Explora Journeys Will Enter the Market with Rolling Commissions for Advisors

Explora Journeys, the new ultra-luxury cruise line from the MSC Cruise Group that will debut in 2023, is also providing its advisor partners with their own ultra-luxury experience. 

Explora’s chief sales officer Chris Austin at Virtuoso Travel Week on Tuesday told Travel Market Report that Explora’s travel advisor policies will include a first-in-class rolling commission structure that will allow advisors to get paid quickly. 

With the structure, Explora will first pay their advisor partners on client deposits, which are 25% of the final payment, seven-days after the deposit is made. Explora will then pay advisors commission on the rest of the final payment amount, 7-days after its made, and then on any add-ons clients make during a sailing shortly after. 

According to Austin, the structure makes Explora, which revealed this week a new preferred partnership with Virtuoso, “the first brand to pay that commission that quickly,” which is a significant part of the cruise line’s plan to make a splash in the ultra-luxury cruise market. 

“We want business to be joyful for travel advisors,” Austin told TMR. “Doing this was incredibly joyful, it was an opportunity to really deliver to the travel advisor policies that support their financial health,” he said. 

“We’ve really given most favored nation status to the travel advisor, they are the key to our future,” he added. 

Explora is also now offering advisors an appointment reservation with one of its ambassadors to get to know the brand. The appointments include a confirmed date and time that will allow advisors to speak with an ambassador without a wait or hold, another major COVID pain point for the advisor community. 

Those appointments, aside from the introduction to the brand, will also open up an opportunity for advisors to wait-list suites for their clients on Explora’s early sailing. The wait list doesn’t include any obligation for clients, so advisors can simply not confirm, and the suite is released with no penalty. 

“How powerful is it to say that I’m introducing you to a brand you never heard of and I”m also wait listing you for a suite?” Austin said. 

It’s another policy and sales tool that’s specifically designed to accommodate travel advisor partners. Those policies, coupled with “an amazing brand” and no NCFs onboard, will hopefully differentiate Explora when it does launch in a couple of years, Austin said.

For advisors who aren’t yet familiar with Explora, Austin described the brand as the “top of the pyramid” of the luxury cruise market. The first ship, Explora 1, will debut in 2023. That will be followed by three more ships, each launching in consecutive years through 2026.