But for County Durham’s Cruise365, the stars aligned and its long-awaited £40,000 office refurbishment was completed last week – well within its scheduled five-week construction window.
Builders started work on 2 August and left the premises in Crook just before Royal Caribbean International key account manager Caroline Barnett arrived to host the first event at the new-look offices on 4 September.
Owner Anthony Blackmore explained part of the rationale for the overhaul was to allow Cruise365 to host more in-office events with suppliers rather than having to hire a nearby hotel.
"We’ve just had our first cruise event, with some existing customers as well as some new ones too. Everyone was blown away by the new office. It’s very engaging,” he told TTG.
To support his point, Blackmore revealed staff have already booked 24 customers who attended the event onto Royal’s ships, with more sales expected in the coming days.
“We’ve done events previously at hotels where you’re hoping the WiFi doesn’t drop out,” added Blackmore. “This is one of the reasons why we decided to do the refit.”
The agency is now poised for a buoyant autumn with Princess Cruises, Ambassador Cruise Line and Riviera Travel, among other suppliers, set to host events at the renovated office in the coming months.
Blackmore said the agency plans to host at least two events a month. The events will be hosted in partnership with suppliers or solely for the benefit of Cruise365 customers.
Free car parking spots outside the office in the small market town of Crook will support the agency’s new events push, Blackmore said.
Cruise365 has been based in Crook since 2001 and targets customers from across the country, but Blackmore decided to diversify the business and had started offering local clients in-person appointments in recent years.
However, the arrival of the pandemic meant Blackmore quickly had to shelve these plans.
Speaking this month following the office refurbishment, Blackmore said: “The whole building is 3,500sq/ft across two floors. We had a front office where only people who were interested would come in, while the back office was more for admin.
“We’ve knocked down the wall so it’s a nice big open space. While it looks like a travel agency, we want to be an appointment-only business.
"We want Cruise365 to be seen as a cruise, touring and adventure, and luxury suite – that is how we want to be defined. We will not sell fly and flop holidays in the Med. We’ve always been a cruise and worldwide specialist.”
Asked whether Cruise365 sought opinions from outside the business to create an atmosphere customers found “engaging”, Blackmore said: “We have 36 years’ experience so a lot of the planning was done in-house. A lot of the builders have come from local areas.
"We know how well this is going to go with the team that we’ve got, the social media that we put out and the engagement we get from that. Because we promote nationally, we’ve always had customers from across the country. Now we want to attract more customers locally.”
So, what does the future hold once staff settle back into the refurbed office? “The long-term ambition is four to five concept stores, maybe starting with Edinburgh and then perhaps Cheshire,” explained Blackmore. “It will be a case of looking at opportunities building by building.”
For the time being though, Cruise365 has created itself an office building to be proud of, which could propel Blackmore and his team to even greater heights.
