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Costco sold a booking for an around-the-world cruise for $293,000 through Costco Travel.
That revelation came Thursday as CFO Gary Millerchip provided some “fun facts” about Costco’s member-exclusive travel service during the warehouse retailer’s first-quarter earnings call.
“Our largest cruise booking last year was a 150-day around-the-world cruise starting from Fort Lauderdale and making stops in places like the Galapagos and Easter Islands,” he told analysts and investors.
The six-figure price tag booked the owner’s suite cabin on the ship for two people, according to the Costco CFO.
“The total price was $293,000 for two in the Owner’s Suite cabin and added values on the booking included a shipboard credit of $13,000 and the Costco Shop Card worth $25,000,” he said.
The CFO did not specify which cruise line operated the lengthy vacation.
“We offer a wide range of vacation packages, car rentals, cruises, hotels, flights, and other travel-related services,” Millerchip said on the earnings call. “In addition to highly attractive rates, many of our offerings include a Costco Shop Card as extra value for booking with Costco.”
Consumers can use Costco Shop Cards to pay for a membership to the warehouse retailer and the various items that Costco sells.
Millerchip also noted during the call that members that take advantage of Costco Travel “spend approximately twice as much as members that do not use these services.”
Costco Travel also notched an eye-popping amount of car rentals last year.
“Last year, we sold enough rental cars to fill every U.S. Costco parking spot 8.5 times,” the exec reported.
Costco’s footprint in the U.S. spanned over 600 locations as of the end of the first quarter. There are also more than 270 locations in other countries.
The warehouse retailer generated $62.15 billion in revenues in its first quarter. Approximately $60.98 billion of that came from net sales, while membership fees accounted for about $1.17 billion.
Some 138.8 million people have Costco membership cards, according to Costco.
