Hornblower Group, the parent company of the American Queen Steamboat Co., Victory Cruise Lines and a number of day-cruise companies, has been on a buying streak. After winning the bid for the troubled ShoreTrips cruise excursion company and acquiring three other land-based operators, it recently rebranded the bulk of its growing portfolio as City Experiences. Senior editor Jeri Clausing talked with Hornblower Group CEO Kevin Rabbitt about the company's strategy.
Kevin Rabbitt
Q: What's the big-picture plan?
A: Big picture is the pandemic hit us just like it did everyone else in the travel space. These are challenging times. And we made the strategic vision to invest during that time as opposed to just doing cost controls.
We really did four things. The first is we modified our strategy. We said we want to be a global experiences and transportation leader. We want to be a total experiences company, so not just water-based.
The second thing we did is we said, we have 25 brands, how do we think about our brand portfolio in a way that makes sense for our guests. So we became City Experiences. That's our umbrella brand. And we have subbrands: City Cruises, which includes [all of our day cruises] and our dining, sightseeing and private hires business; we have City Ferry; and then we have City Experiences, which is our land-based stuff.
The third thing we did was transform our digital footprint -- all of our websites, all of our mobile apps -- and we built out a proprietary ticketing system.
The last thing we did was a series of acquisitions during the pandemic. So there was Shore Excursions of America, Cruising Excursions in the U.K. and ShoreTrips. Then, most recently, we acquired Walks, a guided tour business in 14 cities, including Venice, Rome, Paris and New York.
Q: You won a court-run bid for the assets, but not the debts, of ShoreTrips, which went under owing nearly $5 million in customer refunds. Are you concerned that the brand has been tainted?
A: Our view is that they went through the process that they needed to go through. So we're looking forward as opposed to in the rearview mirror because we weren't a part of that. I can assure you that we are 100% focused on our guests and on our travel advisor partners, and under our ownership they will be treated as partners.
Q: There have been questions raised about where all that customer money that ShoreTrips supposedly held in escrow went. What assurances do advisors have about the security of future payments?
A: I'm not trying to be coy, but that was under their ownership and whatever they work out with their prior partners, they work out. We can only fix what we have now moving forward. Anything moving forward, they have the full backing of Hornblower Group, City Experiences. And if you looked at us through the pandemic, we refunded all guests that wanted refunds and we gave future cruise credits to others. We did nothing but operate as partners and we'll do the same thing moving forward.
Q: What is the role of ShoreTrips founders Barry and Julie Karp?
A:They've agreed to continue to run the day-to-day of that business, and they'll be integrated into our broader shore excursion business.
Q: Who is your private equity partner and how much have they invested?
A: Crestview Partners, which is a New York-based private equity firm that I worked with for a decade. They invested in Hornblower in 2018. They are a very strong and reputable firm that understands the industry and believes in the industry and believes in the company. ... Multiples of tens of millions of dollars is invested in the business.
Q: Might you expand into other spaces, such as multiday tour operators?
A: That would be a possibility. Our goal is to be a global experiences and transportation leader. So our pipeline is very full of potential acquisitions and anything that fits in that strategy. Other companies are excited about potentially joining us, and we're excited to continue to expand.