Riverside Luxury Cruises will lean on established high-end travel agencies and consortia to build brand awareness and target the niche high-net-worth market in the Australia and New Zealand, says Charlie Hewitt-Davies, UK, Ireland, Australia & New Zealand Managing Director. The company has pinpointed the likes of Flight Centre Travel Group’s Luxury Travel Collection and agencies within luxury travel network, Virtuoso, to build scale down under.
Launched in Europe in 2023, Riverside Luxury Cruises currently has three ships in operation, all vessels of the former Crystal River Cruises which collapsed under previous owners during the pandemic. Riverside Mozart, Riverside Ravel and Riverside Debussy sail on the Danube, Rhône and Saône, and Rhine rivers respectively. In 2028, Riverside Mahler will join the fleet after serving Uniworld under a long-term charter deal, and sister-ship Riverside Bach could possibly follow in subsequent years, boosting Riverside’s fleet to five (all of which parent company Seaside Hotel Collection acquired in 2022).
Riverside Luxury Cruises is strongly supported from the U.S. with North America the brand’s number one source market. Owners Gregor and sister Anouchka Gerlach see untapped potential from the ANZ region.
“We’re really serious about this market,” Hewitt-Davies told LATTE yesterday while in Sydney from London.
“We want to work with small partners, the right partners, and really launch ourselves in the right place to the right people.”
“We’ve got an exciting product that is different from anything else,” she says. “It is ultra-luxury and has inherited the DNA of the Seaside Hotel Collection.”
Seaside has a dozen boutique luxury hotels in Germany, the Maldives and the Canary Islands (Spain), some of which are members of Design Hotels and Autograph Collection, which speaks volumes as to the standard of the offering. But it’s the Grand Hotel Residencia, in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria that is aligned with The Leading Hotels of the World, that Hewitt-Davies boasts most about.
“The ethos of the hotel has been integrated into the ships, the culinary experiences, the service, etc. It is beyond exceptional,” she explains.
Hewitt-Davies says the river cruise product is “a lot more fitting for a slightly younger client” compared to the typical river cruiser because of the excursions on offer, such as bike rides and wine-tasting trips, and catering for different age groups and interests, be it art, culinary, or activities like kayaking and hiking –that’s attracting a wider audience.” Riverside also offers personalised excurions beyond the shore excursions menu, such as private helicopter tours.
“Key to this is positioning ourselves in front of the right people in the right way, and I believe we’re better doing that through the likes of Luxury Travel Collection and Virtuoso agents, because they have the right databases, their clients are a natural fit, and we can be very targeted in our marketing,” she said.
Hewitt-Davies said Riverside is also keen to sign partners in New Zealand. “We’re a small business, we’re still launching, it’s not about working with hundreds of partners. It’s about working with a handful that are right, and building those relationships. It’s got to be a two-way street.”
“It’s really about us being very selective and targeting those key top-end agencies.”
“Riverside is positioned as the most premium product on the river, and the price point is very much a reflection of the overall experience on offer. From the industry leading guest-to-staff ratio and outstanding levels of service, to the quality of produce and food and beverage offerings, as well as the exclusive Connoisseur and Signature Excursions excursion service, the value guests receive is truly commensurate with what they pay. It is a case of getting exactly what you pay for, and then some.”
She glowed about this week’s Leaders Who Lunch event in Sydney with LTC, telling LATTE “that’s the sort of thing we want to be doing, getting in front of those advisors that we know have the database, because at the end of the day, we’re not for everyone.”
“The fact that we are a Virtuoso partner also gives travel advisors a lot of confidence in our product.”
Famils also form part of Riverside’s strategy to educate the ANZ market, with a Christmas Market sailing for some local advisors a priority this year. “For this level of product, firsthand experience is key.”
Hewitt-Davies said chartering two ships to Uniworld on long-term deals – S.S Elisabeth (Riverside Mahler) and S.S. Victoria (Riverside Bach) was a “clever strategy” for the company.
“We just launched and we wanted to get things right. To start building our brand slowly, ensuring we get the right people on the right ships, and that we’ve got the service levels in order.” Entering the market with a full fleet of five luxury ships as an unknown entity may have been a challenge, she eluded.
In the medium-term, Hewitt-Davies said Riverside is looking to return to Australia next March for a number of partner events. “With Stuart our eyes and ears on the ground here now, I want to solidify our relationships here,” she said.
