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Carnival Cruise Lines and Genesis Travel Set Sail with Unique Payroll Deduction Vacation Benefit
Employers’ Voluntary Benefit Plans Offer New Way to Reach Millions
of Customers
(September 4, 2003) Carnival
Cruise Lines, the most popular cruise line in the world, and Genesis Travel,
a payroll deduction company specializing in travel and leisure, have created
the first payroll deduction cruise vacation benefit for employers’ voluntary
benefits programs.
"Carnival is excited to be the first cruise line to participate in a
program of this kind," said Bob Dickinson, president and CEO of Carnival
Cruise Lines. "It provides employers an easy means for offering their
employees a payroll deduction program that enables them to conveniently and
cost effectively purchase a cruise vacation. At the same time, by accessing
employees at the workplace with the employer’s endorsement, the program
provides Carnival with a unique new avenue for selling ‘Fun Ship’
vacations," he added.
According to Simon Reynolds, President and CEO of Genesis Travel, payroll
deduction and seamless administration are keys to the success of these programs.
"The quality of the product – the Carnival cruise vacation –
is unquestioned. To make the benefit even more attractive to employees is
to offer it through interest-free payroll deduction. Payroll deduction is
convenient and well-understood by employees. It also makes it easier to budget
for a vacation," said Mr. Reynolds.
To ensure that there is also smooth sailing on the administrative side for
the employer and the employee, Carnival and Genesis have chosen Consolidated
Billing Company as the exclusive national third party administrator of the
program. CBC is recognized as an industry leader in providing simple one-source
billing solutions for voluntary benefit programs with multiple products and
vendors.
"CBC has the experience and proven track record to ensure that the billing
and reconciliation is accurate and easy for the employer’s human resources
and benefits staff with only one bill and one deduction. They can also match
any payroll schedule and work with any payroll system at no additional cost
or administrative burden to the employer," commented Mr. Reynolds.
Worksite "employee pay" voluntary benefits plans are growing in
popularity as employers seek new benefits to offer employees while keeping
costs low. Traditionally, voluntary benefits meant insurance products such
as life, accident, disability or auto and home insurance that can be purchased
by payroll deduction at the workplace. Today, many new types of employee-pay
benefits are emerging which allow employers to enhance their benefit plans
and offer vendors a way to expand distribution of products and services to
millions of new customers at the workplace.
In addition, a recent survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management
(SHRM) and CareerJournal.com, the free executive career site of The Wall Street
Journal, reported that HR professionals and employees expect heavy turnover
when the job market improves. As a result, employers are looking at new programs
and policies to help retain employees. Competitive vacation and holiday benefits
are ranked as one of the top three most common retention programs.
Contacts:
Genesis Travel: Simon Reynolds, 877-333-9009, sreynolds@genesiscruises.com, www.genesiscruises.com.
Carnival Cruise Lines: Jennifer de la Cruz, 800-438-6744, ext. 16000, jdelacruz@carnival.com, www.carnival.com
Consolidated Billing Company: Craig Peterson, 877-433-3828, cpeterson@consolidated-billing.com, www.consolidated-billing.com.
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