Windstar delivers on its Star Promises to agents

More than a year after the launch of its Star Promise initiative, Windstar Cruises is updating agents on the program and the delivery of those Promises to the industry.

The Star Promise initiative revolves around four cornerstones of delivery: an Extraordinary Guest Experience for travel agents’ clients; Fresh Sales Tools and Support to help travel agents build their Windstar business; Outstanding Educational Programs for both veteran Windstar agents and agents new to selling Windstar; and Excellent Agent Service every day, every interaction, every reservation. Star Promise also gives Windstar an internal stake in the ground emphasizing its company-wide commitment to travel agents and the value they bring to cruise commerce.

“It’s been a year since we launched Star Promise and we are seeing overwhelmingly positive results. Every day I hear from one of our valued travel agent partners about how a particular initiative has helped them increase their Windstar Sales as well as grow their business overall,” said Windstar Vice President of Sales Steve Simao, CTC. “We’ve worked hard to deliver on our promises in the past year and I can confidently say we have delivered! Going forward we will continue to use our promises as a guiding principal and we will continue to seek out agent input.”

Among the Star Promises delivered by Windstar include:

• The establishment of “an extraordinary guest experience » with the James Beard Foundation Culinary Cruise Collection themed program and exclusive cruise partnership. The line has also announced new cruise destinations including Asia, Alaska, Canada, and New England and is focused on opening bookings for all destinations further out so agents and their clients can plan ahead. In addition, Windstar noticed a number of its guests were booking back-to-back cruises and as a result, introduced new Star Collector voyages to allow agents to more easily book back-to-back clients. Complimentary daily laundry on all sailings is a welcome bonus to help close a sale.

• Fresh sales tools, which rolled out via the redesigned Agent Hub, as well as the launch of a new and popular Star Groups program. The Star Groups program has offered a variety of benefits including increased discounts and a new, more profitable tour conductor policy of 1:7 or 1:9, depending on dates. Windstar Sales also launched a Facebook page dedicated to travel agent news and engagement.

• The launch of a refreshed and updated online Star Specialist travel agent training program, along with more webinars allowing agents to keep current on the brand as well as interact with senior management. The company launched new FAM experiences on board with more than 500 travel professionals taking advantage in the last year. In addition, the line launched Trade Winds, a new agent newsletter covering a variety of Windstar news including selling tips and product news developed specifically for the agent audience.

• The appointment of former travel agent and agency head George Howell to head up the line’s Guest Services division and the launchy of bookWindstar Online, a new online booking tool that allows agents to make and access bookings in real time, at any time.

“bookWindstar Online is the tool that agents asked for most prior to Star Promise, and agents are loving this innovation most of all,” sai Simao. “We’re currently offering an incentive program for bookings made online through the end of September to encourage agents to become familiar with the new online booking engine. Now is the perfect time for travel agents who have been intrigued by the abundant and profitable opportunities in small ship cruising, and wanted to work with Windstar, to check us out — we promise they will be glad they did!”

Travel agents are encouraged to visit Windstar’s Agent Hub to sign up for the Trade Winds e-newsletter, gain access to various training tools, follow Windstar Sales on Facebook, and take advantage of the new online booking engine at agenthub.windstarcruises.com.