Q Rachel Healey& A
national sales manager, Uniworld
Q. Tell us why you are sponsoring the 2018 Agent Achievement Awards. A. The AAAs has become the event of the year for agents and one we all look forward to. These are their awards and it’s a spectacular showcase of the talent in our industry. Having won a Travel Weekly Globe Travel Award for the past two years, this is our opportunity to say thank you to all of the agents who voted for us and we’ll be hosting many of our valued partners at our Uniworld tables.
The countdown has started to the biggest celebration of travel agents in the UK – the Travel Weekly Agent Achievement Awards. Here we chat to Rachel Healey, national sales manager at Uniworld, which will be sponsoring the welcome drinks
Our headline sponsors
Q. What value do agents add to your business? A. At Uniworld and U by Uniworld, agents account for 90% of our business, so they are hugely important to us. We look to establish, foster and nurture meaningful partnerships with the trade so that they are mutually beneficial and agents are set up for success. We want to help them to keep their existing clients happy and to win more business. Uniworld offers unparalleled luxury in the river cruising sector, so agents who understand what we offer know that their customers’ expectations will always be exceeded, and this will keep them coming back.
Q. What have you done and/or what do you plan to do to improve your relationship with agents? A. The trade is always front of mind and we are working on lots of agent initiatives for the remainder of 2018 and looking forward to 2019. One of the most important tools
we can give to agents is experience of the product itself, so we are looking to get at least 50 agents away this year and 100 in 2019 to experiences either Uniworld or U by Uniworld. We recognise agents need to be able to make bookings 24/7 and we are looking to make our website transactional so that online booking will become available. We will be adding an agent resource centre to our website, where the trade can access our images, latest offers and ship maps in their marketing and sales activity. James Howlett and Lucy Hone, our Uniworld sales managers, are here to support agents with training and client evenings.
Q. Will you be promoting any particular products or services around the event? A. We’ll be focusing a lot of our attention on U by Uniworld, which is opening up river cruising to a whole new audience. Our first two ships, The A and The B, are chic, sleek, sexy and unlike anything else on the water. Laden with tech, and offering adventurous itineraries, these cruises celebrate each city’s vibrant nightlife. The reaction from trade and guests sailing on early departures has been incredible, and we are looking forward to welcoming more agents on board throughout the season. At Uniworld, we have just launched our fifth ‘Super Ship’, the SS Beatrice. This is the first vessel in our fleet to be upgraded to Super Ship status and we have exciting plans to bring all of our ships up to this standard, with River Royale to be upgraded in 2019.
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travelweekly.co.uk 31 May 2018
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