Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending January 20, 2023, is below. A new online cruise booking platform garnered most of the attention this past week, together with announcements regarding the continuing migration of group bookings to online platforms. Enjoy.
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- Are Cruise Passengers Ready to Book on Online Platforms? Cruisebound says yes. This past week, Cruisebound, the first online platform dedicated exclusively to ocean cruising (on 14 different inaugural cruise lines), was officially launched. Historically, cruises have been thought to be too complicated to book online (e.g., multiple cabin types, fare codes, etc.). Because of these complications, traditional brick and mortar travel advisors have been the primary booking channels for most cruise lines. Cruisebound intends to change that. Backed by industry veterans, Jeff Boyd (Booking Holdings), Steve Kaufer (TripAdvisor) and Steve Singh (Concur) and led by the same team that founded Rocket Travel, Cruisebound hopes to attract first-time (younger) passengers through its easy-to-use online interface. Customers who require additional assistance will access to a team of travel consultants. In its initial testing, Cruisebound found that 91% of bookings were made via a mobile device and that the average age of customers was 36. Both statistics are appealing to cruise lines seeking to extend their passenger demographics. Cruisebound will earn its fees entirely through commissions paid by cruise lines and won’t charge passengers booking fees.
- Group Bookings Continue to Move Online. Marriott and group booking platform, Groups360, announced this past week that 1500 Marriott properties in the United States and Canada will soon be available for online group bookings (both rooms and meeting space) through Groups360’s “Instant Book” platform. Users of the platform will have real time access to hotels’ rates and inventory. Although designed primarily for small meetings (i.e., 10-25 guestrooms on peak or meetings of 50 people), the platform also allows customers planning larger meetings to review hotels’ available inventory before submitting an RFP.
Have a great week everyone. I hope to see many of you here in Seattle at HEDNA’s annual conference.