Celebrity Cruises has become to first cruise line to launch a trade-dedicated podcast as part of its ongoing drive to find digital solutions that support agents working from home.
?Conversations with Celebrity?, hosted by Leon Hand, training manager at Celebrity Cruises, is specifically aimed at educating, inspiring and entertaining trade agents. Each monthly episode will provide an update of the latest brand news and quick-fire training, plus Leon will welcome a compelling guest from the brand to dive deeper into their personal story and what they love about travel. The brand?s venture into podcasts comes as the pandemic has seen the popularity of podcasts soar, with an increase of 24% over the past year, meaning now 7.1 million people in the UK listen to a podcast each week.
Hand said ?The beauty of a podcast is that it gets you away from a screen and you can listen anywhere, at any time. Responding to how our agents are consuming information right now is important to us and it?s clear many have increased their listening in lockdown.?
Kicking off in style for the first episode this month, Hand will welcome Jo Rzymowska, vice president and managing director, EMEA for Celebrity Cruises, to share her story. To complement the interview, Hand?s training session will focus on Celebrity Cruises? new Always Included offering, with tips on upselling to Elevate and Indulge packages.
The Always Included theme of the first podcast aligns with one of two newly released courses in the Celebrity Passport training programme on Celebrity Central, allowing agents to equip themselves with the latest knowledge on Always Included fare inclusions, luxurious upgrade packages and The Retreat. The second course will look at the new 2022/23 worldwide deployment for Celebrity, including the newly revolutionised Celebrity Silhouette?s return to Southampton.
Included in the new Conversations with Celebrity trade initiative, Hand will also be hosting educational sessions via Facebook Live, as well as Facebook-exclusive interviews with key figures, all to help provide educational training support for agents.
The podcast will be available to stream on Spotify, SoundCloud and other popular audio streaming platforms, and the first episode is available now.
Image credit: Kevin Oliver
