At the recent Cruise Planners convention, CP World Convention, which took place at the Broward County Convention Center as Hurricane Milton barreled toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, the Cruise Planners executives announced a suite of industry-firsts tools, including an AI tool, that are designed to simplify and enhance the day-to-day operations of their travel advisors.
One of the most innovative is Ask Maxx AI-Powered AI Personal Assistant, which is designed specifically for Cruise Planners advisors. Last year, the organization launched the AI tool Maxx Intelligence, and this year they’ve upped the ante with Ask Maxx. So, why were the advisors in attendance at the convention over the moon when the execs announced this new tech tool?
Unlike Toby AI or ChatGPT, Ask Maxx is uniquely trained to analyze data within Cruise Planners’ proprietary systems, not just publicly available information online. With its ability to provide fast and accurate responses, Ask Maxx serves as a personal assistant, offering a time-saving advantage by quickly retrieving details on partners, destinations, sailings and more and can even expand the “conversation” by answering related questions about the content. What once took several steps and minutes can now be found in just seconds.
“We have started with four key areas,” Brian Shultz, CIO for Cruise Planners, tells Recommend, “but we probably have another half dozen that we want to include over time, a little bit more personalized to the advisor. We have a couple of team members who are ex-travel advisors, so we tell them, okay, act like a travel advisor. What would you be asking here?”
Adds Michelle Fee, Cruise Planners’ Founder and CEO, “It’s a lot of the questions that they get from our inbound team; so, what are those most commonly asked questions. It’s got to learn over time.
“Last year,” Fee continues, “we were at the top of the mountain when we announced Maxx Intelligence, which was ChatGPT, but within our tools. So [advisors] could write an email, they could write an e-card…and they [wouldn’t] have to cut and paste it; they could just [hit] send. But, you know, that was just the beginning—Ask Maxx takes us to the next level.
“It’s exciting because we were getting to the point where we had created so many unique and cool tools, but there are only so many unique and cool tools that you can build,” adds Fee. “We were taking old technology off the shelf and saying, okay, this needs a facelift; this needs to be brushed up. But Ask Maxx gives us the whole world…this technology next year is going to do something different. It’s that tipping point again—this gives us a whole new platform to just go, okay, we did this, now we’re going to do this; now we’re going to build this on top of it.”
Cruise Planners Launches an Array of New Tech Tools
Another new tool available to Cruise Planners advisors—one that had the convention crowd cheering—is Vax Integration. Advisors can now easily retrieve VAX VacationAccess bookings directly into CP Maxx, Cruise Planners’ proprietary booking and CRM system. This feature eliminates the need for manual data entry. Once the booking is retrieved, advisors can easily manage and update it within CP Maxx.
One of the most ingenious newly released tool, at least we thought so, is Maxx Snippets, which allows advisors to create a library for storing frequently used blocks of text, saving time by eliminating the need to retype the same content repeatedly. Advisors can easily manage these snippets, share them with fellow advisors in their franchise, and insert them across various text editor fields in CP Maxx. Meanwhile, Maxx Shortcuts enables advisors to quickly bookmark and access their favorite tools, areas, and reports within CP Maxx, allowing for a personalized and streamlined experience.
These are a few of the array of tools announced during conference, with Fee noting that at “Cruise Planners, we’re always striving to advance the frontiers of innovation to provide our advisors with the best tools available. Our new technology, including the AI-powered ‘Ask Maxx’ and enhanced features within CP Maxx, are specifically designed to simplify everyday tasks and save our advisors valuable time. By improving efficiency, we’re allowing them to focus on what they’re truly passionate about—selling travel and creating unforgettable experiences for their clients.”
