Windstar Cruises Steps up Its Agent Outreach

Windstar Cruises is creating a new outreach for travel agents to gain more attention for its small-ship brand.

The outreach, to be detailed at the Cruise360 convention in Vancouver starting June 1, will have four cornerstones, said Joe Duckett, the vice president of sales and marketing for Seattle-based Windstar. They include a pledge to keep the product quality high, more education and familiarization, a new emphasis on timely responses and agent service in general and improved offerings for group sales.

“We’re a small company that’s been focused on fleet expansion,” Duckett said. “Now that the new ships are in the fleet, our focus is on our partners and our channels.”

Windstar doubled its fleet in the past two years with the addition of three 212-passenger ships from Seabourn, renamed the Star Pride, the Star Legend and the Star Breeze.

The line is calling its agent outreach Star Promise, vowing to make travel agents the stars.

Following a survey sent to 20,000 agents, Windstar identified a few strengths and shortcomings.

Among the strengths was guest satisfaction with the onboard experience, which Duckett said surprised even Windstar. The first element of the Star Promise is a pledge to keep up product quality so that agents feel they can trust sending their guests on the ships.

A second leg in the program is agent education. “We have a special brand,” Duckett said, “and we have to do a little better job educating our partners about the Windstar experience and what makes it special.”

To that end, Windstar is making cabins available for free familiarization cruises by agents on select European cruises this summer. Agents will be responsible only for non-discountable amounts, gratuities, port charges and taxes under the program.

In addition, Windstar is expanding an online academy that will teach agents about the ins and outs of the brand, one of the few to operate wind-powered ships.

The initial module will take an hour to complete. Agents finishing the course in June will be entered into a drawing to win a tablet computer.

To call attention to Star Promise at Cruise360, Windstar will be giving away 24 Acer tablets and two cruises in a series of drawings at its booth on the trade show floor.

A third element of the Star Promise is an expanded groups program, divided into two tiers of cruises. About a third of Windstar’s 2016 and 2017 sail dates are at Star Group rates, which are discounted 5% from Windstar’s Savings Fare. Another two-thirds are at Star Advantage rates, discounted 10%.

In both tiers, agents can qualify for a 1-for-9 tour conductor credit, a $100 per-person bonus commission once the tour conductor credit is earned and a cocktail party for groups of 18 or more.

Windstar’s initial webinars this summer for Star Promise will be focused on the groups program.

The final tenet of the Star Promise program is improved service to agents, especially delivering speedier answers to agent inquiries.

Duckett said the survey turned up a need to improve responsiveness, so Windstar has reorganized internally to guarantee an answer within 24 hours to any inquiry or issue.

“No matter how big the issue may be, we are going to respond to it no later than the next business day,” Duckett said. “No partner is not going to have a call returned or an email replied to [for] longer than 24 hours. World-class service isn’t only about the guest; it’s about our partners. And it’s clear we have to be more deliberate about it.”