I've been a Holiday Village business owner for just a year and an agent for two and a half years. Before starting the River Cruise Academy in September, I did not have a clue about the term "double docking" or accessibility on river ships. I was not really sure about water levels either. I just wasn't confident about selling it at all. River cruise was not something that I actively sold at all.
If a client asked about booking a river cruise I would literally stall the conversation as long as I could. I would then ring [Travel Village Group head of river cruise and group e-commerce manager] Lewis Johnston and ask him to help me or do as much cramming in as I could. I'm very lucky that we have a massive river cruise brand in the company, RiverCruising.co.uk. Not every agency group has that.
Last September, I paid £750 to join the second-ever River Cruise Academy. The launch event took place at StayCity Piccadilly in Manchester. Several business owners from across The Holiday Village network joined the training day led by [Travel Village Group commercial manager] Richard Cross and [Travel Village Group business development manager] Amanda Taylor.
Fam trip success
River lines like AmaWaterways, Uniworld and Emerald and Scenic each ran 30 minute sessions. After that training day, we did two webinar sessions with each supplier. There was a webinar every week.
The River Cruise Academy programme finished in March but I would say the penny really dropped when I went on an Emerald fam trip on the Douro in November. We had four nights on Emerald Radiance and one night in Porto beforehand. It was brilliant.
Going on that cruise helped me understand the purpose of the onboard lounge and how the chef brought the food to life. Those things boosted my confidence about selling river cruise.
Sarah Robson and other Holiday Village business owners on Emerald Radiance last November with Scenic and Emerald's key account manager Lewis Quigley (Credit: Sarah Robson)
In March I started working with a retirement village which has nine sites across the country. I've delivered nine educational talks now. I've actually made some river cruise bookings from that. I had to stand in front of a group of people who would ask me questions – and I couldn't ask Lewis to help me!
There was one man who has booked an AmaWaterways cruise with me. He's not travelled for years. He has lost his wife and son, uses a walking frame and didn't have a passport. Now he's going on his first cruise in July. I've told him he can absolutely do this and not to be worried.
I told him he can enjoy the views from the lounge. He is my biggest success story to date. He has even taken out travel insurance policy for a year because he wants to book another cruise.
'I was really nervous'
If I had not done this training and the River Cruise Academy I would not have pushed to do these educational talks at the retirement village. I've done five river cruise bookings so far, totalling around £25,000. The first booking I made was three and half weeks ago so river cruise is definitely on the up for me.
Where do I go from here? Well, it's all about the repeat business as the customers who have booked have not travelled yet. I benefitted because I also did the talks at the retirement village. I was really nervous when I did the first few talks. I pushed myself though.
Another thing I like about river cruise is I don't have to reduce my commission. Plus, it's an amazing way to holiday. It's also a holiday that any age group can do. If I was selling a £15,000 holiday for a family of four on land I would probably have to price match. River cruise is the biggest margin that I get.
Because the River Cruise Academy has been so successful for me, I'm now joining Holiday Village's first Touring & Adventure academy, which also lasts six months. I happy to invest my time and money into touring and adventure because the River Cruise Academy was so rewarding.
