Cruise Planners Unveils Industry First Technology Tools

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Oct 16, 2024, 11:54 ET

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla., Oct. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Cruise Planners, the nation's largest home-based travel agency franchise network, made several exciting, game-changing announcements during their annual CP World Convention. Among those announcements is a new suite of industry first, time-saving tools designed to simplify and enhance the day-to-day operations of their travel advisors.

Cruise Planners Executive Team: Chief Strategy Officer, Scott Koepf, Chief Operations Officer, Theresa Scalzitti, Founder and CEO, Michelle Fee, and Chief Information Officer, Brian Shultz.

These cutting-edge technologies are aimed at streamlining workflows, improving efficiency, and allowing advisors to focus more on what they do best—selling travel and creating unforgettable experiences for their clients. The new tools underscore Cruise Planners' commitment to continually support its advisors with the best resources in the industry, empowering them to achieve even greater success and sale volumes.

Some of the major new technology tools announced at the annual convention were:

Ask Maxx AI-Powered AI Personal Assistant: Building on their 2023 AI tool, Maxx Intelligence, Cruise Planners has introduced an industry-first AI-powered assistant designed specifically for their advisors. Ask Maxx allows Cruise Planners advisors to quickly access information on destinations, suppliers, itineraries, and all Cruise Planners programs and tools. Unlike Toby AI or ChatGPT, Ask Maxx is uniquely trained to analyze data within Cruise Planners' proprietary systems, not just publicly available information online. With its ability to provide fast and accurate responses, Ask Maxx serves as a personal assistant, offering a time-saving advantage by quickly retrieving details on partners, destinations, sailings, and more and can even expand the "conversation" by answering related questions about the content. What once took several steps and minutes can now be found in just seconds!
Maxx Intelligence for CP Maxx Mobile: Maxx Intelligence, an AI tool powered by ChatGPT and launched in 2023, made Cruise Planners the first in the industry to integrate ChatGPT into their advisor network. Advisors can easily access the latest version of ChatGPT within CP Maxx on their laptops or desktops, and now, this cutting-edge technology is available in the CP Maxx Mobile app (iOS and Android), providing convenience and ease of use from anywhere, right in the palm of their hands. In addition to Maxx Intelligence being made available on CP Mobile, the new industry first AI powered assistant, Ask Maxx, is also available on CP Mobile for all Cruise Planners advisors.
Vax Integration: Advisors can now easily retrieve VAX VacationAccess bookings directly into CP Maxx, Cruise Planners proprietary booking and CRM system. This feature eliminates the need for manual data entry, saving time and effort. Once the booking is retrieved, advisors can easily manage and update it within CP Maxx.
Maxx Snippets: Maxx Snippets allows advisors to create a library for storing frequently used blocks of text, saving time by eliminating the need to retype the same content repeatedly. Advisors can easily manage these snippets, share them with fellow advisors in their franchise, and insert them across various text editor fields in CP Maxx.
Maxx Shortcuts: Maxx Shortcuts enables advisors to quickly bookmark and access their favorite tools, areas, and reports within CP Maxx, allowing for a personalized and streamlined experience. Together, these features enhance efficiency and customization for all advisors.
Video Library Upload in CP Maxx Mobile: Videos taken with an iOS or Android device may now be easily uploaded directly to the CP Maxx Video Library through the CP Maxx Mobile app. This will make the process much easier and save uploading time. Also, videos can be easily shared or added to email communications or other marketing tools with just a few clicks.
Amenity Tracker Templates: Amenity Tracker Templates will allow advisors to easily add amenities to new and existing reservations faster than ever before. For certain suppliers with standardized amenities, this tool will be helpful to prevent manual data entry for each amenity every time that supplier is booked. Advisors can create an unlimited amount of amenity templates and can apply multiple amenities with just one click.
Navitrip Hotel Comparisons with Live Booking: Clients can now book hotels directly through the Hotel Comparison tool. This feature will simplify the booking process and save advisors' time.
Hotel Sheets: New for 2025, advisors can select specific rooms and rates from over 2 million properties worldwide and share them with clients, with dynamic live pricing ensuring the most up-to-date information.

"At Cruise Planners, we're always striving to advance the frontiers of innovation to provide our advisors with the best tools available," said Michelle Fee, founder and CEO of Cruise Planners. "Our new technology, including the AI-powered 'Ask Maxx' and enhanced features within CP Maxx, are specifically designed to simplify everyday tasks and save our advisors valuable time. By improving efficiency, we're allowing them to focus on what they're truly passionate about—selling travel and creating unforgettable experiences for their clients."

Cruise Planners announced 20 new and exciting initiatives during their annual convention. For a full list of those announcements, click here.

Company Background: Cruise Planners was founded in 1994 and is the nation's largest home-based travel agent franchise network. As a leader in the travel franchise industry, Cruise Planners positions a nation-wide network of 2,500 franchise owners for success by providing innovative marketing programs, proprietary and cutting-edge booking and technology tools, as well as professional development and hands-on training with the industry's top executives. The company continues to be an industry leader and was named the No.1 travel franchise by Entrepreneur magazine for 18 consecutive years and awarded by Franchise Business Review as "Best-In-Category" for 2 years.

Cruise Planners received a 99% franchise owner satisfaction report from Franchise Business Review for 2024. Franchise Business Review also ranked Cruise Planners #3 OVERALL on their list of Top 200 Franchises of 2022. Cruise Planners was recently featured in Entrepreneur as one of the top 30 franchise innovators in technology, has been consistently named as one of the Top Women-Owned Businesses by the South Florida Business Journal, is on the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, and was recognized as one of the Top Workplaces by the Sun Sentinel.

Visit our website, www.cruiseplanners.com, for more information or to view the complete list of awards and honors. For those interested in becoming a franchise owner, please visit https://www.cruiseplannersfranchise.com/.

SOURCE Cruise Planners Franchising, LLC