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Jamie holiday
Earlier this month, Cruise Planners announced that it will join the Signature Travel network at the end of September, a move that was planned to close the American Express travel agency network. The move adds a major retailer to the franchise — Cruise Planner is No. 18 on Travel Weekly’s 2022 Power List — and gives the franchisor a home for support and additional technology, marketing and training.
Teresa Scalzitti, chief sales officer of Cruise Planners, said after news of the agent network’s demise hit the industry, major affiliates began reaching out. The franchisor set up introductory calls, asking for a “full menu” of each consortium’s offerings.
Along the way, he asked himself if he even needed to join the union, since it would give cruise planners what they needed to sell travel to its members.
But the more we dug in and the more conversations we had with some of the top vendors in the industry, it really boiled down to, why not? Scalzitti said.
Cruise planners were impressed by all the consortia, but in the end, he settled on Signature. Scalzitti said the two organizations have emphasized three key areas: marketing, training and technology. Cruise Planners and Signatures had a great ability to integrate their systems, making the transition as seamless as possible.
Firma operates as a member-owned cooperative, and the ability to lead the network with a seat at the table was attractive, Scalzitti said.
Signature CEO Alex Sharp says the first thing Signature considers when talking to a new agency is whether the cultural fit is good. It’s like, “Do we like them? Do they make us better? Do they have the right morals?”
“Cruise planners, there’s just a nice halo effect,” Sharp said. “You forget about their product and everything, which is wonderful. Just the people? Everybody loves them. The partners love them. Not only because they’re good people, but because they’re good business people.”
Typically, Signature’s member base is made up of small to medium-sized agencies doing $2 million to $20 million in sales, Sharp said. Cruise planners are likely to be the largest representative on a cruise ship with a network agency, he said.
Signature is communicating with other network members. Three have pledged to sign on in September: National Travel Services, Boca Express Travel and Cruise Planners. Three responding agencies will join the signature at next week’s owners meeting. Two other commitments are not yet official, and five other prospective agencies are currently in talks, he said.
He estimated that the signature will be on 8-10 representative network agencies.
“We tried to house the ones we thought would be better,” he said. “We can’t take them all. We may not be suitable for them or vice versa.”
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