search, and a link to the agent-specific help desk – is organized in the four sections of Booking, Group, Report, and Excursion. The Group section allows advisors to request invoices related to group trips; and they can pull operational reports about agency bookings in the Report section. The Excursion section provides an easy way to search and book CostaTours for individual clients or groups.

“We redesigned Costa Extra with the goal of making it easier for travel advisors to learn everything they need to know about our brand so they can successfully sell Costa Cruises,” said Scott Knutson, vice president of sales and marketing for Costa Cruises North America. “Travel professionals are the core of our business, and with the new and improved portal, we’ve provided a go-to hub for agents to use when booking, planning and promoting Costa Cruises in the U.S. and Canada.”

The Academy tab is where travel agents can access online courses to improve their understanding of Costa, increase their cruise sales, and become Costa-certified travel professionals. At the Academy, travel advisors have the ability to track their progress and reach training milestones.

The Marketing Box has a design tool where travel advisors can create personalized brochures, flyers, posters, newsletters, vouchers, banners, invitations, and social media posts in just a few clicks. The Media Center redirects agents to the Costa Press Center’s press releases, media library, and contact information for public relations representatives.

At the top of the homepage, travel advisors can find the booking tool to easily search for cruises by date range, destination, departure port, ship, fare and display prices.

In addition, a Library menu on the homepage provides easy access to a rich collection of downloadable content that travel professionals can use to learn more about the cruise line, promote the brand, and plan cruises for clients – including deck plans, beverage packages, pricing, special needs, the Samsara spa menu, and Costa branding.