Hotels entering cruise sector ‘best thing that has happened in years’

Luxury hotels entering the cruise industry will bring growth and opportunities into the sector, leading executives told this year’s Clia Conference.

There will be 56 new luxury ships entering the market in the next four years, 30% of which will have capacity for fewer than 1,000 passengers, including several from hotel brands like the Ritz Carlton and the Four Seasons entering service from 2026.

Speaking at the Clia Conference in Southampton, Regent Seven Seas and Oceania Cruises senior vice-president for international and consumer sales Steve Odell said: “Personally, I think hotels like the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton entering the sector is the best thing that has happened to the cruise industry for the last few years.

“It means more people are being spoken to that were not before and that is good for all of us. Those new passengers will stay in cruise if we do things right.”

He added that Ritz Carlton alone could introduce 185 million people who had never thought about a cruise before to the industry through its partnership with Mariott Bonvoy.

Seabourn president Mark Tamis agreed with this sentiment, highlighting the new entrants as one of the things he was most excited about for the industry over the next three years.

He said: “When you saw the chart earlier with all the new hotel brands coming into cruise, I think it is fantastic because it is doing two things: bringing up an entire new audience who might not have considered cruise and helping combat misconceptions.

“It is expanding the market and really targeting within that funnel those guests that are ready to take this step into luxury, so I’m really excited about the growth in this industry.”

Both Odell and Tamis also highlighted luxury cruise lines could learn a lot from having established shoreside hotels coming into cruise.

Odell cited research conducted by the cruise line which found there were 436,000 potential luxury cruisers in the UK, which rose to 6.6 million globally.

He also forecast the luxury market would grow by 10% by 2028, and that there were more Gen X, multi-generation and solo travellers sailing with Regent Seven Sea Cruises and Oceania Cruises.

Odell urged agents to “not be afraid of luxury”, adding: “Do not be afraid to ask questions and do not ever assume what a customer can spend.

“Be confident and pick people out. Choose 20 people out of your database and target them, work on them, because everybody has a luxury customer.”

Speaking to Travel Weekly after his session, he said: “There’s an opportunity to invest in luxury and become a player in it. There aren’t enough active travel agents selling luxury.”

He added: “The UK has the potential to be so much bigger [part of the luxury market], particularly with the concentration of wealth here and propensity to travel.”

In a pre-conference survey, 83% of delegates said luxury cruising made up less than 25% of their business, 48% said they had limited or no knowledge of luxury cruising and 38% said knowledge was the main barrier to selling more luxury cruises.