Press Release

Cruise Planners Wins International Franchise Association Award

Presented at the 2017 FranTech Franchise Innovation Conference, October 19-20 in San Diego, the IFA award recognized Cruise Planners for its 2017 Technology Suite for travel agents which includes CP View™, CP Insights™ and the newly redesigned corporate website. Announced to travel agents at its 2017 Annual Conference on October 16, Cruise Planners continues to make strides in technology and innovation by becoming the first home-based travel agency to enter the world of Artificial Intelligence with the introduction of two new Alexa Skills making vacation planning easy for consumers and serve as a virtual assistant for travel agents.

“The 2017 technology suite represents the largest amount of tech innovations ever launched by Cruise Planners and provides highly efficient and targeted insight for franchise owners to market and work with their clients,” said Michelle Fee, CEO and co-founder of Cruise Planners. “When designing new technology, we strive to provide high-tech solutions for franchisees that strengthen the connection between travel agents and their clients.”

Creating technology solutions has increased sales for franchisees by leveraging data, introducing a lead-generating tool and syncing back-end business intelligence. The technology innovations were welcomed with a high adoption rate, proving these solution–oriented tools are effective and beneficial to the agent network.

Recently released custom tools developed by Cruise Planners Home Office Team include:

Alexa Skills—Two voice-activated skills using Artificial Intelligence to help Cruise Planners agents and their clients. One skill acts as a virtual personal assistant for Cruise Planners agents and the other is a hands-free way for customers to connect with their travel agent as they plan and countdown to their vacations
CP Maxx™—Cruise Planners’ next-generation booking and customer relationship management system for faster, streamlined results that “Maxximizes” business, efficiencies and profits
CP Insights™—Highly-efficient and targeted insight for franchise owners to market and work with their clients to provide relevant marketing and customized travel offers.
CP View™—Tool that curates data across the Cruise Planners network to anticipate client buying habits and target the right clients, leading to increased sales, brand credibility and stronger relationships.
Cruise Planners takes an in-depth approach and reviews a variety of sources for inspiration, most notably, how the most successful franchisees perform and what common sentiments are echoed across the network in terms of technology needs.