Catching Up With Avalon Waterways’ Pam Hoffee

If there’s one theme TMR has been hearing again and again this year – from advisors and partners alike – it’s that business has never been better. It’s a message we heard time and again at this year’s ASTA River Cruise Expo in Amsterdam last month, including from Pam Hoffee, president of Avalon Waterways.

“Things are going incredibly well,” Hoffee said during a sit-down with TMR at the busy Expo. “In 2024, we’re ahead of where we were in 2019 by far, which is fantastic…,” Hoffee said.

Hoffee explained that Avalon is still comparing numbers to 2019, because while 2023 was a good year for the U.S. market, the rest of the world still lagged behind 2019. “When you looked fully [at 2023], we were just barely ahead [of 2019].”

For 2024, the return of strong charter and incentive business combined with advisor sales has pushed overall bookings up significantly.

With that said, Hoffee said there is some space left for advisors to sell.

“I hear a lot of people saying, there’s nothing. There’s still some summer space, July and August, but the fall is really where the dominant amount of space is. I’d be looking in the fall if I was an advisor.”

Additionally, for the most popular departure months, advisors can still find space in the lead-in cabin categories – not the line’s signature Panorama Suites.

The numbers look even better for 2025.

“For ’25, we’re actually ahead of where we were for ’24,” Hoffee told TMR, explaining that the addition of new capacity in 2025 is partly responsible for the bigger numbers.

Reinvesting in the trade
Even with business booming, Avalon isn’t resting on its laurels, particularly when it comes to its partnership with travel advisors. The line is investing in new systems, events, and training opportunities.

Avalon has a new travel advisor portal coming this spring, as well as a refreshed marketing resource called the “Source.”

“We have so much with Avalon that we want to make sure that we have the resources where advisors can learn about what we’re doing,” she said. “Our goal is to make things easier. We’ve always heard that we have a good booking tool, but we want it to be easier to search, easier to find promotions.”

Finding promotions, Hoffee said, is especially important for advisors.

“We have a lot of promotional offers. It’s still a deal-driven market. Not necessarily price driven, but consumers are still looking for a deal so we do have a lot of different promotional offers and we want to make it easier for advisors to find those offers.”

One of the most popular promotions that advisors want to be able to find easily is the line’s single supplement waiver, which is available on every sailing, but only in a limited number.

Avalon has also brought back print brochures after “loud and clear” demand from travel advisors.

While it’s not the 100-page brochure of the past, the Travel Planner does feature every available itinerary with a map and journey details, and no pricing. The calls to action throughout the Planner are to travel advisors, with the entire back page dedicated to why travelers should work with travel advisors.

Advisors can order the brochures from Avalon and then use with their own clients. It’s also available on the Avalon website, but it’s not something that the line is sending directly to consumers.

There’s also a new Globus family of brands University under development, which will have a new Avalon Waterways training module. And, Avalon has just hired a new trade trainer, whose sole purpose will be to train travel advisors through virtual and in-person meetings.

A new initiative that the line found success with this past winter was bringing cruise directors to North America to do trade shows with travel advisors.

“Our BDMs took them across Canada and across the U.S. to do trade-only events and cruise nights where advisors could bring their clients to learn from our cruise directors. It was a huge success,” she said, adding she met several advisors during the ASTA River Cruise Expo who got bookings out of those events.

Changing trends
TMR asked Hoffee about any changes she’s noticed among Avalon’s clientele and their behavior. She pointed to three distinct trends.

“Who people are traveling with is changing,” she said, referring to the company’s “Wish List” survey it does at the end of every year. “It’s about intentions, but also what we’re seeing onboard. Most people say they intend to travel with their significant other, but we’re seeing a lot more people saying friends and family groups.”

Solo travelers is another growing trend, Hoffee said, as is traveling for a longer period of time.

“We’re seeing a trend toward extending time either with us or on their own… We’re definitely seeing that advisors are working with their clients to add land.”

Future plans
Though COVID is firmly in Avalon’s rear-view mirror, the river cruise line is still trying to figure out what’s next, after its previous plans were upended.

“We had a growth plan in place,” Hoffee told TMR. “Just before COVID, we had let go of the ships that were not in our Panorama Class.”

The plan, she added was to slowly get back up to the same capacity by adding new ships.

“Then COVID came,” she said. “Now we need to look at what’s the right growth plan, because we’re about reasonable, steady growth.”

Two of the ships that were scheduled to launch as part of the original plan – Envision and View – have since debuted. The line built – and recently launched – Alegria. It brought back Artistry II, which will sail in Bordeaux in 2025, a first for the line. (2025 will also be the first time since COVID that every ship in the fleet is operating.)

New to river
When asked about who travel advisors should be targeting for an Avalon river cruise, Hoffee recommended focusing on new-to-river clients rather than trying to move previous river cruisers from another company.

“River cruisers, honestly, when they pick a brand, they tend to stick with that brand,” she said. “There are a few that switch between brands, but most are very, very much entrenched in the brand that they love. There are plenty of people who haven’t tried river cruising yet.”

She added, “Avalon is a very good entry to river because of our excursions, and our active and discovery cruises. We also have some shorter cruises (five days on the Danube), which is a good entry to river for somebody who’s maybe not 100% sure.”