Scenic has appointed Lisa Auguste, a veteran in luxury groups cruise travel, as its new Groups Director for North America.
According to Scenic, Auguste comes with a wealth of cruise experience, much of it in the arena of groups, but also with a history in guest services, training, project management, operations, etc. Her career at Oceania Cruises grew from Manager of Reservations, Groups Department to VP of International Operations for Oceania and Regent – in the space of eight years. She then spent 18 months getting Atlas Ocean Voyages up and running in the U.S., handling and overseeing "nearly all aspects of a start-up operation" -- from launching the company’s reservations system to hiring staff to developing and implementing policies and procedures to launching the line’s group program. She has also worked for Swan Hellenic, Cunard, and Commodore Cruises.
“With the hiring of Lisa, we are reorganizing our efforts to establish a cohesive Groups Department for North America,” offered John Stunson, VP of Finance, Scenic USA.
“Lisa comes to us with significant experience in groups in the cruising world, having served as a VP, Groups at Oceania, Groups Management in Cunard, Seabourn and Celebrity, and more recently as VP of Operations and Reservations with Atlas Ocean Voyages. We look forward to her driving a new groups vision for Scenic.”
“My love is groups and developing long-term relationships with travel partners” said Auguste. “I look to build upon Scenic Group brands’ existing strengths by bringing more awareness and simplicity to the group program and make it more user friendly and profitable for travel advisors...I believe its multi-pronged direction for the future with both luxury river and ocean products which promises many great things to come.”
