As the Travel Consultant for our tour operator business, you will be at the forefront of shaping our travel offerings through determining clients' needs and suggesting suitable travel itineraries. Your ability to organise travel from beginning to end, will directly impact our competitiveness, profitability, and the overall quality of the travel experiences we provide.
Your multifaceted expertise in operations, client experience, supplier engagements, and communication and reporting, ensures a holistic approach to manage top client experience and drive business success. By supplying travellers with pertinent information and useful travel/holiday materials, you play a pivotal role in maintaining efficiency and consistency throughout the clients journey. Your contributions across these key performance areas and reporting requirements will be vital in achieving our organisational goals and further establishing our tour operator business as a leader in the industry.
Your responsibilities will include, but will not be limited to:
- Acting as the first (and best!) point of contact for international clientele interested in booking tailor-made holidays and safaris on the continent
- Wow-ing existing and potential clients with first-hand knowledge of African properties and destinations
- Preparing attractive quotations and itineraries that complement individual client expectations and budgets
- Effectively actioning the travel booking process at all levels (including booking hotel rooms, car rentals, lodges etc. as per customer confirmation)
- Collecting client payments - ka-ching! - and approving supplier invoices for payment
- Providing customer support before, during and after travel - ensuring client retention
- Meeting and exceeding monthly and quarterly sales targets set by company Sales Manager
- Work directly with Sales Managers to resolve client travel issues
- Customer service-related responsibilities from client
- Send all escalations for Sales Support to direct line manager
- Work with external suppliers on a regular basis via telephone and email communications to ensure all aspects of booking from supplier end is resolved
- Work with our rates team to resolve rates-related tasks
- Log all required tickets relating to rates and product and communicate effectively with support areas
- Communication with Sales Support areas
- A National Senior Certificate/Matric - Diploma/Degree in tourism advantageous
- 5 years minimum experience within the tour operator environment
- The ability to craft tailor-made experiences based on the clients needs and specific requirements from the Spanish market.
- Destination knowledge in Southern Africa
- Working experience of tour operating software
- The ability to influence clients
- Great communication skills
- Understanding of the market's trends and needs
- High level of client centricity