Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines 2010 Annual Report Download - page 20

PART I
ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES LTD. 17
Technological Capabilities
Innovation in information technology and revenue
management continues to be an integral part of our
business strategy. We continue our strategy of adapt-
ing to our ever changing guest mix by developing
new technological advancements in an effort to maxi-
mize onboard revenue from our existing customers.
A key focus in 2010 was to use technology to make
both the pre-cruise and onboard experience easier for
guests. For example, we launched interactive, fully
electronic guest documents and overhauled the Royal
Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises web-
sites to include a simpler and more user friendly
online booking process. We also introduced the new
Celebrity iLounge, which features MacBook Pros®,
iPods®, essential accessories and classes designed
around iLife® applications and became an Authorized
Apple Reseller of computers and other media devices
onboard certain Celebrity Cruises ships.
We believe we have some of the most advanced reve-
nue management capabilities in the industry, which
enables us to make more advantageous decisions
about pricing, inventory management and marketing
actions even during periods of volatility and contracted
booking windows. We are continuously working to
improve our systems and tools through increased
forecasting capabilities, ongoing improvements to
our understanding of price/demand relationships,
and greater automation of the decision processes.
We believe these revenue management capabilities
allow us to make more advantageous decisions to
enhance revenue.
We also continue to support our international growth
strategy with customized websites for international
markets and localized support for our cruise programs
in those markets. These international websites include
online check-in in local languages as well as special
offers and promotions.
Travel Agency Support and Direct Business
Travel agencies generate the majority of bookings for
our ships. We believe in the value of this distribution
channel and invest heavily in maintaining strong rela-
tionships with our travel agents. To accomplish this
goal, we seek to ensure that our commission rates
and incentive structures remain competitive with our
competitors. In addition, our sales teams focus on the
unique qualities of each brand and provide support
to the travel agency community. Our website
Cruisingpower.com continues to be an industry-leading
website exclusive to the travel agency community.
Royal Caribbean International continues to enhance
its online training certification program, “University
of Wow,” and Celebrity Cruises continues to promote
“Five Star Academy,” its online travel agent partner
learning suite. In addition, over the past several years,
we have completed several key enhancements to
simplify the online booking process via our CruiseMatch
trade booking tool based on feedback from our travel
agent partners.
In 2010, we introduced a new virtual tradeshow plat-
form, providing travel agents the opportunity to
attend a Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity
Cruises or Azamara Club Cruises tradeshow event by
logging in from their own computer. These events
consist of online training sessions, online general ses-
sions with key note speakers and online tradeshow
booths all designed to educate, motivate and inform
travel agents about our brands.
We have customer service representatives that are
trained to assist travel agents in providing a higher
level of service, and Insight, the first service tool of its
kind in the industry, assists agencies with productivity
and enhances customer service. We currently operate
reservation call centers to support our travel agent
community in the United States, Canada, France, Spain
and the United Kingdom which allow us to provide
flexible and extended hours of operations.
We also have certified vacation planners in our call
centers located throughout the world offering cruise
planning expertise and personal attention to our
guests. We maintain websites that allow guests to
plan and book a cruise and customize their reservations
for Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises
and Azamara Club Cruises. During 2010, we have
placed a significant focus on building strong relation-
ships with our guests before, during and after their
cruise vacation with the objective of establishing cus-
tomer engagement and continued loyalty. As part of
this focus, we have established ongoing social media
platforms to increase awareness for both repeat and
new guests and we have emphasized marketing
through our loyalty programs. As a result, we con-
tinue to experience an increase in the use of our inter-
net sites and consumer outreach centers as a source
of our overall bookings. Guests can also book their
cruise vacations onboard our ships.
GUEST SERVICES
We offer to handle virtually all travel aspects related
to guest reservations and transportation, including
arranging guest pre- and post-hotel stay arrange-
ments and air transportation. We offer our guests the
ability to check-in online in order to alleviate boarding
time during embarkation. In 2010, our air/sea program
introduced our new Choice Air web based tool which
offers guests their choice of flights and the ability to
customize flight arrangements by selecting a specific
airline, flight and class of service. Choice Air can be
accessed and utilized by both travel agents and guests.