New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Cruise Planners, the nation's largest home-based travel agent franchise network, will be hosting its annual convention in Boca Raton, Fla. this fall with hundreds of eager travel agents
"We are going to explore the characteristics and buying habits of all generations and better position our travel advisors as the best option for buying travel for all age groups," said Michelle Fee, CEO and co-founder of Cruise Planners.
Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative, the nation's largest home-based travel agent franchise network in the industry, today announced the theme and highlights for the sold-out Cruise Planners 2015 Annual Convention.
During Convention, the ReGENerate theme will be peppered throughout and will help Cruise Planners travel advisors better understand how to attract, service and retain clients within each generational group. The goal will be to encourage agents to re-fuel and realign business strategies and tools for greater success across multiple generations through group business, specialty travel and niche markets.
"We are going to explore the characteristics and buying habits of all generations and better position our travel advisors as the best option for buying travel for all age groups," said Michelle Fee, CEO and co-founder of Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative. "We look forward to our Annual Convention since it allows us to reconnect and re-engage with our nationally diverse travel advisors."
Travel advisors will attend multiple days of training specifically tailored to their success including CLIA certification classes, a destination immersion event called "Flavors of the World," romance travel breakouts, and many partner presentations including presentations from cruise line presidents, Christine
Duffy and Andy Stuart. Also, there will be an event expo featuring more than 150 travel industry partners. To kick it all off, Cruise Planners' executives and owners will present a state of the union focused around the company's annual growth, industry trends, new technology innovations, additional training opportunities and other announcements from Cruise Planners.
"We have carefully created this year's schedule based on agent feedback and will be offering more in-depth trainings on group sales, marketing, technology and more hosted by our Home Office Team," said Vicky Garcia, COO and co-owner of Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative. "Combining fun entertainment with educational training is what Cruise Planners is all about - and we call it our 'CruisitudeTM.'"
The first few days of the annual convention will be held at the Boca Raton Resort and Club, A Waldorf Astoria Resort, and will feature interactive workshops, panels and presentations from the industry's top travel and destination partners. After the land portion of the convention, hundreds of agents will sail on the inaugural sailing of Norwegian Cruise Line's newest ship, the Norwegian Escape out of PortMiami.
"It's more than just business with the Cruise Planners family," Fee said. "We have fun along the way since we believe that is when people learn best. And it's not just about fun either, the Cruise Planners family will give back by collecting donations to support our CP Cares program through multiple avenues at Convention."
About Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative
Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative, is the nation's largest home-based travel agent franchise network in the travel industry. Cruise Planners operates a network of more than 1,000 franchise owners who independently book amazing vacation and travel experiences for their clients. The Florida-based Home Office team positions franchise owners for success by providing innovative marketing, booking and lead-generating tools, as well as professional development and hands-on training with the industry's top executives. The company continues to be lauded and has been named the No.1 Cruise Tour / Travel Agency by Entrepreneur for 12 consecutive years. Cruise Planners was recently featured in Entrepreneur as one of the top 30 franchise innovators in technology and named to the Fast 50 by the South Florida Business Journal.
Headquartered in
Coral Springs, Fla. with more than 20 years of experience, Cruise Planners has achieved top producer status with every major cruise line. Accolades include numerous Magellan Awards from Travel Weekly for the past six years, American Express Travel Representative
Excellence Award for 11 consecutive years (2004 - 2014),
Silver Stevie Award for Management Team of the Year (2014), American Express Agency of the Year (2010), Royal Caribbean International President's Award for Overall Achievement (2012 and 2014), Royal Caribbean International Home-Based Partner of the Year (2007 - 2013), Norwegian Cruise Line Franchise Agency of the Year (2011-2014), Celebrity Cruises Home-Based Account of the Year (2013-2014) and Southeast Region Travel Agent Partner of the Year (2010), American Express Vacations Best of the Best
Globe Award (2008 - 2014), Globus Family of Brands Premier Agency Partner (2009- 2014), Platinum Member of the 500 Club for Sales
Excellence (2014), Platinum Circle Member with Viking River Cruises (2009-2012), Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection Top Producer (2008-2014) and Regent
Seven Seas Cruises Top Producer. Cruise Planners is one of the Top 50 franchises for Veterans according to GI magazine, the Top Franchise
Brand for Veterans according to Franchise Business Review, has been named one of the Top 25 franchises for African-Americans by
Black Enterprise magazine and is a member of the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association. For more information, visit https://www.cruiseplanners.com.
Stay in Touch: Media can stay up-to-date with Cruise Planners by visiting our media room, following us on Twitter @Cruisitude or on Facebook. For additional information or to make reservations, vacationers should locate a travel advisor near them. For those interested in becoming a franchise owner, please visit our franchise site.
