A NICE LITTLE EARNER

In just four years, Riviera Travel has gone from zero to hero with independent agents thanks to its British style, keen prices and a no-discount policy. Head of trade sales Joseph Grimley explains all. 

BY JANE ARCHER

Four years ago agents could be forgiven if they had never heard of Riviera Travel given the company, set up in 1984, sold exclusively through newspaper reader offers. But that was then. Following a decision in 2012 to start selling through the trade, these days any agent worth their salt should not only have heard of the company but be actively promoting it to their clients.

Why? Well for starters it is the biggest escorted tour operator in the UK and the second-biggest river cruise company, in terms of capacity sold, in Britain. More importantly, its prices undercut competitors’ by a significant margin, it never discounts and its British style, described by managing director David Clemson as ‘refreshingly oldfashioned’ (in other words it does not follow the current trend for minimalist décor) is hugely popular with retired professionals, all from the UK.
It all translates into a high repeat factor, which means it is a nice little earner for the trade.
Head of trade sales Joseph Grimley said: “We offer a five-star product but our lead cabins are about £500 per person cheaper than other five-star river cruise lines.” When it comes to balcony cabins, he estimates Riviera is almost half the price, quoting £1,800 per person against an average of around £3,500.
Fares include flights, transfers and one excursion per port. “British passengers want to have free time in a destination or to spend time cruising by day,” Grimley said. Eurostar is available as an alternative to flying on some itineraries (Riviera is Eurostar’s third biggest client in the world), and the company can also offer good deals on regional rail connections in the UK.

A morning cuppa
To attract the British market cabins are equipped with kettles (except on the Swiss Sapphire, which sails on the Seine) and Riviera even flies PG Tips out to the vessels so passengers can have their favourite brand of tea. Since the launch of Lord Byron in 2013, Riviera’s new vessels have been named after British literary figures “to help passengers feel at home”.
The decision to start selling through the trade came from a chance meeting between Clemson and an agent who said clients were always asking about Riviera and wanted to know why she couldn’t sell the product.
Grimley, who had a strong cruise, tour and retail background, was appointed to set up the trade arm in April 2012 and it has grown in leaps and bounds ever since. He was originally solely responsible for agency sales, but now heads up a team of three – assistant manager Darren Mussell, sales executive Nichola Gaunt and trade marketing executive Tom Morgan.
He said: “We work with about 2,000 agents, but only independents and only those who are ABTA-bonded.”
He estimates that the trade now accounts for about 25% of sales, which is healthy growth by any standard. “We are popular with agents because we don’t discount, which gives them a strong early-booking message, but we do protect their commission if a client looks to book direct. We don’t work with multiples because they discount and that also gives independent agents exclusivity; we will always do our best to rearrange bookings if there is a problem or a mistake has been made.”
Riviera currently operates nine river cruise boats, most of them operated by Swiss company Scylla, which also operates Tauck’s vessels (Riviera actually shares the Swiss Sapphire with Tauck on the Seine, with each company having their own dedicated departures, although this will change in 2017). However, a lot of fleet and product changes are coming up this year and next.

Rhône and Seine
For this year, Riviera has chartered the Countess from Avalon Waterways to sail the Rhône in France between Lyon and Avignon. It will be replaced in 2017 by Riviera’s Lord Byron, which moves from the Rhine to the Rhône. Cruises on the Elbe River, which were operated by Swiss Ruby, have been dropped due to problems of low water throughout 2015.
In 2017 the vessel will move to the Seine and be used exclusively by Riviera, leaving Tauck to operate a full season on Swiss Sapphire. Also this year, Riviera is offering escorted land extensions to the river cruises. Options include four days in Budapest at the end of a voyage on the Danube for £399 per person and a fourday Glacier Express tour at the end of a Rhine river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel priced £599 per person.
Coming up in 2017, Riviera is launching three more vessels – the Emily Brontë, Thomas Hardy and Oscar Wilde – on the Rhine and Danube. They will carry 169 passengers and have balcony suites measuring 274 square feet.
Also next year, Riviera will launch the new Douro Elegance on the Douro in Portugal (the river joined Riviera’s programme in 2015 and has been hugely popular, according to Grimley) and start offering cruise-only prices so ATOL-bonded agents can package their own holidays.
Finally, a call at the Slovakian capital of Bratislava will be added to the 14-day Heart of Europe cruise between Cologne and Budapest. Riviera has tulip cruises departing from Amsterdam but otherwise all its cruises start in Cologne.