Cunard has bolstered its sales team with the appointment of former Oceania Cruises’ sales manager James Scott as the line looks to “re-energise” existing agent relationships.
New business manager Scott is one of several hires Cunard has made in the past 12 months since former strategic planning director Tom Mahoney became UK sales director last February.
The line said Scott, who will help develop and engage with agents, has “extensive” cruise experience after working at Holland America Line and Seabourn before moving to Oceania in 2019.
More: Cunard to review fare structure in 2023
Scott (pictured) is one of four business managers at Cunard.
In terms of Cunard’s onboard sales team, the line has also made two internal promotions – a senior onboard sales manager and a senior sales planning manager – in recent months.
The line is aiming to have three onboard sales managers on each ship including the incoming Queen Anne vessel in the future.
Mahoney believes Cunard has now “a team of experts” right across the business, thanks to the appointments he has made.
He said: “I really feel we’re set up incredibly well for the next year. Over the next couple of months, we are looking to work with a range of travel agents that may already book Cunard, but we’ve not had the scope to work with them closely.
“We want to reenergise the relationships as the new team has been together for almost a year now.”
He pointed out that while the business development managers were based in Southampton they would travel to meet with agents if necessary.
“We make a habit of getting on the road and seeing our travel agents,” explained Mahoney, who revealed his sales team held meetings with agents in the week before Queen Anne went on sale last May.
“Prior to Queen Anne going on sale we did a week where all of us were on the road,” he said. “James comes into the role with the remit of building that space out.”
The addition of Queen Anne to the fleet represents a 44% capacity increase for the line.
However, Mahoney said he couldn’t say what the sales team would look like with Scott in place. “We’re looking to drive more presence at head office, on high streets and with homeworkers,” he added. “Whether we end up with people on the road or not is to be decided.
“The way we work with travel agents has evolved over Covid. For me, what’s important is how effectively we’re engaging with agents.”
Mahoney pledged to “elevate” the line’s fam trip programme this year with more agent spaces and trips available.
“We saw the highest single booking day in the last decade when Queen Anne went on sale,” Mahoney added. “We’ve seen demand increase when 2023 went on sale. We’re only a few days into the new year but we’re seeing the travel agent cohort build on last year.”
He added that Cunard was looking to “outperform” booking levels of “some years before Covid”.
“It’s extremely encouraging,” he said.