Honeymoons as a Gateway to Long-term Clients
PHOTO: A beach destination wedding. (photo via Pixaby Creative Commons Zero)
Booking honeymoons provides travel agents with tremendous opportunities to create lifelong clients.
Honeymoon couples have a lifetime of travel ahead of them—not only for themselves but also conceivably for their children, grandchildren and extended families.
Opportunities, however, bring challenges. Serving honeymoon couples can be an especially tricky proposition: This is a time when couples want everything to be perfect, and that applies to the honeymoon as well as the wedding.
“By getting to know your honeymoon couple, turning them into lifelong clients can be beneficial for both you and them,” said Lisa Sheldon, executive director of the Destination Wedding Honeymoon Specialists Association. “Trust is a major factor as in any relationship.”
She added, “Millennial clients especially want to be ‘friends’ with the people they do business with. Asking the clients open-ended, probing questions about what they want out of their vacation experience and then, most importantly, listening to them, is the first step. Once you deliver what they want, that helps build the trust and from there the relationship can grow.”
Carnival Knows and Shows How Travel Agents Rock
Providing exceptional service and the best value for a couple’s budget will create life-long clients, according to Jo Ann Williams of Cruises Inc., Manassas, Virgina. “The agent should anticipate as much as possible all of the couple’s honeymoon needs and offer suggestions to make it a memorable experience. Then the agent will be foremost in their mind when planning their next vacation.”
And that amounts to not being “an order taker,” said Tammy Levent of Palm Harbor, Florida-based Elite Travel.
“I really get into my clients. I find out what is the most important thing to them on their honeymoon or destination wedding.”
She suggested that agents document customer information: “Keep information on clients somewhere in writing so you can always follow up afterward on deals, etc.”
For Bryan Villella, a Fort Lauderdale-based CruiseOne franchisee, it’s crucial to establish an ongoing dialogue with honeymoon couples.
“Constant communication is paramount, as a bride will want to ensure every detail is handled exactly to her liking,” he said. “I always double my notification emails and go out of my way to personally complete the bride and groom’s documents to give them peace of mind as they will be overcome with things to do as their wedding day approaches.”
READ MORE: How to Plan a Hassle-Free Destination Wedding
Villella prints and mails out documents because emails may be overlooked during the couple’s run-up to their honeymoon.
Upgrades for the honeymoon couple can also be a powerful way of cementing a future relationship.
“Depending on the value of the package, there are various ways to add personal touches to a vacation package to elevate the client’s experience,” said Williams. “And if couples go on a honeymoon cruise and there are no specials to upgrade the cabin, the agent can purchase the decoration package for the newly married couple’s cabin and provide onboard credit for a specialty dinner.”
Villella suggested offering a gift registry to help offset the cost of extras on board a cruise: “A couple will appreciate this option. A welcome packet is also important to send to the stateroom. And three or four days into their cruise is a great time to follow up with a romantic surprise.”
Levent offers an Elite Referral program, which provides clients who make referrals a percentage of an overall booking: “If a client refers someone and they spend $15,000 on a land package, less anything non-taxable, we will give [the referring client] up to 3 percent of the booking for future travel.”
Making such referrals could help a couple save for an anniversary trip.
Staying in touch with honeymoon couples after the trip is, perhaps, the surest way to create lifetime clients.
“Contact them before their first anniversary to schedule a romantic getaway,” said Sheldon. “Reach out to your clients regularly and ask for contact information updates so if they buy a house or move you can make a note of it.”
The payoff for staying in touch can reap rich rewards. “The first big theme-park trip before the oldest child starts school, the girlfriend getaway, the multigenerational trip that the grandparents are paying for, are all potential future trips simply because you took the time to care and get to know them,” Sheldon said.
READ MORE: Have the Perfect Destination Wedding in North Carolina
SELLING GROUP WEDDING CRUISES
Group wedding cruises are an opportunity to win over the future business of all wedding guests, said Bryan Villella, a Fort Lauderdalebased CruiseOne franchisee.
“I find it helpful to create a Facebook page for group wedding cruises to share communication between myself and guests as well as guest-to-guest,” he said. “I share exciting videos about the destinations, cruise ship details, insurance options, payment plans, upcoming payments, discounted excursions and upgrade opportunities.”
Villella adds a pertinent article once a week or so to build interest in the cruise and keep everyone checking the Facebook page regularly. The Facebook page can also be used by participants to share wedding photos.
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