Eric Lam uses online social networking to build his cruise business

BY KATE RICE

Eric Lam is an at-home agent on the cutting edge of the Internet, using the social networking capabilities of Web 2.0 to build his business.

Lam, a graduate student at Harvard studying IT management with a specialty in e-commerce, looked at major web-sites such as Travelocity and found them essentially transaction-based. So he designed a site for his agency, Best Cruise Spot! (www.bestcruisespot.com), which gives users ample opportunity to create content and network with one another sharing experiences while driving traffic to the site.

Users can post their own reviews, rating ships, amenities, fares, shore excursions, service and other aspects of their experiences. They can keep a travel log about their cruises and upload photos—then tell their friends to visit the website. To lure even more traffic, Lam is running a contest whereby users determine which photo is the best, and the winner gets a prize.

The site also includes a forum in which visitors can discuss ports of call, various lines and similar topics. Lain uses the consumer website of his host agency, Joystar, for his basic content. He also uses the Revelex booking engine, through Joystar, but he personally designed the social networking part of his site.

Lam draws traffic in a variety of other ways. Sonic are old-fashioned—he posts flyers as he walks around the many college campuses in Boston. Some are more high-tech, such as the Google Adworks program. Through this, when online consumers type in certain keywords, his site will pop up. He also advertises on such social networking sites as Myspace, Facebook and Yelp.com. In addition, he does direct mail, sending postcards and flyers, and distributes business cards everywhere he goes.

Lam's sales are going well, and he just booked a group cruise for 40 graduate students. He targets students or former students, focusing on college groups, fraternities, sororities, Spring Break groups and reunions. A graduate of Boston College, he is trying to organize a group from his alma mater.

Not surprisingly, Lam has been studying the travel business as hard as he's been studying e-commerce. He was the first travel agent to achieve top Commodore status in Princess Cruises' four-month-old Princess Academy program. He finishes! the 25 courses necessary to complete the program, and receives a "graduation" cruise so he can experience the product first-hand.

Lam began taking the courses at the beginning of 2006, about the same time he launched his website. "I saw it as a great opportunity to learn about cruises," Lam says. "As a home-based agent and a student, I don't have the flexibility to go to conferences and seminars. This program is just perfect. I can do it any time. I learned so much about Princess Cruises. It was definitely a great benefit for me, and the bonus was getting a free cruise. I was so surprised when they mailed me that I was the first Commodore."

Lam became a travel agent after taking a southern Caribbean cruise that he enjoyed enormously. lie put up his web-site in February 2006 and made his first sale after a month, to a friend who took a cruise to the western Caribbean.

He finds that most of his customers might do their initial research online but ultimately call him on the phone (he has a toll-free number) or email him. Should they book a cruise using Revelex, the booking engine notifies him of the sale. He is always accessible to customers, communicating through a Black Berry that he keeps on low volume during lectures, which, fortunately for him, are quite large, so professors don't notice that he's not completely focused on what they're saying.

Lam expected that his website would attract younger cruisers, but that's not the case. His groups do tend to be younger, because of his college focus, but his individual customers tend to be between 40 and 60. He chose Joystar as a host because of its website, the support it offers and its high commissions. Joystar commissions arc lb percent, and he keeps 80 percent of that, which means Iris commission is about 13 percent.

Most of his classmates also have online businesses, but they are doing Internet startups; he's the only travel agent working from home, and his schedule is full. "It's insane." he says.

Lam doesn't sleep much, as he's either working on the website or checking email, but he's delighted with all that he's learning from his venture, and he's considering on hiring other agents to help hint handle his workload.