Just Picture It Now: Agent Support Part Deux

I posted last week about Carnival’s Q2 Earnings Report, and found another article in Travel Weekly this weekend which goes right to the man in charge and puts Gerry Cahill in the hot seat. We found last week that Carnival is doing less direct business and relying more on Travel Agents to keep them afloat during the wave of feul price increases and muddy waters concerning the travel industry as a whole.

If you’re in YTB, you know about the informative call we had at the beginning of June with J. Kim Sorensen, (President, YTB International and CEO, YTB Travel Network) and Mike Julius, (Regional Vice President of Carnival Cruise Lines) to kick off Carnival Month. Our RTA’s also found that Cruise Month has been extended with Carnival alongside a special booking contest that was kicked off with both Kim and Ann Sedgwick, (Business Development Director with Carnival Cruise Lines) with our widely popular Cruise Night last Thursday night and the “All About Cruising” DVD we all downloaded. (First prize will be an all expenses paid 12 Day Mediterranean Cruise with air.)

The strong foundation and technology YTB has invested into providing us the very best resources for those of us out in the field are second to none, and many outside of the company (aka: clients) found this form of getting everyone together not only exciting but a very successful way to promote cruise sales.

Just why Carnival would do something like this with YTB was found in the Q&A with Gerry Cahill when he stated: “They can help us on the marketing side. They can also have the ability to reach customers we don't reach.”

With thousands of RTA’s getting just 3 or 4 couples together last week for this Cruise Night, Carnival had the ability to reach tens of thousands of potential customers all over the country at one time which Carnival may not have been able to reach otherwise.

Talk about bang for your buck! One night, one company and you cover North America, Canada and the Caribbean to boot.

It’s good to see that Gerry Cahill’s business decisions are starting to pay off, and it looks as if he certainly knows what he’s doing as he stated in the Travel Weekly article “It’s not hard to do. We have the ability to track how much profitability we get from every channel and every agent. You don't have to be a rocket scientist for that one. I did an analysis of what I think are the most efficient ways for us to distribute things, and I made certain decisions as a result of that.”

With the Cruise Night from last year being revamped and redone to help Carnival stay profitable and keep their place as “The Most Popular Cruise Line in the World” YTB is producing large numbers for Carnival once again. Sure, last week was a little different, but the goal is the same, and that’s selling our core product with our preferred supplier who “gets it”. Terminating your relationship with a company the size of YTB can be detrimental to your business health, so you simply implement minimum booking requirements to answer the “critics” who claim all we do is take advantage of the product, while still saving your bottom line and working with a company who has been a Pinnacle Award winner the last three years in a row.

Not bad for a “bean counter” if you ask me, and certainly not what some had forecasted a few months ago.

It aint rocket science.

Carnival has been a HUGE supporter of YTB from the very start, and I'm pleased that the new management sees the value in what we as a company has to offer.

PS - If you’d like to keep up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB feel free to sign up for my FREE Newsletter. Just like here, it’s loaded with food, water and sunshine to grow your YTB business.

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812

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