Will AI kill my wife’s cruise business?

My job is to help organizations envision solutions and business models. This includes infusing AI into business models and envisioning solutions that either create net new solutions or amend legacy solutions. This is part of my TELLUS International business model. I have written extensively about AI's impact on this LinkedIn Newsletter channel and the TELLUS International blog.
I recently wrote about my wife Rita Salonen's entrepreneurial journey, founding TELLUS Travels, a cruise advisory and sales business. For the past few days, I have been busy helping her renew her TELLUS Travels website (let me know what you think). I have also built and customized a cruise travel agent CRM using a standardized AI-driven CRM solution so she can keep track of customers, what cruises they took, their preferences concerning the cruise line, type of cabin, and services they would like to include in their travel cruise package.
During this process, I couldn't help but reflect on how the travel industry, especially the cruise industry, might be changing. My role is to help Rita with how we can use technology in her business and spend more time on the human side of the transaction, which is really the heart of the entire travel agent role. I will explain more about this later in this article.
Each of us needs to reflect on how AI will impact our careers or businesses. We must recognize that it will eventually change how we do business. The only question is how we will adjust to it and whether we need to add or subtract things from our business model to endure in the future.
We founded TELLUS Travels in 2006 as part of TELLUS International's boutique management consulting business. My role in the travel business is to help with technical questions and marketing, including building and maintaining the website; it is, after all, a family business. I am not the one who knows how to book a trip, how to provide advice on what cruise line one should pick, etc. I have 30+ cruises under my belt, so I know the business from a consumer perspective, what it takes to take a cruise, and what is involved.
Let's look at the actual transaction or what happens when you contact Rita for a potential cruise. Typically, people don't have visibility to this, but seeing and working with her, I have seen the entire process, and I wish that I could share this with as many people as I can so they could understand the time Rita spends on the phone, writing specks, researching the cruise ship, the cabin locations, the restaurant choices, the workout facilities, etc. There are lots that go into that.
Let's be clear: anybody can book a cruise online and make a reservation. If the person does not care about the specifics, such as "Is my cabin located in a good spot in case there is stormy weather? Or should I book my excursions now or wait until I am on the ship? How about this: My flight is delayed, and I need help to reach the ship. What should I do? I have heard hundreds of different questions that Rita has responded to her clients, and some of these would only be possible for the consumer to get info on with access to the cruise line as a travel agent. Impossible. How about a situation where something happens during your trip to the departure port, and you need to get hold of somebody? Have you ever tried to call the cruise line? How did that work out? Did you have to explain your situation the 100th time to someone who doesn't care? Does that sound familiar to you?
Let's compare that to your experience with Rita and TELLUS Travels. You contact Rita and provide the specifications for your dream cruise vacation. You describe who will join your trip and what part of the world you want to cruise in. You might even already have your favorite cruise line, and you would like Rita to check out if they have availability.
TELLUS Travels works through a cruise wholesaler, which gives her access to tens of different cruise lines (see TELLUS Travels on the front page of the listing). While working on the website, I was blown away when I realized how many certifications Rita had already achieved in different cruise lines (8), some of which were top-level. There is a lot that goes into the certifications and tests.
TELLUS Travels has access to specials through the wholesaler, which you will not have as a consumer. That is why you see deals now and then on TELLUS Travels' Facebook site, Rita's, and my personal Facebook site, which will save you money.
Once you have provided the specifications, Rita and TELLUS Travels will do the rest. She will explore cruise options based on your specs and give multiple cruise line options with different price ranges and specific information. And what is the most important thing? Her hundreds of cruise customers give her a good idea of what to offer based on your specifications. If you have a family, she knows how to place the children, she knows where the cabins should be, she knows the cruise line that is most favored for families, etc. If you want to go on a luxury cruise, she has recommendations. She can also recommend that if you want to cruise on a cruise line that doesn't allow children under 18 years.
Part of our vision and objective with TELLUS Travels was to try the "product" ourselves, so if somebody wants to know about our practical experiences, Rita can talk about them during the cruise planning process. On our renewed TELLUS Travels website, we now have a gallery of photos (more will be added) of different destinations and pictures we took during our travel. Our next cruise will be from Hawaiji this upcoming New Year.
Once you have reviewed the cruise options that Rita has provided and want to proceed, Rita will make the booking for you by calling the line at the cruise line that is purely dedicated to travel agencies (not consumers). She will deal with the specifics, make the deposit payment for you, and remind you when the final payment for the cruise is due. You won't pay anything for the services Rita and TELLUS Travels provide; she gets paid by the cruise line in the form of commissions. Honestly, the worst scenario is typically when Rita works hours on your trip and specifications, and then you decide to use those specs yourself.
Rita can also offer travel insurance if something happens before or during your travels. Rita and I have annual travel insurance covering any travel during the year, including medical incidents abroad.
Our renewed TELLUS Travels website now has new information sections such as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), which lists the most common questions for somebody considering a trip. We have divided the FAQ into several categories:
?General FAQ - most common questions for a person considering a cruise
?When planning your trip FAQ - questions that you might have during the planning process
?While onboard the ship FAQ - questions that you might have during the cruise
?After your cruise FAQ - questions when you are back home
We have also added a blog to the TELLUS Travels site, which now includes many cruise travel tips such as "Different river cruise companies and their characteristics," First-time cruiser tips - things to know before you embark on a cruise," and many more.
When you deal with Rita and TELLUS Travels, you always have ONE number to call, and you do not have to deal with different people on the other end explaining your situation. When dealing with Rita, she already knows everything about your trip, and you only deal with one person and not somebody "anonymous" at the cruise line.
Back to my original question, "Will AI kill my wife's cruise business?". The question has multiple aspects to it. It will change her business with more technology for the "back-office" functions. Tasks and payment processes will be automated. The cruise line's internal systems are pretty archaic and include manual processes. Today, when Rita calls the cruise line and talks to a cruise line agent, the person is purely a "transaction person" and does not contribute to the actual transaction. Rita has already reserved the cabin and made all the other reservations, and the physical person on the cruise line end will complete the transaction. I believe that part of the customer journey can be replaced by AI, but a service Rita provides (Concierge service) will be around for a while. Rita also books group cruise travel; managing 30 people is a large exercise and will take experience.
Solutions such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions will provide better capabilities for personalization and offer users proactive actions. The CRM TELLUS Travels uses AI-infused technology. AI, specifically Generative AI (GenAI), will help TELLUS Travels with marketing, including targeted advertising. GenAI will also help in content creation. AI tools can generate marketing content, such as social media posts, blog articles, and promotional emails, tailored to the interests of specific customer demographics.
AI is a topic that everybody is talking about, including me, but I do it because I want to help TELLUS clients figure out what kind of use cases the organization could benefit from. GenAI is infused into off-the-shelf or packaged solutions such as Microsoft Office 365 in the form of Copilot in every M365 solution, but the question is still that everybody needs to learn how to use these. I use both OpenAI ChatGPT and Microsoft M365 Copilot, but I am a technologist and can't expect everybody to be trained on those. You still need to understand what to ask and the response the large language model (LLM) gives you.
Suppose your purchase includes multiple options and variations, and you are paying thousands of dollars. In that case, I much prefer to talk to somebody who knows his/her business so I can make a selection based on facts, not assumptions. It is the same with ChatGPT; you need to know what to prompt (ask), but more importantly, know whether the response is realistic based on an LLM hallucination.
I would love to hear what you think about this topic. I would also encourage you to reach out to Rita Salonen if you have been planning or considering going on a cruise. It won't cost you anything to explore the options that she can offer you.
Yours,
Dr. Petri I. Salonen
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