Draft for Richard. Prices marked "proposed" are not approved yet. Nothing has been sent.
Helloworld

Your Game Plan

Your own luxury travel brand, built around the time you actually have

Your new website comes first. Around it, three ways we can take work off you: a little help, a lot done for you, or almost all of it done for you. Whichever you pick, the part your clients come to you for stays yours.

Open the upgraded website

Prepared for Kylie, Helloworld by Richard, C.E.A Smith · November 2026

What you told me

What you are after

  1. You want a luxury travel brand on the side, with its own identity, separate from your Helloworld store.
  2. It is a side thing. You want to log in and update it yourself, and put things you post for Helloworld on it too.
  3. You need a new travel Facebook page and LinkedIn set up properly, starting from scratch.
  4. Cruises lead, and river cruises are their own thing.
  5. Tech is not where you want to spend your time.
  6. You and your husband have looked at the site and like it. You would like to change some of the colours.
  7. Right now you are closing one branch and merging it into the other, so time is tight.
  8. You would like to get it sorted before the end of the year.

What I found

Research on your side of travel

As promised on our call, here is what the research says about luxury and cruise travel advisers, and what it means for your new brand.

The hours go on research and itineraries

When agency staff were asked what takes the most time, researching options and putting the itinerary together came out on top. That is the work plan 3 drafts for you, so your time goes on the conversation, not the spreadsheet.

The first reply holds the traveller

Many advisers answer clients out of hours every day. A reply within minutes, in your words, lets a traveller know you have their enquiry and that you will call. Plans 1 and 2 cover the hours you cannot.

Luxury cruise is a repeat and referral business

The money in cruise is in the next booking and the friend they send you, not one-off deals. Your own page says there is no greater compliment than a referral. Remembering the small things and staying in touch is what turns one cruise into the next.

Where the first enquiries come from

A new brand starts with the people who already trust you: past clients who choose to hear from the new brand, your LinkedIn network, and friends of clients you send the site to. Ads come later, once the site is turning visits into enquiries, so no money is spent sending people to a page that has not proved itself.

River cruise suits where demand is going

Fewer ships are calling at New Zealand ports this season, so more New Zealanders who want to cruise will fly to their ship. River cruises in Europe are a natural fit, and they are your strength.

Early in the year is a busy booking time

Cruise lines run their biggest sales early in the year, and many cruisers plan their trips then. We will check with you how your own clients book, but a site that is live before January is ready for it either way.

No second system to learn

Advisers overseas pay for tools like Tern or Travefy, but they would sit beside the system your store already uses. We build small pieces around your inbox and your store's own process instead, so there is no new program for you to learn.

Bookings and money stay with your store

The new brand will say plainly who takes the booking, once you have confirmed it with Helloworld. Nothing we build takes a deposit or holds client money. Emails only go to people who have signed up for them, and every one has an unsubscribe link.

Social for a personal brand

For a personal travel brand, what you post matters more than how often. Facebook for inspiration and conversation, LinkedIn for your name and the people who refer you. We would start with a few considered posts a week rather than daily deals, and never post a cruise line's photos or prices without their OK.

Sources: Singapore Tourism Board, travel agent user journey study · Travel Market Report, Goway advisor survey · Cruise Critic, New Zealand cruise season · Karryon, wave season briefing · Tern pricing · Consumer NZ, travel agents · DIA, New Zealand spam law · Host Agency Reviews, social media for advisors

Start here

Step one: your new website

The upgraded draft is ready to look at. It keeps the look you and your husband liked, with a stronger finish, a page for each kind of trip, and the trip planner that ends with a printed trip request.

Colours are easy to change. There is a colour switch on the draft so we can try them together, and blue is ready as one of the options.

You get an edit panel to add trips and update pages yourself, including things you post for Helloworld. It goes live on its own web address once you have picked the name.

Why now: You said before the end of the year. If it is live in December, it is ready before the new year, when many cruisers start planning.

How it helps later: Every plan below works through this site. Enquiries arrive here, and the follow-up, the emails and the posts all lead back to it.

From you: Have a proper look when you are back from Samoa. Then we go through it together on Zoom and change whatever you want.

$2,500

setup, then $149 a month

When you are ready for more

Three ways to grow from here

Each plan builds on the one before it. Start with whichever fits, and move up later: nothing you set up is wasted.

What I recommendPlan 1 · A little help

Never miss a traveller

Every call answered and your new pages set up. You do the rest as you do now.

$0

one-off setup

$149 a month

from the month it starts

  • When you cannot pick up, a friendly AI receptionist answers on a New Zealand number. It takes the traveller's name, number and the trip they have in mind, and hands it straight back to you.
  • So a missed call becomes a name and a trip to call back, not a number to chase.
  • Your new travel Facebook page and LinkedIn set up properly, linked from your website, with the logins handed to you.

Why: In the last few weeks you were on jury service, on calls to clients overseas and covering for staff. Calls will reach you when you cannot answer.

Suits: The best place to start: the brand looks right and no call goes unanswered, without paying for more than a new brand needs yet.

Your time: Your calls back. Everything else stays as you do it now.

Priced once we know more: Setting up your new Facebook page and LinkedIn: a one-off price Richard will go through with you.

Plan 2 · A lot done for you builds on plan 1

Your enquiries run themselves

Every enquiry answered, organised and followed up. You still plan, quote and book.

proposed
$1,299

one-off setup

$278 a month

from the month it starts

Everything in plan 1, plus:

  • Every enquiry from your website or Facebook gets a reply within minutes, in your words, so they know you have their details.
  • Each one lands in one list on your phone: who is going, when, what kind of trip, and what they said.
  • If a quote goes quiet, one polite follow-up goes for you, only once, and never after they reply.
  • A monthly email to the people who have asked to hear from you, such as your river cruise shortlist. You send a voice note, we write it in your voice, you approve it.
  • Facebook and LinkedIn posts drafted for you each week from your notes and your own photos. You approve the week's posts in one go.
  • We keep it all running and fix it if anything changes.

Why: You said this is a side thing. A side brand only works if enquiries are looked after while you are busy in the store.

Suits: Once the site is bringing in enquiries and you want none left waiting while you are with a client.

Your time: Your discovery calls, quotes and bookings through your store, as now. About 10 minutes a week to approve the email and the posts.

Priced once we know more: The monthly email and the weekly posts: priced with you once we know how often you want them.

Plan 3 · Almost all done for you builds on plan 2

Your cruise concierge

The system does the work around every trip. You keep the part that is yours: the relationship, the judgement and the yes.

proposed
$1,299

one-off setup

$928 a month

from the month it starts

Everything in plan 2, plus:

  • The AI receptionist asks the questions you would ask, and writes each call up for you, so you start your call back already knowing the trip.
  • Each enquiry becomes a one-page brief: who is going, when, cabin and pace, budget range, and anything mentioned in passing, like an anniversary.
  • A first draft proposal in your brand: two or three sailings that fit, from the cruise lines you choose, with your note at the top. You check it, price it through your store, and send it. Nothing goes without you.
  • Each booked client gets their own trip page: a countdown, what is due and when, and a checklist. Bookings and payments stay with your store.
  • Reminders before final payment, documents and departure, in your words.
  • The small things remembered, with the client's OK: a quiet cabin away from the lifts, an anniversary at sea, a grandchild's name. They are on the brief next time.
  • A welcome home message, a review request and a nudge to you when it is time to talk about the next cruise.
  • A Monday list on your phone: who to call, proposals waiting for your OK, and what is due this week.

Why: You told us tech is not where you want to spend your time. Here the system does the preparing and the remembering, and you do the selling.

Suits: When enquiries are coming in steadily and you want the brand to run without taking your evenings.

Your time: The calls, the advice and the final yes. About 2 minutes to check each proposal and trip page, and your Monday list.

Priced once we know more: Building your client hub (briefs, proposal pages, trip pages and the Monday list): a one-off build price Richard will go through with you.; The monthly email and the weekly posts, as in plan 2.; Linking to your store's booking system, only if Helloworld allows it. Until then you mark a trip as booked with one tap.

All prices plus GST.

See it working

Two travellers, from first enquiry to welcome home

This is sample data. The travellers, trips and messages are made up to show how each plan would work for you. Switch plans to see what each one adds.

Switch plans to see what each one adds.

Your first month on Never miss a traveller

Week by week

DecemberStarts the week you say go after our Zoom

Your site live, your pages set up, every call answered

  1. Week 1

    Your site, your way

    We build
    • The colour and wording changes from our Zoom
    • Your new name, logo and web address
    From you
    The name you want, and the photos you are happy to use.
  2. Week 2

    Your site goes live

    We build
    • Your own web address and email
    • Your edit panel, with a short walk-through
    From you
    Tell us who takes the booking for the new brand, so the site says it correctly.
  3. Week 3

    Your new pages

    We build
    • New travel Facebook page and LinkedIn set up and linked from your site
    • Logins handed to you
    From you
    Approve the page names and the cover images (about 10 minutes).
  4. Week 4

    Every call answered

    We build
    • The AI receptionist on a New Zealand number, with the questions you want asked
    • A test call together so you hear it
    From you
    Tell us what it should say when you are away, and hear it once.

Before we build

What we still need to know

We only build what you need, so these come first.

Has Helloworld said you can run a separate luxury brand, and do its bookings go through your store?

It decides what the site says about who takes the booking and how clients are protected, and what plan 3 can connect to.

What would you like the new brand to be called?

It gives us the web address, the logo, the Facebook page and the LinkedIn name.

Which colours would you like to change, and is blue the direction?

There are two colour options on the draft now. Your answer tells us which way to take it.

Can we show your own record on the site, from your Helloworld profile pages?

For a luxury client, your experience is the main reason to choose you. We only show what you confirm, word for word.

Where do your best clients come from today: referrals, the store, or corporate?

It tells us whether the monthly email or Facebook should come first.

Do you want to post on Facebook and LinkedIn yourself, or have us draft it for you?

It decides what goes in plan 2 and how it is priced.

Have a proper look when you are back

No rush while you are away. When you are back, we book a Zoom, go through the website together and change whatever you want, colours included. Then pick the plan that fits, or none. Any question in the meantime, reply to the email or call Richard.

Call Richard: 03 567 1600[email protected]