Catching Up with Riviera Travel’s Phil Hullah and Stuart Milan

Though Riviera Travel (originally Riviera River Cruises) has been marketing to the North American market since 2017, the bulk of its investment and marketing spend have remained in its home country of the United Kingdom. That’s changing. Big time.

On a recent two-night sailing onboard Riviera’s MS William Wordsworth from Budapest to Vienna, TMR sat down with Riviera Travel’s CEO Phil Hullah and newly appointed president of North America Stuart Milan. We chatted about why Riviera is making big moves in North America, what makes Riviera different, and what North American travel advisors can expect going forward.

“The cold fact of it is the river cruise market is four times the size in North America and is growing at twice the rate, if not more. And it’s a 25% higher price point,” Hullah told TMR.

Riviera Travel is a market leader in the United Kingdom and is known for its value-priced, high-end tours and river cruises. While Hullah is clear that the company is still invested in growing its U.K. and Irish business, it’s in North America where significant growth is possible.

He’s particularly excited about beefing up Riviera’s North American presence because he believes the company’s high-end experience (and product) at a value price “can work very well” in North America.

To prepare for its big push, the company has been laying the groundwork for several months. In the past few months, Riviera Travel has hired several business development managers, changed some of its commission policies, opened a Fort Lauderdale flagship office, appointed Milan as president of North America, and hired a North American sales operations director, as well as a senior vice president of trade sales and partner relations.

On the product side, Riviera expanded its offering to include flight, hotel, and transfer options for North American travelers, as well as pre- and post-cruise options.

“We’ve been out talking to a lot of agencies trying to understand what it is we need to do to amend the product proposition to make it better to sell in the American market,” Milan said.

This methodical and thoughtful approach has been intentional. And it’s being driven by numerous conversations with North American travel advisors.

“We’re not going to be arrogant and say we’re going to go and dominate the North American market,” Hullah said. “We know how hard it is… It needs to be done the right way”

Most importantly, Riviera Travel is putting the trade front and center for its North American expansion.

“In terms of distribution strategy, we’re pretty much solely focused on the trade,” Milan added.

What to Know About Riviera Travel

In talks with the British trade onboard our two-day sailing, Hullah often used the term midmarket, but with the North Americans, Milan classes Riviera Travel as upper premium.

“It is not necessarily on par with AmaWaterways or Tauck, but definitely above Viking from a quality perspective and an inclusions perspective,” Milan said.

In terms of hardware, the ships are nearly identical to Tauck, with the lounge and restaurants the exact same layout. The fittings and fixtures are also similar.

Riviera’s prices include at least one excursion in every port and, starting in 2026, all beverages between 10 a.m. and midnight. (For 2025, all beverages are included from 6 p.m. to midnight.)

As for the demographic, Riviera targets the 55+ age group and though kids older than 12 are permitted onboard, families are not a target market.

Like most river cruisers, the Riviera client likes to learn and explore and. If anything, Hullah said the Riviera client “has a little more of that innate curiosity.”

In the U.K., for instance, he said Riviera draws lots of former teachers. “They’re quite into learning about stuff.”

“There is also an element of those that are after great value for money, those who are perhaps not willing to spend the higher end prices but still want a high-end experience,” Milan said.

“It’s not somebody who just wants luxury and fine dining,” Hullah added.

More specific to the North American client, Riviera – at least for now – is for the client who likes to try something different from everyone else.

“They do say, you know what, I’m not going to go for a Viking. I like the idea that this is a little bit different… they take pride in the bragging rights to their friends,” Hullah said.

What’s Next for Riviera Travel?

Though the North American team has more than doubled over the past several months, Riviera is not done adding new positions.

“We haven’t got everything in place just yet,” Milan said. “We’re still going to expand the regional sales directors.”

The company doesn’t yet have a sales director for the West or any in Canada, but that’s coming.

Also coming soon is a digital learning platform and a new website, which is expected to launch this summer.

On the product side – and specifically for North Americans – Riviera will be launching a new river crise and land tour package that includes a full land tour, full river cruise, and any transfers or hotel stays that might be required in between.

“We’re going to take some of our signature tours, our best European tours and combine them with a river cruise,” Milan explained, adding it’s something he doesn’t believe any other river cruise and tour operator is doing.

“It should flow,” from one to the other, Hullah said.

The tours will be approximately 10 to 12 days in length to start with, but Milan said he can see them evolving to longer offerings over time. The first slate of river cruise/land packages will be announced in mid-April.

Going forward, Riviera has two main goals: familiarize the North American trade with the brand and get its marketing and brand messaging right. The latter is something Hullah admits Riviera might have gotten slightly wrong until now, with perhaps too much emphasis on luxury.

“There’s a redo to do on some of our marketing materials,” Milan said.

“Things have crept up in places in North American marketing that shouldn’t quite be there,” Hullah added. “In the marketing, we want to get across some of the factors, really luxurious experience, but we don’t want to be trying to position ourselves as a luxury player, because it’s not that… We’ve got a bit of work to do to refine the messaging.”

Riviera Travel’s Future Goals

Hullah and Milan said that as of now, they have no hard goals for where they want Riviera’s North American business to be in five to 10 years. But they are ambitious.

Currently non-British passengers account for less than 10% of their overall customer base.

“If in 10 years, we’re not 50/50 or even more, then we probably haven’t delivered on what we want to,” Hullah said.