Times Destination Show, Olympia, London

In January 2019, I had been working in the Riviera Travel River Cruise Operations team for approximately 5 months, having moved department from the customer reservations department. I was now fully immersed into my new role and working hard to balance my preparations for the upcoming training presentations, that we would be giving in Dusseldorf shortly, and also the various preparatory administrative tasks for those ships entrusted to me. Despite this, the company needed people to represent Riviera Travel greeting potential clients and promoting the company and its complete spectrum of products on a stand at The Times Destination Show in The Olympia Stadium, London. Riviera Travel would be one of over 600 of the leading and best independent travel brands, including tour operators and over 70 tourist boards from around the world all competing for the attention of the numerous prospective clients.

Despite my other duties, I immediately offered my services to be part of the team chosen to represent the company over the weekend at this prestigious event. Through a combination of my personal experience travelling and the product knowledge gained through the months working in the Reservations department, I was successfully selected for this role.

I worked with two colleagues to set up the stall, keep it stocked with brochures and attract clients to our stand. We worked together to answer client queries, promote the company, hold spaces on holidays and complete bookings. It was an extremely successful day in which we received excellent feedback from both clients and colleagues alike. It also served to give me direct contact with a sample of the company’s typical clientele which I felt would be useful experience when dealing with them indirectly in the future.