Tui veteran Charmione Lloyd has begun a new role at The Cruise Room as part of the agency’s expansion.
Lloyd, who worked as a senior travel consultant at Tui for more than 26 years, has been appointed as cruise planner and is tasked with working on new enquiries.
Her appointment brings the team to a total of six.
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The Cruise Room celebrated its second birthday last month and said it has “ambitious” growth plans for its third year in business.
Agency director Robert O’Grady told Travel Weekly it is a “game changer” having Lloyd join the team, which he hopes to expand to eight people by the end of the year.
“Charmione joining is a real game changer for us. Someone of her experience and talent leaving an established brand to join us is extremely encouraging as it shows we are an attractive proposition so we are thrilled to have her join us on a full time basis from Monday,” he said.
“Charmione has been with Tui over 20 years, most recently becoming Tui’s regional cruise expert.
“She will now put her cruise industry passion and expertise into focusing solely on cruise at The Cruise Room.”
O’Grady went on to say he is looking to take on a second premises alongside the flagship store in Wirral, and hinted at further expansion plans in the future.
“We’ve put a lot into our current premises so that will remain our HQ, but we are keen to take on a second premises nearby which could work as a back office and then also a second store,” he added.
“Ideally we would have already had the second shop in place by now, but we haven’t found the right premises and we don’t want to compromise.
“Our overall intention is to have multiple stores across the UK and Ireland as oppose to just one or two.”