Vicky Billing sat down with us at Riviera Travels recent 40th celebration cruise in Paris to discuss her "whirlwind" few months in the role and echoed the importance of the supplier and partner relationships that CEO Phil Hullah said play "a huge part in the success of Riviera."
Billing joined Riviera Travel as commercial partnerships manager in 2022 before taking on the role of head of trade and partnerships following a restructuring of the trade team in December 2023.
Taking on a key role amidst preparations for peaks might seem daunting to some. Vicky acknowledged that it has been "a whirlwind, in all honesty" but also a "brilliant" time to get the ball rolling as head of trade and partnerships.
"I've worked in the travel industry for 26 years, starting as a travel agent myself. I understand what it takes and what support the trade needs."
Realising a trade support-centric vision
The road to optimising the trade support approach is already well underway. The day after the celebration cruise wrapped up, Suzanne Warren joined other recent additions to the trade team, meaning Riviera now has seven dedicated trade representatives. Vicky was keen to acknowledge that, when it comes to serving the trade, "one size doesn't fit all," and that the bolstered team is the realisation of that refreshed approach.
Beyond establishing dedicated staff for the trade, last month saw the second in a now-regular series of trade engagement committee meetings. These forums are designed, as Vicky put it, to establish the idea that "there is no such thing as bad feedback... we need to know what we need to do to make things work for agents."
That feedback loop has already proved successful. Vicky highlighted: "Following peaks, we are up 50% on revenue and 42% on passenger numbers which is really impressive. That trend is still going, touch wood!"
A unified approach
Riviera isn't an operator to rest on its laurels, and its head of trade partnerships agrees: "We need to keep that [growth] going. For us to hit 200,000 passengers [by 2030] we need to make sure that the trade wants to work with us by being as easy as possible to do business with."
All that is supported by a workplace that, as this week's celebration cruise proved and Vicky emphasised, is "a gorgeous place to work," with everyone empowered to "do what we need to do and what we do best... we're all very much aligned across departments in our goals and focuses.
"My number one goal for the trade is to grow distribution to enable us to hit those targets."
Riviera Travel's 40th anniversary celebration took place aboard MS Jane Austen from March 25th to 27th, 2024.
