We meet at the Mondrian London hotel on a rainy Thursday afternoon. The skies outside might look dark, but Azamara president and chief executive Larry Pimentel radiates confidence. He is also hugely complimentary of his – fairly new – UK team, which includes Richard Twynam, who was announced as Azamara’s first UK managing director in December 2013, and joins us today.
Last year was the line’s “best ever” for the UK and Twynam insists Azamara is on track to “exceed that significantly” in 2017.
Pimentel enthuses: “The UK is more and more important to us each year. This year it is about 21% of our business and I would like it to be 25% within a short period of time.”
“No pressure then,” smiles Twynam.
Pimentel admits he’s “a little surprised” at how well Europe is doing for the brand “because there’s been so much talk of geopolitics and how it might have changed things”.
“We have not seen anything but robust bookings,” he says.
“UK guests love our product - they love the crew and the exotic nature of the itineraries.
“It’s an important market every year and there’s no exception in 2017.
“In fact, if I had my time again I would have set Azamara up [with its headquarters here] – it’s so aligned to the market place, from senior citizens to millennials.”
Since its inception, the UK Azamara team has grown to 11, covering marketing, commercial and sales, and Twynam reveals that the brand is holding final interviews for a fourth member of the sales team this week.
“The trade has always been a large part of the business’s model and that close relationship will continue,” says Pimentel.
“The trade’s role is to interpret value. They make a mistake when they’re trying to interpret low rate. For those agents, you’ve got a situation like bank tellers versus ATMs, because a machine can do that job.
“If you want to bring the brand alive it’s about storytelling.”
