Softvoyage to launch cruise booking engine

This September, Softvoyage will unveil a new booking portal for cruises on SIREV, offering more choices to agents and tour operators looking to book cruises for clients.

"We thought for years, but we were not convinced that this sector had sufficient potential to justify the investments required to develop such a complex product," says Steve Ringuet, president of Softvoyage. "But today, the booking volume traded by Canadian tour operators and travel agents has increased. So we decided to connect our systems to those cruise lines."

The new portal will be open to both wholesalers and travel agents, who can incorporate the engine into their websites to allow their customers to search and make reservations. The portal will also allow agents to incorporate flights and hotel stays with cruise bookings, so as to offer a complete package.

The search engine is designed so that users can perform a query by dates of departure or based on ports of call that customers would like to visit. Other criteria, such as price or details of a specific ship, can also be used. The results will include not only the cruise packages but also wholesalers who sell them.

The system is designed so that cruises products will be linked to accounting systems used by travel agents, which will automate billing.

"Even if they have marketing agreements with cruise lines, wholesalers do not have direct access to the inventories of companies," he said. "With this new tool, they will be able to expand their offerings."

Travel agents can provide their customers with customized brochures thanks to the Personalized Flyer, which was been a resounding success since its launch last fall. The system can also generate alerts and a travel log for customers.

"All functions available on SIREV will also be on the new portal," Louis Mousseau, executive vice president of Softvoyage, told PAX.

Softvoyage is already working with MSC and Carnival and an agreement with Royal Caribbean is expected in the coming weeks.

"As part of the agreement with Carnival, we can promote products of its subsidiaries such as Holland America and Princess and when the agreement with Royal Caribbean is finalized, it will also give us access to Celebrity and Azamara," Ringuet said. “Our users will have access to 80 per cent of all cruise products available on the market. We will work during a second phase of development to complete the offer with other companies, including river cruises."

Currently, the amount of transactions processed on Softvoyage is $3.5 billion per year.

"Some 45,000 hotel nights are booked daily through our systems and this volume should increase significantly with the new portal cruises," Ringuet predicted.