Cruise Planners Remains in Top Spot as Best Travel Franchise to Own on Entrepreneur’s Annual Franchise 500 List

Cruise Planners is No. 1 within the travel category for 14 years in a row

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – January 10, 2017 – Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative, the nation’s largest home-based travel agency franchise network in the industry, continues to have a strong hold on best travel franchises to own. This is the fourteenth consecutive year that Cruise Planners has earned the spot on Entrepreneur’s Annual Franchise 500 List, making it one of the best franchises to own.

“We are always thinking up creative ideas for innovating and enhancing our marketing and technology for our travel agents, since we know we have to constantly be on our A-game to maintain this position,” said Michelle Fee, CEO and co-founder of Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative. “This year our key focus has been on maximizing and building more innovative technology and marketing tools for the franchise owners and they love it.”

Reasons Why We Are the Best Franchise to Own

Cruise Planners is a franchise that offers financial strength and stability, has a great reputation in the travel industry and years of proven experience that make it a successful franchise. Since Cruise Planners’ main goal is to ensure its travel agents are the most successful travel agents in the industry, the company is constantly developing new tools designed for the agents to run their business seamlessly. Below are some of the new technology programs rolled out for franchise success, which helped secure the No. 1 ranking and being one of the best franchises to own.:

• CP Insights: Cruise Planners believes in and has invested in solutions that incorporate economic, demographic and behavioral segments in data mining to target the right client at the right time with relevant promotions, sales and marketing pieces.
• CP View: Another new tool helps agents match sailings and itineraries with special audiences based on customer data, sales trends and consumer behavior. The goal is to serve up clients that would be ideal targets – with a few clicks in the Cruise Planners system; a marketing communication is created to generate new business.
• Automated Email Confirmations: Cruise Planners agents can simply email any reservation from hundreds of vendors and have the fields instantly input into the back-end business management system to help Cruise Planners travel agents get paid faster and with less manual entry.

“Cruise Planners will continually develop new tools, which allow our travel agents to stay ahead of the competition, so they can compete with the best of the best with confidence,” Fee said. “Our focus is to help our agents communicate with their customers with amazing turn-key marketing combined with world-class travel agency technology allowing them to compete with the big online agencies. Cruise Planners agents are high tech, yet high touch through our proprietary tools.”

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 1,800 franchise owners who independently book amazing vacation and travel experiences for their clients. The Florida-based Home Office Team positions a nation-wide network of franchise owners for success by providing innovative marketing, booking and technology 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 travel franchise by Entrepreneur magazine for 14 consecutive years. Cruise Planners was recently featured in Entrepreneur as one of the top 30 franchise innovators in technology, has been consistently named as one of the Top Women-Owned Businesses by the South Florida Business Journal, is on the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America, has been ranked as the #1 travel franchise by Franchise Business Review for 6 years in a row, and was recognized as one of the Top Workplaces by the Sun Sentinel since it started ranking companies.

Headquartered in Coral Springs, Fla. with more than 22 years of experience, Cruise Planners has achieved top producer status with every major cruise line. Accolades include numerous Magellan Awards from Travel Weekly, American Express Travel Representative Excellence Award for 13 consecutive years (2004-2016), American Express Agency of the Year (2010), Royal Caribbean International Chairman’s Award (2015), 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 Elite Agency of the Year (2016), Norwegian Cruise Line Franchise Agency of the Year (2011-2015), Celebrity Cruises Home-Based Partner of the Year (2016), Celebrity Cruises Field Sales Account of the Year (2015), Celebrity Cruises Home-Based Account of the Year (2013-2014) and Celebrity Cruises Southeast Region Travel Agent Partner of the Year (2010), Travel Impressions Best of the Best Globe Award (2008-2016), Sandals Top Host – Worldwide, Globus Family of Brands Premier Agency Partner (2009-2016), Platinum Circle Member with Viking River Cruises (2009-2015), 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 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 the Cruise Planners franchise website.

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Media Contact:
Caitlin Gardner, Director of Public Relations
Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative
CGardner@cruiseplanners.com
954-344-8060