ROL Cruise contacted by ‘five or six’ agencies about new employee ownership model

In an exclusive interview with TTG, Cairns and Wikevand revealed they had been “getting lots of questions” from other agencies since making the switch. 

“We’ve had five or six [agencies] get in touch and ask for advice about how EOTs work and what you need to do,” Cairns said. “We’ve got good contacts in travel. They all seemed very interested in the model and wanted to find out a bit more.”

Cairns explained that while there is a lot that businesses wanting to change to an EOT model need to do, the process is relatively seamless. Plus, any debt incurred during the transition can be paid back over a number of years, added Cairns. “It was a lot of hard work to put it all together but, overall, it’s been positive,” she continued.

‘Powerful message’

As part of the process, former ROL Cruise chair Jeremy Dickinson joined the board of corporate trustees allowing him to continue to shape the company’s direction. 

“Jez is still here to offer us support, guidance and be part of the trust,” said Cairns, who added this ensured a “softer transition”. “It’s quite normal with EOTs for the exiting shareholder to remain on the board of trustees,” she explained. 

Cairns said delivering the news to ROL Cruise’s 138 staff was “incredible” and “the most rewarding thing” she will ever do. “It was very emotional,” she said. “There were lots of tears from everybody. We’ve all been in this together – it’s been hard work. 

“It’s a really powerful message. We’ve probably talked about it for the past five to six months, but we had to get into a position where we had fully recovered from the pandemic. In the last six months it had become more of a discussion point.” 

According to Wikevand, recruitment was a key focus when becoming an EOT; she described ROL Cruise’s employees as the firm’s biggest asset. “Around 34% of our staff have been with us for more than a decade," she said.

"We’ve got a really strong length of service across our sales team. There’s been a lot of talk across the industry about the cost of recruitment, but we know that investing in staff is key. 

“We’re selling really high-value holidays here, and people have got to know what they’re talking about. Our staff are our biggest asset.” 

Wikevand highlighted how staff retention within ROL Cruise’s sales and commercial teams is high. “Sales teams normally have quite a high turnover of staff,” said Wikevand. “The staff with the longest length of service mainly sit within the commercial and sales departments. 

“For us, it’s important to have that because you’re selling cruise and you’re often talking to customers who know a huge amount about the cruise line they want to sail with.”