Vacation.com invests in member-facing technology
Vacation.com has announced new advancements and investments in member-facing technology, including the development of a consumer booking engine for CruisePRO, better automation to the back-end applications for Cruise Space, configurable permissions for Agent Universe users, and a single sign-on application for Stream.
“Vacation.com has always been committed to the ongoing investment of money and human capital in all aspects of our business, including member-facing technology. We know it’s important to provide our members with the most-advanced tools and resources to assist in making each member agency run more smoothly and ultimately become more profitable,” said Vacation.com vice-president, Canada, Christine James. “In addition to these new and already established technology programs available, these recent improvements are just a few of the many things we are working on behind the scenes at Vacation.com.”
Based on feedback from agencies and users, Vacation.com has made enhancements to its proprietary CruisePRO platform, including the launch of CruisePRO Consumer, as well as simplifying the booking process for agents.
Vacation.com agents using CruisePRO now have the option to subscribe to CruisePRO Consumer. CruisePRO Consumer is a consumer cruise booking engine that is placed directly into the agent’s web site, allowing customers to search, compare and book their cruises directly. CruisePRO Consumer benefits include the ability to incorporate agency branding on cruise booking engine pages, a customizable search widget and easy integration into an agent’s existing web site.
The booking process for agents using the CruisePRO B2B platform has been simplified by decreasing the total number of steps necessary to complete a booking and reduce scrolling. The goal of these changes is to make the booking process as efficient as possible. In addition, CruisePRO negotiated its first channel-specific exclusive offer with Norwegian Cruise Line.
Vacation.com’s in-house Cruise Space management application is used for input, management, updating, sourcing and invoicing Cruise Space programs (e.g. Distinctive Voyages, Amenity Departure Dates and Culinary Collection). With recent enhancements, Distinctive Voyages and Amenity Departure Dates’ updates and changes will update more quickly and provide additional information when utilizing CruisePRO, VacationPORT, In-Sites and E-Engagement offers. Members will also receive e-mail communication from the Vacation.com Distinctive Voyages team if their bookings qualified for a Distinctive Voyages sailing.
Vacation.com’s members-only agent Web portal, Agent Universe, is now enabled for configurable permissions to fit the users’ needs. In addition, Agent Universe will now provide a different level of access for agency managers versus their agents. This is because agency managers have different levels of administration than their front line agents. Also, if a member participates in Vacation.com’s Inner Circle program, they will have a special zone in Agent Universe with dedicated program offerings and exclusive offers from preferred suppliers.
