AmaWaterways River Cruises is a luxury and premium river cruise company creating voyages across Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Its travel portfolio includes themed itineraries focused on wine, seasonal markets, castles, music, beer, wellness, hiking, golf, and cultural heritage, including Soulful Experiences developed with partners such as Smithsonian Journeys. The company combines curated onboard programs with guided shore excursions, extended land packages, and digital guest tools such as the myAmaCruise app. Its fleet includes ships including AmaMagna, AmaRudi, AmaNubia, and AmaMagdalena, while its broader offering includes solo traveler specials, air packages, and a loyalty program. As a travel and hospitality employer, AmaWaterways River Cruises hires teams supporting cruise operations, guest experiences, and the delivery of its international journeys.
Vice President of Reservations - AmaWaterways, Calabasas, CA
Lead AmaWaterways’ global reservations organization from its Calabasas, California office, overseeing domestic and offshore teams. Improve sales conversion, service quality, technology adoption and team performance across river cruise reservations.
Description
- Direct AmaWaterways’ global Reservations organization, including domestic and offshore teams
- Set operating standards, performance expectations and accountability for reservations activities
- Improve staffing, scheduling, workforce management and resource allocation
- Oversee contact center capacity planning, call routing, queue management, escalations and service delivery
- Prepare and manage departmental budgets, staffing plans and operating expenses
- Increase reservations sales performance through stronger conversion, productivity, coaching and execution
- Define and track KPIs such as conversion, booking volume, revenue productivity, service levels, response times and quality
- Collaborate with Sales and Revenue Management on commercial priorities, promotions, inventory and revenue opportunities
- Promote excellent guest experiences and productive relationships with travel advisors
- Create escalation procedures and resolution standards for complex inquiries
- Work with Technology to improve reservations platforms, telephony, CRM, reporting tools and contact center capabilities
- Lead automation, self-service, process enhancements and adoption of new systems
- Develop reporting and dashboards that provide visibility for data-driven decisions
- Build, develop and retain the Reservations leadership team across locations and teams
- Oversee performance management, coaching, talent development, succession planning and organizational change
- Partner with Sales, Revenue Management, Technology, Marketing, Finance, Operations and Guest Services
- Give leadership insight into operational performance, challenges and opportunities for improvement
- Support business initiatives, product launches, promotional campaigns and reservations process changes
- Align performance expectations with external service partners
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Hospitality Management or a related discipline preferred; equivalent experience may be considered
- At least 10 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in reservations, contact center operations, sales operations or customer service
- Demonstrated experience managing managers and large teams
- Background leading complex, high-volume, sales-focused contact center operations, ideally across multiple locations or geographies
- Experience in travel, hospitality, cruise or a related service sector strongly preferred
- Record of improving sales conversion, service levels, productivity, operational efficiency and customer satisfaction
- Strong knowledge of workforce management, contact center technology, CRM systems, performance reporting and quality assurance
- Experience overseeing offshore operations, outsourced service providers or globally distributed teams
- Experience guiding organizational change, deploying technology and improving operational processes
- Strong financial capability, including budget oversight, staffing optimization and performance-based resource planning
- Excellent communication, collaboration, problem-solving and executive leadership abilities
- Ability to work in a professional office setting, including extended periods seated and working at a computer
- Ability to communicate effectively in virtual meetings, by telephone and in person
- Willingness to work flexible hours when needed to support global operations and business priorities
Benefits
- Performance-based incentive opportunities
- Professional development support
- Onboarding, training and continuing skills development
- Reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities
- Occasional domestic and international travel
- Flexible working hours when needed to support global operations