U.K.’s ‘Travel Brand Of The Year’ Is Optimistic Amid U.S. River Cruise Launch

One of the U.K.’s iconic travel companies is hoping to make an impact with consumers and travel agents stateside by bringing its river cruise product to the United States.   

Riviera Travel, recently named the “Best Travel Brand of the Year” at the Which? Awards, officially launched its U.S. website and opened an American call center in April.  

“The biggest challenge we have right now is brand awareness. It’s a pretty easy sale. It’s just breaking through all of that and getting our name out there,” Riviera vice president Jana Tvedt told TMR.  

Riviera had its birth as a land tour operator in the early 1980s, selling U.K. travelers itineraries into Europe. It launched its first river cruise product in 2009. Eight years later, Riviera sports 12 ships, five of them launched in just the past 15 months.  

A balcony suite on Riviera’s Thomas Hardy.

This year, Riviera expects to carry 40,000 passengers into European rivers, which would make it the U.K.’s largest operator of river cruises. “We put our growth down to the fact that the experience is better for the customer and our repeat and recommendation rate is fantastic,” said managing director David Clemson.  

For North American travel agents not so familiar with Riviera, the brand sits in a similar space to Viking River Cruises. Its fleet includes a higher size-to-passenger ratio, with 160 guests occupying a 443 ft. ship; Viking’s Tialfi has 190 guests in the same amount of space.  

“The idea is that people are given that little bit more space per passenger than our competitors,” Clemson said.  

Riviera sails all the major rivers in Europe—the Rhine, Danube, Roan, Douro and Seine. It is offering 11 itineraries in 2018, including a five-day Amsterdam, Volendam and Dutch Bulbfields sailing and a 15-day Budapest to the Black Sea.  

Riviera Travel is launching four new ships in 2017 and a fifth in the spring 2018, doubling the size of its five-star fleet. Among is fleet is the all-suite ms Emily Brontë, ms Thomas Hardy, ms Oscar Wilde and ms Robert Burns each with 88 cabins.

Onboard, it has two eateries, a traditional dining room and a chef’s table, where 27 guests can experience a menu personally curated by their chef for no extra cost.  

The Bistro on Riviera’s Emily Bronte.

What travel agents need to know 
Aside from the hardware, Riviera believes it offers policies that benefit the trade community. For one, Clemson said, Riviera offers a better value; “we do have a good premium product that absolutely compares to the likes of Viking and Avalon and AmaWaterways, even,” Clemson said. “But our price point is a step below.”  

Riviera has formed a team of four East Coast BDMs headed by sales director Dana Griffin, who previously worked for UNIGLOBE, Valerie Wilson Travel and MasterCard.  

It also doesn’t discount. “We’ve never discounted in our 33 years and we have no plans to start. Our customers absolutely love it, and we’re seeing the agents here in the U.S. like it as well.” 

Commissions start at 12% base but can grow to 14% for agents who complete Riviera’s training program. Riviera also is offering anyone who registers a chance to win a free cruise for 2018.  

And finally, Riviera guarantees travel agents a lifetime commission. “If a customer ever comes back to us and books, we will pay that commission to travel agents,” Clemson said. 

The exterior of Riviera’s Emily Bronte.