Urban Pirates Set a Course for Success

By Grant Jurgeneit

Operator HighlightsOperator Highlights

Urban Pirates
urban pirates

When you’re growing your tour business, efficiency is essential in maximizing profit and expanding your market. The difference between managing a labour-intensive booking model and automating your bookings is significant.

Urban Pirates have found their buried treasure in automating and mobilizing their booking systems with Checkfront.

Ranked #1 by Tripadvisor in activities in Baltimore, Urban Pirates runs regular Family Adventure cruises and Adult ‘Bring Your Own Grog’ voyages as well as hosting frequent corporate group events, birthday parties and family reunions aboard their ship, the Fearless. In 2009, Urban Pirates welcomed 18,000 passengers aboard but found that their phone and hand-written form booking model was labor-intensive, expensive, and would require additional staff to scale their operations. Adam Sahhar, aka General Manager, aka Capt. Peppercorn, agrees, ”Booking automation is essential to grow the business. In particular, the repetitive calls inquiring about the ships availability can now be easily answered by the customers themselves through our online booking page and it gives them the ability to book it simply online. Our crew can now focus their efforts on customer engagement and promotion of the business.” Our crew can now focus their efforts on customer engagement and promotion of the business.

When Urban Pirates adopted Checkfront in 2010, they processed 22,000 passengers. Checkfront enabled the reservation desk to stay open 24/7 and in turn delivered 8,000 new reservations using fewer resources. Guests who chose not to speak with an agent could conveniently complete their reservation and would receive confirmation via email. Since 2009, the adventure cruise company has grown their business by 40% without increasing labor costs.

About Urban Pirates

Sailing the waters of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor since 2008, Urban Pirates is owned and operated by Cara Joyce who was determined to bring local families and tourists an amazing swashbuckling adventure in Baltimore’s beautiful inner harbor. Inspired by her children’s love for all things pirate, and her love of gatherings with good mateys, she and her crew created a unique and engaging experience fit for buccaneers of all ages. In 2012, Urban Pirates celebrated their 100,000th customer, and they took out over 35,000 passengers in 2013.

P.S. You can find success with Checkfront, too.

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