Riviera River Cruises is Calling All Travel Agents!

Riviera Travel, a British tour and river cruise operator now active in the U.S. market as Riviera River Cruises, is seeking to work with travel agents by offering such lucrative incentives as lifetime commissions and training programs.

The company markets 11 river ships in the U.S., six of which are new in 2017 and 2018. The product is billed as a five-star, contemporary and value priced. “We were the No. 1 seller of river cruises in the U.K. last year, surpassing Viking. Obviously, the U.K. market is not as large as the U.S., and, in all honesty, the company wants to grow its product line,” said Jana Tvedt, vice president at Riviera Travel’s U.S. national sales office in Fairfield, Conn.

“Riviera Travel in the U.K. is a cruise and tour operator with 120 products. In the U.S., we’re just marketing the Europe river cruise product and 11 ships.”

It’s important to note how Riviera differentiates itself from its river cruise competitors. “We’re not trying to be like everybody else. We see ourselves as offering a classic river cruise, and we don’t try to be all things to all people. Some lines offer different levels of activities, but with choice comes expense, and the more choices offered, the more expensive the cruise gets,” Tvedt said, adding that the line does have bicycles on board.

Another key outcome of keeping the price reasonable is that alcoholic drinks are not included in the fare. “Our philosophy is you don’t pay for what you don’t use. Tips are discretionary, and we know our competition includes unlimited wine and beer,” she said. “But if you’re not a drinker, you’re paying for that anyway. Some competitors include mixed drinks in the bar, so if you’re not drinking three margaritas every night, you’re not getting the deal.It just goes into the core value of our company—don’t pay for what you don’t use.”

There are also no promotions and no discounts. “We don’t put out brochures with the prices slashed out,” Tvedt said. “It’s important for travel agents to sell products with confidence, knowing clients can’t get them cheaper anywhere else.”

However, Riviera now offers a beverage package. “We added a drinks package for 2018 so we could be competitive. It’s $129 for a seven-night cruise and includes unlimited beer, wine, and soft drinks,” Tvedt said. “The liquor is ordered à la carte. If you don’t get the package, a large beer close to a pint is 4 euros and a glass of wine is 2.50 euros. We’re not going to overcharge you, because we want you to have a great vacation.”

What also sets Riviera apart is the cruising pace of its vessels. “We include all excursions and don’t offer any optional excursions. But I will say our cruising style is a little different with a more relaxed pace,” she said. “We tend to cruise a little more during the day, and we also like to stay longer in port, often until 10, 11 or midnight, so people can experience an evening in port.”

On the agent front, Tvedt explained how the lifetime commission policy works. “After a travel agent secures a client’s initial booking with Riviera River Cruises, the agent will receive a commission on all subsequent bookings that client makes directly with Riviera,” she said. “Travel agents must be registered through Riviera’s Travel Agency Portal to receive the lifetime commission benefit. Commissions are not paid if a client books through an agent with a different IATA or CLIA number than the one registered with Riviera Travel.”

If an agent brings a client to the line and a year or two goes by and that client later contacts the company directly, the original travel advisor will receive credit for that booking. “They’ll still get the commission, and that goes on and on and on. If that client books with a different agent, it doesn’t work anymore,” Tvedt said. “We’re very, very keen on the travel agent community. We’re offering the Travel Agent Academy course, so agents can learn about the product, and we’re going to every tradeshow you can think of to get out to the agent community.”

Riviera also offers attractive deals for solo travelers, including two departures exclusively for singles with the supplement waived—the Nov. 1 “Blue Danube” cruise and the Nov. 6 “Burgundy, the River Rhône Provence” voyage.

Plus, four or five cabins on every departure on every ship are designed as single-supplement free, Tvedt said. “We operate 300 departures a year, so that’s a lot of cabins,” she said. “However, they go very, very quickly—for 2018 they’re basically all gone.”