Cruisebound, a new online cruise travel agency, has launched with $10 million in Series A funding, led by former Booking Holdings chairman and Priceline CEO Jeff Boyd and PAR Capital Ventures.
Additional attendees include Steve Kaufer, founder and former CEO of TripAdvisor, Steve Singh, founder of Concur and managing partner of Madrona Venture Group, Dave Blundin, founder of Link Ventures, and Plug & Play Ventures.
Cruisebound, led by co-founder and CEO Pierre-Olivier Lepage, offers the customer service of an offline agency with the price comparison and instant booking of an online travel agency.
The site caters to first-time cruise travelers with a mobile-first approach, aiming to appeal to millennials and Gen Z travelers.
Cruisebound says that during the year of beta testing, 91% of bookings were made on a mobile device.
Users can compare prices, itineraries, ships and cabin types from major cruise lines such as Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises and MSC.
Every booking includes live customer service after booking via phone, SMS and email.
“When I booked my first cruise, I was amazed at how difficult it was to research and book online – and almost impossible on a mobile device. My points of contact for booking flights and hotels are not designed to sell a complicated cruise product. This is clearly a major factor in the cruiser/non-cruiser divide,” says Lepage.
Cruisebound works with many of the major cruise lines, offering the customer service of an offline agency with the price comparison and instant booking of an online travel agency.
“We built Cruisebound to sell cruises and just cruises. We offer an easy-to-use, mobile-friendly website that’s a favorite for younger travelers to research and book vacations. Then we combine the instant booking of an online travel agency with the live customer service of an offline agent.”
Boyd said technology companies have improved the travel planning and booking process for consumers across flights, hotels, vacation homes and tours, “and there is an opportunity for our experienced and innovative team to build scale with a single-minded focus on creating the best consumer experience in cruises.” “.
“Cruisebound’s founders have a proven track record of solving customer problems by using data science and experimentation to create great products.”
The founding team of Cruisebound also includes Rocket Travel co-founders Jay Hoffman and Bjorn Larsen. Advisors include Bryan Lewis, co-founder of Agoda, Andrew Loewen, co-founder of Priceline Partner Network, and Atle Skalleberg, former COO of Flight Center Travel Group.
Source: Phocuswire
Eviivo, the hospitality software company, has released its list of the top travel trends of 2023, with – not unexpectedly – mobile apps, automation, APIs – which Eviivo calls the “Holy Grail Technology” – and omnichannel platforms leading the way .
Eviivo also has high hopes for virtual reality, which it says “will hold the crown for determining the places to visit”.
“While most people say virtual-only travel leaves too much to be desired right now, 46% admit they would be more likely to travel to new places after visiting them virtually and with Metaverse introducing virtual and augmented reality , travelers will soon have had enough of choosing from.
“Virtual reality is also being used more frequently on websites to offer virtual tours, which are known to increase bookings, improve guest reviews and simply differentiate themselves from the competition,” according to Eviivo’s survey.
A key finding of Datalex’s The Digital Airline 2023 report is the disconnect between how travelers feel about airlines when it comes to innovation and how airline executives rate their companies.
Only 11% of travelers surveyed say airlines are ahead of other e-commerce sites like fashion, Amazon, etc. in terms of modern online retail strategies. Still, 24% of executives surveyed believe their company is ahead of other locations, and 17% believe they are on par.
“These findings suggest that airline executives are grossly underestimating the reality of the perception gap that exists between airlines and their customers,” said Brian Lewis, Datalex’s chief technology officer.
“Unwittingly, one of the factors that has contributed to the travel industry lagging behind other e-commerce sites is the oxymoron of those who ‘know too much’.
“The travel industry is full of experts and industry insiders who know the business inside and out and as a result there hasn’t been much input on the learnings from other industries, giving credence to the adage ‘knowledge equals inertia’.”
The Big Three OTAs – Booking.com, Agoda and Traveloka – topped STAAH Booking Engine’s list as the world’s leading online booking channels that generated the highest booking revenue for hotels in 2022.
The top 10 online booking channels worldwide are ranked accordingly:
- Booking.com
- agoda
- Traveloka
- Expedia
- STAH
- GO MMT
- Ticket.com
- Trip.com
- Airbnb
- hotel beds
“The pandemic has changed booking behavior and traveler preferences. Our data shows that accommodation providers across the board are using a combination of traditional and new channels to engage guests with a more holistic and dynamic sales, guest booking and revenue strategy,” said Tony Howlett, CEO of STAAH Ltd.
Airbnb continues to be a strong competitor in the lodging sector, especially as more traditional hotel companies have embraced its channel in recent years, demonstrating the ongoing convergence of hotels and short-term rentals.
However, the OTAs are not only the hotel bookings. More and more travelers are also booking directly on hotel websites.
For countries with less international travel in recent years, STAAH’s data also shows a higher preference of travelers for their own regional online channels.
For Malaysia, Traveloka, Tiket and MG Holidays are among the top performers. In the Philippines, it’s Ctrip and Hotelbeds. In Indonesia, it’s Traveloka and Booking.com.
The lists of top OTAs separated by different countries are as follows:
Top OTAs preferred by travelers from Singapore in 2022
- Booking.com
- Trip.com
- Expedia
- agoda
- Traveloka
- Ticket.com
- STAH
- Hostelworld group
- hotel beds
- MG group
Top OTAs preferred by travelers from Malaysia in 2022
- agoda
- Booking.com
- Trip.com
- Expedia
- Traveloka
- Ticket.com
- STAH
- hotel beds
- Airbnb
- WebBeds
Top OTAs preferred by travelers from Indonesia in 2022
- Traveloka
- Booking.com
- agoda
- Ticket.com
- Expedia
- hotel beds
- MG group
- STAH
- Trip.com
- Pegipegi
Top OTAs preferred by travelers from India in 2022
- GO MMT
- Booking.com
- agoda
- Expedia
- STAH
- travel guru
- Airbnb
- hours
- EaseMyTrip.com
- hotel beds
Top OTAs preferred by travelers from the Philippines in 2022
- Booking.com
- agoda
- STAH
- Expedia
- Trip.com
- hotel beds
- Airbnb
- Traveloka
- Ticket.com
- WebBeds
Source: Travel Weekly Asia
Carnival Corp. is the latest cruise line to launch faster internet service across all of its brands to meet customer demand for video calls, streamed content, and Instagram and Tik-Tok posts – just like on land.
Carval Corp. will use SpaceX’s Starlink satellite technology to provide lower latency (the time it takes for data to reach a device) and higher connectivity.
The company began rolling out Starlink on Carnival Cruise Line and Aida Cruises ships in December and plans to roll Starlink out to Princess, Holland America Line, Seabourn and Cunard Line along with international brands P&O Cruises in Australia and the UK, and Costa Cruises to install.
Royal Caribbean Group also plans to install Starlink across its fleet, including the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea brands. Hurtigruten also uses Starlink, and Windstar has been investigating whether the service would work for several of its ships.
Source: Phocuswire
