Cruise Buzz

Sam’s Club gets into the travel business

Sam’s Club, subsidiary of  Wal-Mart has launched its new  travel portal (click here to see the site). We had a chance to preview the site to see what all the buzz is about. Check out our Q&A below.

 

The interview

• Questions by Carrie Finely-Bajak, chief experience officer at Cruise Buzz Media
• Answers provided by Carrie Foster Moore, senior manager, Sam’s Club communications

Q. When I looked at the cruises on offer, it looks to me that Sam’s Club is providing packages and that they do not represent all cruises available. Is that correct? This makes me think that the pricing model is based on rebating and that hides behind the membership veil…. That is how it works at a lot of larger travel sellers that are membership based anyhow.

A.  Sam’s Club Travel currently offers inventory from 13 major cruise lines and will continue to expand its scope of cruise offerings on behalf of Sam’s Club members in the coming months and beyond.  If Sam’s Club Travel doesn’t currently offer a particular cruise, it’s simply because its partner, Tourico Holidays, doesn’t yet have a contract in place with that particular cruise line.

Q. How long have you been offering travel?

A. The new Sam’s Club Travel portal launched on June 24 and is now live at www.SamsClub.com/travel. On June 12, we softly launched the portal at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s “America’s Small Business Summit” in Washington, DC to gauge feedback from award-winning, travel-savvy small business owners across the U.S. One small business owner from Billings, Montana booked a $7,500 vacation for his family on the spot – saving him more than $3000 than what he planned to pay. His company has used the site three times since then to book private transfers to and from airports.

Until 2010, Sam’s Club offered online vacation package sales to keep up with growing competition in the warehouse space. We determined the savings, selection and support we offered did not meet our expectations for value and quality that Sam’s Club members deserve. In 2012 we searched for a partner who could help us get travel services right — providing distinguished service, convenience and savings to members seeking last minute travel savings. Tourico worked closely with us to create a seamless, convenient booking portal with an amazing breadth of options for leisure and business travel – at a world-class value. Technology in travel booking has changed a lot in 5 years and we’re taking advantage of the latest innovations in inventory and navigation capabilities.

 “Adding best-in-class travel savings to the portfolio of Sam’s Club membership benefits reinforces our commitment to be the most valuable card in our members’ wallets. The savings a member receives by booking just one family vacation will justify the cost of their annual membership. Our members deserve to be rewarded with savings and convenience for every life event, be it vacation, last-minute business trip or a night on the town. Tourico’s business model keeps travel affordable and accessible for our members at a time when costs of fuel, flights and accommodations are steadily rising.” Seong Ohm, senior vice president of merchandise business services at Sam’s Club

Q.   What are the benefits of Sam’s Club Travel?

A.  Sam’s Club Travel is the first retail-branded travel service to offer these member benefits:

• Easy-to-Use Portal: Simple filter and sort options, integrated TripAdvisor reviews and secure booking without interference from external sites and pop-up windows.
• Unbeatable savings: Members could save up to 50 percent off select hotels; up to 10 percent off rental cars, up to 15 percent off cruises; and up to 25 percent off attractions and activities, as compared to average market prices.
• 24/7 Member Service: no matter what day or time, Sam’s Club Travel experts are on hand to offer multi-channel, U.S. based member support.

 

“Our industry-leading technology and global travel relationships provide Sam’s Club members with virtually unlimited trip possibilities at the best value available. Our alliance also gives Sam’s Club the advantage of being the first warehouse club travel program to offer multi-channel member support, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. As business and leisure travel expands globally, round-the-clock access is a vital member benefit.” Uri Argov, CEO of Tourico Holidays

Q. What is the majority of your inventory: air, hotel, resort packages, cruises?

A. Scaling Tourico’s proprietary technology to millions of warehouse club members, Sam’s Club Travel offers savings on 4,500 worldwide destinations, 90,000 hotels, more than 6,000 attractions in 800 cities, 150 airlines, 18 car rental brands and 13 cruise lines, available for a la carte purchase and vacation packages.