Silversea to offer UK, Europe and Middle East cruise holidays from London
Silversea Cruises today announced that its London office will once again handle reservation calls for the UK, Europe and Middle East markets.
In 2003 the company folded that activity into the reservations department at its office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Silversea is seeing exceptionally strong growth potential in the European theater, but recognises that the fast pace of expansion presents challenges as well as opportunities.
To better leverage its infrastructure and drive business in the region, the ultra-luxury cruise company now considers it essential to coordinate its sales, marketing and reservation functions within the same time zone and working day.
Silversea has decided that moving reservations back to London will be a better fit operationally and bring it closer to its clients in these markets.
Reservations for the US, Canada, and South America markets will continue to be handled by Fort Lauderdale.
Kenneth Watson, Silversea’s chief operating officer, said: “By being able to service calls in the UK and Europe where our sales, marketing and administrative teams for the region are already based, it will be easier for us to react and respond more quickly to our callers’ needs and queries.
“The addition of a reservation workforce in London will also provide needed back-up support for routing reservation calls in case of severe weather or a power outage affecting our operations in Fort Lauderdale.
“Similarly, the Fort Lauderdale office can act as necessary back-up for London.”
As a result of this change, Silversea will be eliminating international reservation positions at its Fort Lauderdale office, effective January 31st 2012.
The London-based reservation department is expected to start operating in early January with transitional support from Fort Lauderdale continuing through the end of January.
Earlier this week Silversea confirmed a new distribution agreement with Amadeus which will see the travel solutions provider offer automated booking capability for traditional and online travel agents in the UK.