20 | AI Powered Travel CASE STUDY #1: TRAVEL ADVISOR RICHARD STIEFF Richard Stieff, Travel Advisor and a Cruise Planners ® Independent Franchise Owner, explains how he is using AI for planning and booking trips, marketing and sales, customer communications, and interactions with internal staff. What modules/functions are you using in CP Maxx? And what has been your overall experience with it? CP Maxx tools, including Ecards, Find A cruise, Find A Hotel, Find a transfer … all have proven invaluable for having booking materials at my fingertips . It also makes it easy for my associates without them having to go to individual supplier sites . I’m big on sending Cruise Sheets and Group Emails . Are you using CP Maxx in your agency’s marketing efforts? If yes, how is AI helping you with daily tasks and your overall growth? AI has been fantastic . I write a basic email about something I want to discuss with clients and then I ask AI CASE STUDIES OF EARLY ADOPTER TRAVEL ADVISOR EXPERIENCES WITH AI Often the best method of learning about new technology is to inquire how others have successfully implemented it. The following are two case studies from Cruise Planners travel advisors and their experiences using CP Maxx and its AI tools. to make it more “personable” or “funny” or perhaps take the emotion out of what I’ve written . I do this with most group emails and ecards I send out . I use it when I’m communicating with my own team as well . Are you using CP Maxx to enhance your sales efforts? If yes, how is the AI tech assisting you? As I mentioned, when I create an ecard, I have AI assist and make my communication more humorous or less stern, as the case may be . It encourages better responses from my client base, as I sound more relatable and less clinical in my emails . When I send a cruise sheet and want to generate excitement about the cruise I’m promoting, AI takes it to another level for me . Also, it’s been awesome in sending out information to my team designed to get them pumped up about a certain promotion, supplier, or something that I’m trying to promote as a whole agency . As an early adopter of generative AI, what would you like to say to other travel advisors who may be leery about or just plain overwhelmed about the idea of how to bring AI into their business operations? A year ago, I attended a conference where a statement profoundly transformed my perspective on AI . It was straightforward yet powerful: “Familiarize yourself with AI before your clients and competitors do . Embrace the forefront of innovation, or risk being seen in the rearview mirror .” This insight sparked a shift in me