The Cruise Room has hired two new staff members with more than 50 years’ experience between them to join its team as the agency looks to open a second branch.
Former TUI staff Charmione Lloyd (pictured left) and Angela Williams (pictured right) have both joined the Wirral-based cruise specialist this week.
The appointments bring the number of staff to six.
Charmione and Angela, who both worked for TUI for 26 years, have joined the cruise specialist agency on a full-time basis and a part-time basis respectively.
Charmione will work on new enquiries in her Cruise Planner position, while Angela takes up the role of Guest Experience Officer and will focus on tickets, balances and guest experience.
Angela, who will work two days a week, left TUI during the pandemic after the branch she managed closed down. She managed several TUI shops in the north west of England over 12 years.
Agency Director Robbie O’Grady said: “We were at a point where we needed to recruit people with experience.
“We need an experienced team, so we can train people with no travel experience coming into the business.
“Charmione was someone who was at the top of our wish list.”
By the end of the month, Robbie said the agency plans to hire an apprentice who can be trained up by the current team.
Robbie and Co-Director Jonathan Howitt, who has previously worked with Charmione at TUI, also plan to hire two more staff by the end of the year.
Robbie and Jonathan are identifying suitable properties in different regions around the country to expand the business.
“We’re soon going to have too many people for the store, which is a good thing because its shows our growth,” added Robbie.
“We’ve been looking at other properties for the past six, seven months. Now we’ve got a team to take care of the store we can push on with that search.”
Asked about current booking levels, Robbie said: “It’s been really good for us. It just keeps on growing month-on-month.
“People were reporting a bit of a downturn in June, but it was probably our most profitable month since we started the business.”