Are Low Cruise Prices Impacting Travel Advisors?
经过多里·萨尔茨曼(Dori Saltzman)/Seven-night cruises from Celebrity for as low as $399. Fifty percent off cruise fares from Holland America Line. Forty percent off Virgin Voyages cruises. Thirty-five percent off NCL cruises and third and fourth guests for just $99 each.
It’s almost never been less expensive to cruise than it is for the rest of 2022. And 2023 may end up being affected as well, some analysts say.
Truist分析师Patrick Scholes在上个月的一份报告中说:“虽然2023年的定价目前持有,因为从最初的2023年出发,它仍在七个月中,但2023年的累积预订速度仍在继续减速,并且大大低于2019年的可比性水平。”“除非2023年的速度扭转趋势,否则我们认为将需要大量的价格/促销活动来填补船只,与2022年发生的情况类似。”
But what does all that mean for travel advisors?
beplay客服旅行市场报告与几个邮轮销售商联系,以查看较低的价格对他们的业务产生什么影响(如果有)。答案并不像您预期的那样一致。
“Things are great,” said Jesse Morris, owner of We Book Travel, LLC, an independent agency in the Avoya Network, adding that his dollar volume of sales between May 1 and June 15 is nearly triple what it was in 2019. “Almost none of this is via future travel credits as those in my portfolio have already been booked. The current rate environment combined with people who have been sitting on the sidelines waiting to take a trip and being unable to is driving significant volume. After the last two years, this is sorely needed.”
另一位Avoya会员的代理商所有者Penny Rushing是四分之二的所有者,他同意。
“邮轮公司已经降低了邮轮的票价,比以前的价格引起了再次巡航的兴趣。去年我的总销售额是我在Avoya五年中最高的。今年,我的速度约为20-25%。”
莫里斯说,他确实看到较低的利率意味着较低的总利润,但他并不是这样看的。“我认为这是一场马拉松,而不是冲刺。我正在赢得新客户,他们将年复一年地与我预订,并将更多的人推荐给我。这对我的整体业务非常有利。”
More Work
其他顾问TMR与他说,较低的邮轮价格正在使预订管理更加困难和耗时。
“Prior to COVID, we weren’t dealing with so many price reductions after final payment,” said Richard Stieff, owner of a Cruise Planners franchise. “They are back and it’s frustrating as all,” especially since advisors and cruise lines had been promoting the idea that the earlier you book, the better the pricing. “Which has been the case for quite a while – until now.”
Dream Vacations专营权的所有者Rhonda Day同意。“预订和维修客户现在需要大量时间……大量的猜测。很多回收等等。”
但是艾米·麦德森(Amy Madsen)也是梦幻假期的所有者,他说,许多价格最低的航行是近距离预订,实际上花费了很少的时间。
“他们几乎已经挑选了巡航,并将其交给我们以确认最佳定价并付款。这是一个快速的销售,”她说。
少钱
The current situation is reminiscent of the early days of COVID-19 when advisors were working day in and day out to cancel and rebook cruises without getting paid for their work.
斯蒂夫说:“我们再次处于正在努力的情况下,并为减少赔偿的预订而投入更多时间。”“最终付款后的大多数时间,我们不能只调整定价,我们必须打电话给并通过邮轮行动进行调整。这可能意味着几个小时。”
Still, getting bookings coming in, even if they don’t pay as well as they should, is better than no bookings.
“别误会我的意思,”斯蒂夫告诉TMR。“我很高兴能遇到这类问题,而'季节被取消了'我们过去两年所面临的问题。”
总比没有预订/没有佣金好
合奏旅行集团成员进化旅行者的总裁贾斯汀·史密斯(Justin Smith)表示同意。
“我以这种方式看待,现在较低的佣金击败了我们在2020年和2021年都经历的'无委员会'时代。我认为这是我们现在骑行的另一种方式。邮轮行业一直是顾问社区的好伙伴,现在我们需要互相帮助,重新恢复我们各自的脚步。”
史密斯还告诉TMR,作为财团,特许经营或国家接待集团的成员可以帮助减轻较低定价所带来的一些损失,因为这些团体通常会使代理商和顾问获得更高的佣金率。
Rushing说,最终,低佣金利率得到了更多的预订。“随着较低的邮轮票价价格,我正在做相同数量的工作,显然每次销售的佣金略少,但是如上所述,我的总销售量更高。