Podcast
Episode 20: Elegance on the Water with Riverside Luxury Cruises
Combining personalized service with elegance on water, Riverside Luxury Cruises makes a name for itself as an exquisite way to immerse travelers in European culture while floating down the Danube.
My conversation with Jennifer Halboth, CEO of Riverside Collection, Americas, started off with exciting news that broke the morning of our recording—Riverside Luxury Cruises had just been announced as a preferred partner for Virtuoso, which will provide a large opportunity for exposure for the young brand. What followed was a delightful conversation about the way Riverside has expanded awareness via relationships with travel advisors, and a peek into what a luxury cruise along the most iconic rivers in Europe looks like, complete with a private butler and botanist cocktail in hand.
While Jen has been with Riverside for the past three years, she began her career with the Colorado Avalanche (influenced by her childhood growing up in a hockey-loving family) and was notably marked by a championship ring from 1995. She is a Colorado-enthusiast, through and through, living just 15 minutes from Red Rocks Amphitheatre and frequenting their incredible shows from touring artists. From working in professional sports, she moved into radio, footwear, and eventually landing with Globus Family of Brands, where she learned all about the touring and river cruising industry over the span of 19 years.
The Riverside brand was created with a desire to occupy the top luxury spot in river cruising. They stay elevated by having impeccably designed ships, 24-hour private service and gourmet cuisine. Three main ships comprise the brand—Riverside Mozart, Riverside Ravel and Riverside Debussy. One of the most charming times of year to partake in a Riverside cruise is during the holiday season, when Riverside Mozart sails down the Danube through Christmas markets in Europe. The parent company, Seaside Collection Hotels, is a family-run business founded in the 1970s with owned and operated hotels across Europe, plus four in the Canary Islands and a private island in the Maldives.
Competition for guests comes from luxury hotels and resorts, as Riverside positions itself as a five-star hotel experience on water. The huge draw of river cruising is the idea that travelers get to take back the sometimes exhausting travel time of hopping from city to city during traditional land vacations; rather, they can sit back and enjoy a glass of Taittinger as the ship sails to each new destination. River cruising is a flexible way to travel. Guests can choose adventures and excursions at each city port, or they can enjoy the spa on ship or take in the sun on the upper vista deck with a craft cocktail.
“Typical [Riverside] guests are those younger at heart, someone who is an independent, savvy traveler who’s looking for adventure without the hassle.”
Travel advisors are a huge strategic focus to grow awareness for the brand, especially as booking windows fluctuate and shrink year over year, starting with the frontline advisors up (versus top down partnerships). Their aim is to be as personalized in working with the travel advisor as they are with the guests on board, all with the goal of creating an environment of authenticity for everyone involved.
“That’s when people are at their best, when they are truly free to be who they are.”
Regarding technology, Riverside is working towards enhancing human elements and creativity, but not focusing on innovating as they are in the younger years of the brand. In Jen’s view, at the end of the day, technology may make things easier, but it’s not the thing that guests rave about. In fact, guests frequently take the time to write in notes of gratitude post-cruise, which Jen credits entirely to the crews and butlers onboard who go above and beyond to surprise and delight Riverside travelers. One memory comes to mind when Jen was cruising: following a pub crawl excursion in Dusseldorf, the crew decided guests should come back to a hearty food spread inspired by the destination and offered freshly made breads, sausages, sauerkraut, everything a guest would love as a late night snack.
To wrap up our conversation, I asked Jen our signature LTI rapid fire questions. For personal travel, she is heading to Los Angeles to see Oasis at the Rose Bowl (and is particularly excited to hear Wonderwall performed live). Looking back at the past of travel, she wishes you could still meet your loved ones at the airport gate. For future innovation, she thinks teleportation is the element we are all waiting for to make everything simplified. Another element that is so close to the market is the ease of travel with a central booking system. Combined with teleportation, think of all the hours saved to spend more time doing the things you love.
Thank you, Jen, for joining me on this episode of Luxury Travel Innovators, available to listen to and watch on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Youtube.
