World Travel Holdings deploys Fonolo on cruises.com to enhance customer experience

TORONTO - Fonolo, the company that improves the call center experience by replacing hold time with a call-back, continues to grow its portfolio of world-class partnerships with the addition of Cruises.com. Owned and operated by World Travel Holdings, one of the nation's top travel agencies, Cruises.com offers incredible savings on brand-name cruises.

With the addition of Fonolo to the Cruises.com website, users select the cruise they're interested in and can now easily request an agent call-back with just one click - eliminating phone menus and hold-time. Fonolo's cloud-based call-back service provides a convenient and intuitive interface for callers and a secure, seamless process for call center agents.

"World Travel Holdings recognizes that the vacation experience begins long before you arrive at your destination," said Shai Berger, Fonolo CEO. "The integration of Fonolo with the Cruises.com website gives prospective travellers a first-class customer service experience right from the start of the booking process."

According to a 2012 study from American Express, for a complex purchase like booking a cruise, customers preferred talking to a live person on the phone two-to-one over simply using a website. Offering an intelligent call-back feature makes it seamless for customers to reach an agent, removing the barriers from buying online.

"Not only does Fonolo direct callers to the right agent based on their travel needs, but the resulting data shows an improvement on the caller experience which has exceeded our expectations and favorably impacted sales," said Jeff Smith, SVP sales and customer care, World Travel Holdings. "Fonolo makes it even easier for our customers to book their dream vacation and furthers our ability to deliver a remarkable experience."

Because Fonolo's cloud-based solution required no changes to their call center, World Travel Holdings was able to deploy this new functionality in a matter of days. They also integrated their web analytics with Fonolo so they could track and optimize every aspect of the customer experience.

World Travel Holdings began offering Fonolo service to its Cruises.com customers in November 2012.