This is a public service announcement brought to you by The B-BOC, aka Jetline Cruise's Ian Gilder

The Bad Boy of Cruise is ttglive's new columnist and he will be giving the inside track on his sector. Keep checking this column for his latest insights, and visit www.jetlinecruise.com

Savvy agents can still make waves selling cruise
May 29, 2009

It is nearly a year ago to the day since I wrote my much-debated article on how easy it is to sell cruise. So we are now a year on and I thought I would look at what I wrote to see if it still holds up.

In my opinion it is an overwhelming yes. Things have changed dramatically since last year. Did anyone see the global recession coming? Did anyone see it happening so quickly? If we are all honest we would say no. 

This has therefore made the past 12 months very challenging and going forward I cannot see the economy really picking up for at least 18 months. I hope I am wrong and that our beloved chancellor is right with his predicted 3% growth forecast.

So what has fundamentally changed in the last 12 months?

The first thing is the consumer is becoming more streetwise. They smell blood and are after every possible bonus, discount, onboard spend and free parking imaginable.

They are phoning around at least 10 agencies and playing everyone off against each other to get the best deal. The agencies are so desperate for business they are selling it at next to nothing hoping they will hit their end of year override.

Next up is the cruise lines. They have pulled their horns in and rightfully so. They are not wasting money any more; they are cutting back on the luxuries, checking ROI on marketing support but at the same time putting all of their eggs in one basket. 

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see where the advertising monies go each week. They give it to the people who produce big numbers. 

These same people also are often the ones who discount the cruise by 12- 13% but as they are so far up the food chain they are taking the little players out of the market as the 13% discount is often less than net for the small fish so they can't really lose. 

They get the marketing support, their prices are cheaper as they are on larger commissions and they often they get the holy grail of what we are all after which is exclusive deals.

Lastly the cruise agent has changed. The multiples are now very good at selling cruises as they embarked on a series of training and committed to the cruise market. 

I genuinely believe this is good for all in the cruise market as they have the ability to switch-sell land holidays to cruise. There will therefore be more cruisers in the marketplace for us all.

The other thing that is happening even more is discounting. 

I remember four to five years ago. P&O would launch their new programme and you would be asked, please do not take more than 7% off. Within a few years this crept up to 10% and is now widely expected to be at 12% to have a remote chance of getting the business. 

On occasions you even see some companies advertising with 15% off. I obviously don’t know their business models but something doesn’t add up and I am surprised there have been no major casualties.

So back to the point of my original article: can you make a success in the cruise market today?

I think it is becoming more difficult everyday, as the bigger get bigger. But if you have unique innovative product with USPs,distribution, a unique skill set such as SEO or very deep pockets, it can be done. 

I also think there is an opportunity out there for people who sell land holidays but it is going to take a long while and a lot of patience to educate your customers that a cruise holiday is better value than a land-based one.

We're paying too much for Google
May 28, 2009

I know we are in a global recession but haven’t things moved dramatically since the turn of the year? 

Coming from the cruise industry it appears that we have weathered the storm better than other sectors (pardon the pun). The one thing that I have noticed massively is people panicking when it comes to advertising.

Fortunately for me I have never had a problem getting hundreds of calls, as thanks to the way my business is set up I don't need them. The last time I was on Google pay-per-click was about eight months ago, and the average cost per click was around 60p. If you wanted to spend £250 to £300 per day it would have been no problem.

But can you imagine how I felt when I went back on pay-per-click on Google last week? After running my campaign for 14 days I am still in shock. Just to get on the first page of results for some keywords you are having to bid £3 per click. 

I know people will say you have to build your quality score and get your wording right etc, but I think everyone is missing the bigger picture. Consumers research 22 websites before they make a booking. So in theory, for each customer that books, Google could be earning £66 from all the advertisers trying to secure the booking.

Surely this cannot be right. As an industry we should be doing something about this. Imagine what would happen if we all collectively reduced our spend to 50p per click. We would have five times the money to spend on other forms of advertising. 

Let Google sort out who should be in the top position in the search results. It shouldn't simply be whoever has the biggest pockets. It should be like natural search, but with people who are prepared to pay for it, so the people with the most relevant and fresh content get the better positions. I thought that was what the web was set up for!

I know it is not going to change, as people are so desperate for business they are prepared to pay almost anything for the enquiries. I am convinced there are many business owners out there who really don’t know the real cost per acquisition, and this could mean trouble ahead.

I would also like to say that while agents are being squeezed by customers and the cruise lines are being squeezed due to capacity, the only people making money in the current economic climate are the advertising mediums. Prices should be going down, not going up.

How we change it I don’t know, but morally it is wrong!

Do you agree with the BBOC? Leave a comment below