UK-based travel system specialist Inspiretec has unveiled new cruise selling technology.
It has updated its trade selling platform having identified a need for better technology in the sector, the company explained.
Inspiretec will introduce the new system in the spring and is aiming at a general release by the end of this year.
Among the new features were new cruise comparison capabilities.
Gareth Arnold, Inspiretec’s Cruise Relationship Manager, said: “Operators and agents are looking to at new ways to differentiate their cruise holiday offering, with a single place to manage the multiple components of that booking and improving efficiencies through the sales process.”
A partnership agreement has been signed with with Widgety to provide access to over 30,000 itineraries from 50 cruise lines across 650 ships.
Damian Gevertz, Widgety founder, said: “It will be interesting to see our Cruise API service being integrated into the Inspiretec stack, as we start this new partnership.
“Empowering customer decisions through engaging, accurate and detailed cruise content is more important than ever in the current climate and this partnership should make it easy for tour operators and travel agents to package a holiday, choosing the cruise elements they require to create compelling quotes for their customers,” he said.
Inspiretec claimed that despite the sector investing in latest technology selling systems and customer experience tooling used by operators to sell and manage their cruise product, the cruise ship industry has become reliant on inflexible, inefficient and out of date technology.
Seeing how poorly the cruise industry has been serviced by technology over the years, the Inspiretec team concluded that the industry deserved better selling experiences – geared to supporting the future growth of the cruise product, when, not if, consumer demand returned.
Alongside the dedicated cruise retailing platform, Inspiretec clients will be able to use its reservations system to dynamically package components, such as flights, pre- and post-stay accommodation, and transfers.
Users can also use lead and enquiry management tools to maximise lead conversion through the creation of an omni-channel single customer view.
Consultants are able to access customer product preference data, marketing insight, website interactions and call centre or retail shop touch points alongside previous quotes and bookings, through the Inspiretec CRM, the company said.
