This year, the annual Travel Marketing Awards added a new category for Best Use Of CRM. At Armadillo, that was music to our ears – and now we’re very proud to say that our work for P&O Cruises and Disney Destinations International makes up 40% of the inaugural shortlist. 

CRM isn’t new to travel. But for an industry fuelled by dreams, excitement, and anticipation, the customer experience in the inbox often falls flat. Spray-and-pray tactics and clunky personalisation are still far too common.  

We believe travel CRM can, and should, be one of your most joyful, meaningful, conversion-driving touchpoints. 

 We tackle it in two ways: 

Connect emotionally: People invest more energy in planning a holiday than almost anything else, your CRM should meet that excitement, not flatten it. When it does, action follows. 

Personalise with purpose: No two holidays, or travellers, are the same. CRM lets you reflect that, making every interaction feel made for them. 

And here’s how we’ve done that for two of the world’s most iconic brands:  

 

Creating an Ocean of Inspiration for Disney Cruise Lines  

When you say Disney, one word springs to mind: Magic. 

But while Disney’s characters, parks, and films have global fame, Disney Cruise Line remained a bit of a hidden gem in the UK, with lower awareness and relatively few past guests compared to the more culturally embedded parks. 

So, when we were asked to boost awareness and drive enquiries, we turned to Disney’s greatest asset: its fans. 

Nobody sells a Disney holiday like someone who’s lived it. Past guests already rave about their magical cruise moments, we simply gave them a platform to share those stories far and wide. 

An Ocean of Inspiration invited guests to relive and share their favourite Disney Cruise moments. Their joyful, funny, moving stories became the heart of an interactive experience, where potential guests could immerse themselves in authentic memories, real recommendations, and first-hand magic. 

By connecting with people just like them, potential guests could start picturing their own perfect version of a Disney Cruise, a powerful and persuasive way to unlock their imaginations and encourage action.  

The results led to emotional connection at scale, with a real-world impact: 

• 1 in 3 site visitors clicked through to Disney’s website 

• Incremental bookings generated a 51:1 ROI, with that number still climbing 

• A growing bank of user-generated content ready to fuel future campaigns 

In short, we turned fans into advocates, browsers into bookers, and curiosity into conversion. 

  

Creating a welcome journey that listens for P&O Cruises 

Booking a cruise isn’t as simple as clicking ‘book now’, especially for first-timers. 

With multiple ships, countless destinations, onboard experiences, packages and offers to navigate, the process can quickly become overwhelming. What should feel exciting often starts to feel a bit stressful. 

That’s why cruise guests still lean heavily on travel agents, they want expert guidance to cut through the noise and help them plan a trip that feels like theirs. 

So, how do you recreate that personalised, human conversation in email? That was the challenge. 

Our answer to it was to create a responsive CRM journey that listens, adapts, and inspires, just like a great travel agent would. 

We built a five-email experience that: 

• Asked emotive, interactive questions within the email (no clunky landing pages) 

• Adapted automatically based on customer choices 

• Carried preferences through to future emails, building a journey as unique as each guest 

• Fed insights into the wider marketing ecosystem, from CRM to web to social 

If a guest told us they were dreaming of mountain landscapes? Their journey transformed to reflect that, showcasing fjords, adventures, and exactly the kind of experience they craved. 

The results spoke for themselves:

• 89% increase in net revenue 

• Double the conversions 

We brought the joy and reassurance of expert guidance into the inbox, making planning a cruise as exciting as setting sail. 

 

The Secret to Travel CRM That Works 

Travel is emotional. It’s about memories, stories, and the freedom to dream. Your CRM should start there and reflect that connection throughout.  

Here’s how to make CRM your strongest travel touchpoint: 

1. Put the customer at the centre, even when they don’t know what they want yet
   Start with what you know, build with zero-party data, and craft journeys that feel entirely theirs, from dreaming to booking to boarding the plane (or ship).
2. Remove friction at every opportunity
   Simplify decisions. Pre-fill details. Use data to guide people toward their next best action. Planning should feel easy, not exhausting.
3. Make the process as joyful as the trip
   Booking doesn’t have to feel transactional. Inject moments of magic, play, and inspiration. Interactive creative is one powerful way to do this, and it works. 

Travel CRM works best when it mirrors what people love about travel itself – possibility, excitement, and experiences built just for them. Get that right, and you’re not just driving conversions, you’re creating brand advocates, loyal guests, and repeat bookings. We’ll drink to that.

See you at the awards!