Riviera Australasian awards recognise excellence

Riviera’s New Zealand representative R Marine Flagship has finished the year on a positive note after being name the Australasian Dealer of the Year for 2020.

The Auckland-based dealership won multiple awards announced this week by Riviera, Australia’s largest luxury motor yacht builder. These include Service Excellence by a Dealership, Sales Excellence by a Dealership and Sales Excellence by an Individual, presented to Sam Fenwick.

Service Excellence by an Individual was awarded to Travis Edney, of R Marine Crawley on the Gold Coast. It is the second consecutive year Mr Edney has been honoured in this category.

With travel restrictions still in place, R Marine Flagship representatives were present via video link when the awards were announced at Riviera’s Gold Coast headquarters.

Riviera motor yacht owner and New Zealand boating identity Lance Fink surprised the R Marine Flagship team by personally presenting the awards on behalf of Riviera owner Rodney Longhurst to the team gathered at the dealership’s Auckland service office as they were announced.

“It was totally unexpected,” said Mr Horgan, who has a long-standing friendship with Mr Fink as a Riviera motor yacht owner.

“Lance has been a long-term and very passionate member of the New Zealand Riviera family.”

A tribute to the team

Commenting on R Marine Flagship’s award honours, Mr Horgan paid tribute to his entire team of more than 30 marine professionals.

“They absolutely delivered this year, commencing the year with the record raft-up which was a massive undertaking where they spent a lot of their own time assembling the largest gathering of Riviera motor yachts ever. All of our team are incredibly passionate about sharing their vast knowledge and thoroughly enjoy coaching and training many of our owners on boat handling, onboard systems and navigations over the course of the year.”

R Marine Flagship staged the largest ever Riviera raft-up in February, comprising 106 Riviera motor yachts gathered on Awaawaroa Bay to create a massive circle measuring 234m in diameter. The mammoth gathering beat the previous record of 48 Riviera motor yachts set in Western Australia in 2017.

The awards recognised R Marine Flagship’s exceptional customer service in all areas, which Mr Horgan credited to his team’s unique Kiwi approach.

“The Kiwi way is to adopt the owners and their families into the fold and make sure they are welcomed into the whole R Marine Flagship family to help them achieve their dreams of owning and truly enjoying their Riviera motor yacht,” he says.

Sales Excellence by an Individual winner Sam Fenwick, who started his career as a boatbuilder, firmly adheres to this principle.

“We build very close relationships with our owners and we follow through with all their service requirements. We are always here to help whenever it is needed,” he said.

“It’s humbling to receive an award like this as I wasn’t expecting it at all. I enjoy what I do, and I love being on the water in my own Riviera. Our entire team works hard to ensure we deliver the best experience possible, but we get a lot of pleasure from that as well.”

Individual service excellence

Travis Edney, the director of R Marine Crawley’s Service Centre based at Runaway Bay on the Gold Coast, is an experienced marine engineer and was equally grateful to have received the award for Service Excellence by an Individual.

“It is an honour to have been presented with the service award again this year because there are so many great service technicians in the Riviera family across all the dealerships,” said Mr Edney.

“While this is an individual award this doesn’t take anything away from the contribution from our entire team including our sales consultants who provide us with a great deal of support throughout the year. You can’t achieve great results without working as a team.”

R Marine Crawley has six full-time staff in its service team to meet the needs of its Riviera owners.

“The support we also receive from Steve Nolan and Riviera’s genuine parts team is invaluable as they always go above and beyond to ensure we perform to our best.”

Riviera owner Rodney Longhurst praised the winners of this year’s Australasian awards.

“The Riviera culture of creating and delivering the ultimate boating experience for our owners is championed with our award recipients this year,” said Mr Longhurst.

“These awards recognise the performance of our dealer representatives in enhancing the Riviera experience for our motor yacht owners, especially this year when they have all done so in the face of new challenges.

“Dean Horgan and his team at R Marine Flagship are to be congratulated for their achievements this year.

“The individual efforts of Sam Fenwick in sales at R Marine Flagship and of Travis Edney in service at R Marine Crawley, also pay tribute to the many people who perform key roles throughout our dealership network to deliver the highest level of care and support for our motor yacht owners.”