Senior Travel Consultant
Becoming a senior consultant takes a special kind of person. One that loves challenges and can handle a lot of stress You have to be qualified with at least a 1 year Travel & Tourism certificate. The rest comes from experience on the job itself. A senior can face any challenge a client brings to the table, it being a complicated routing, a destination you not familiar with etc. Even as a senior you still learn new things everyday.
You have to be able to do international bookings, car hire and accommodation. You have to be able to sell and issue insurance and forex to your client. You must be able to assist your client in applying for a visa. On the leisure side one has to be able to sell packages and put together competitive itineraries. As a senior you either have to be well travelled or have a lot of knowledge about a destination. A senior has to know short cuts on the system to make life easier for them.
Intermediate Travel Consultant
As an intermediate you start facing the life of international bookings, including flights, hotels and cars. You learn to do point to point tickets internationally and set packages to Mauritius and the Far East (China) etc. You also learn to sell and issue travel insurance and how to apply for visas. Domestic bookings will become boring once you have tasted the world of international travel arrangements - much more challenging.
Purpose of Job
. Competent handling of all aspects of domestic, regional & basic international travel
. To ensure customer satisfaction
. To enhance profitability
. To sustain clients
Key Job Functions
. Meet and exceed agreed commission targets
. Build relationships with clients to ensure loyalty and repeat business
. Organise and process travel insurance
. Manage and control own queues (booking files)
. Arrange collection or delivery of travel documentation
. Compile, type and distribute client itineraries
. Collect payment from clients and forward to
. Accounts then Follow up on e-mail enquiries
. Prepare and process quotes enquiries
. Present quotes to clients personally or by telephone, fax or e-mail
. Process refunds as per back office requirements
. Sell all local packages/flights/accommodation/car hire & specials on offer.
. Compile and calculate fares and upgrades
. Process visas correctly and timeously
. Do Fare Building Issue in exchange of tickets
. Selling and issuing of Voyager tickets
. Understanding of net remit and IT tickets
. Sell air passes correctly
. Correctly reserve UMNR, special meals, bikes; MAAS, etc.
. Correctly issue MPD's and all air ticket types
. Process refunds according to back office requirements
Key Skills/Competencies
. Good product knowledge & sound geographical knowledge
. Knowledge of inter-airline policies and endorsement procedures
. Understanding and ability to interpret and explain fare rules
. Ability to use and save programmable keys (P-KEYS)
. Full understanding of e-mail procedures and how to save contacts
. Fully conversant with preferred partners frequent flyer programmes
Full understanding and use of :
. BSP *Internet Forex *Internet Insurance * Fare Finder *Galileo
. Contacts programme *Quicktrav accounting package *Right Fax
. Special deals
. Ability to use the company intranet
. Ability to build BARS/PARS and use with all reservations
. Full understanding and ability to sell service fees
. Enthusiasm to follow paperless procedures and use processors if required
. Give 3 international quotes; 2 domestic quotes, including the cheapest quote at the time.
. Commitment to preferred partners
. Time management: ability to Prioritise, plan and meet deadlines
. Ability to handle pressure and volume - multitasked
. Attendance to company meetings and functions/team building
Key Qualities
. Effective communication & interpersonal skills
. Committed to service excellence - putting client first
. Customer service, Accept challenges, Positive attitude
. The will to want to resolve problems - proactive & lateral thinker
. Teamwork and enthusiasm to assist colleagues
. Feedback friendly, Energetic and presentable person
Educational Requirements
. Relevant travel qualification including Galileo
. Good understanding of Quicktrav / Admin System (invoicing/vouchers)
. High computer literacy on MS Word and Excel
Experience Required
. Minimum 3 years
Junior Travel Consultant
Here you start with all the knowledge fresh in your head from the college, but believe me you learn much more once you in the real job. You learn telephone skills because you’re on the phone most of your time. You learn to handle domestic bookings without any fears, booking flights, cars and hotels. The longer you do these things the more confident you become within yourself.
Purpose of Job
. To ensure customer satisfaction
. To enhance profitability
. To sustain clients
Accountabilities
. Accuracy of travel documents and the income thereof
. Accepting responsibility for your work
. Adhere to industry and company rules, policies and procedures
Main Functions
. Build relationship with client to ensure repeat business
. Sell all local packages/flights/accommodation/car hire/specials on offer
. Compile and calculate complicated domestic fares and upgrades
. Process visas correctly & timeously as per client request
. Fare Build
. Issue in exchange
. Sell and issue Voyager tickets
. Understand domestic net remit & IT tickets
. Correctly reserve UMNR, special meals; bikes; MAAS etc.
. Correctly issue MPD's & all domestic air ticket types
. Organise and process travel insurance
. Manage and control own queues
. Arrange collection or delivery of travel documentation
. Compile, type and distribute client itineraries
. Collect payment from clients and forward to Accounts Dept
. Follow up on e-mail enquiries
. Prepare and process quotes enquiries
. Present quotes to clients personally or by telephone, fax or e-mail
. Process refunds as per back office requirements
. Meet and exceed agreed commission targets
Key Skills/Competencies
. Excellent product & destination knowledge
. Sound geographical knowledge
. Relevant fares courses completed successfully
. Knowledge of inter-airline policies & endorsement procedures
. Understanding and ability to interpret and explain fare rules
. Full understanding of BSP
. Ability to use and save programmable keys (P-KEYS)
Full understanding and use of :
. E-mail procedures & how to save contacts
. Internet insurance
. Fare Finder
. Galileo and everything that falls within the CRS system
. Quicktrav
. Right Fax
. Fully conversant with preferred partners frequent flyer programmes
. Ability to use the company intranet
. Full use and understanding of contacts
. Full understanding and ability to sell service fees
. Ability to build BARS/PARS and use with all reservations
. Enthusiasm to follow paperless procedures and use processors if required
. 2 domestic quotes, including the cheapest quote at the time
. Commitment to preferred partners
. Manage and control own queues
. Time management: Ability to prioritise, plan and meet deadlines
. Ability to handle pressure and volume
. Special deals
. Attendance of company meetings and functions/team building
. Attend travel industry workshops or functions to update product knowledge
Key Qualities
. Effective communication & interpersonal skills
. Committed to service excellence - putting clients first
. Problem solving nature - lateral thinker / positive attitude
. The will to accept challenges and use initiative
. Able to work in a team and have enthusiasm to assist colleagues
. Energetic - able to work long hours
Educational Requirements
. Relevant travel qualification with any of the registered colleges / institutions
. High computer literacy on MS Word and Excel
. Competence on Galileo CRS
BSP Consultant
This is one of the most underrated positions in any travel agency today. To handle this position you must have most of the knowledge that a travel consultant has , and sometimes more !
You must have accounts knowledge , as well as what any principal ( airline ) wants on any given day. For that you can use electronic sites like TI ( Travel Info ) , but you must endeavour to keep up to date with all the changes that occur on a daily basis.
With the advent of more electronic STD’s this position has become more vital in any travel agency than ever before.
It certainly has not become a paperless world , in any case there is now more paper and more manual controls that this employee must handle. It is now also a case of daily reconciliations and not only once a week with your weekly STF.
In a smaller travel agency this position is normally handled by a single employee , but in the bigger agencies more than one person normally handle this position.
If you are a perfectionist , love leaving last out of the office and love accounting and dealing with the principals directly ,( most of the time on a daily basis ) then this is the position for you.
Sales Consultant
A Key Accounts Manager takes a very special passionate individual, who can handle difficult situations with ease and complete confidence.
Experience in Sales and exposure to one-one calls with clients in the travel industry is a pre-requisite, the industry has specific needs and this includes a vast amount of product knowledge from Airlines, hotels and care rental companies. You are seen as a manager in all aspects, managing your time and your client’s portfolio advising them on their corporate agreements and new developments in the industry. The ability to conduct workshops for small and large groups. Maintaining supplier relationships and hosting exhibitions, golf days, sports days in conjunction with our partners in the Industry.
Complaints handling and reporting back to the relevant stakeholders is critical. Relationship building between internal clients e.g Accounts department and consultants and our clients. Sorting out accounts queries and assisting with payment issues.
The more you open communication channels between clients and the company the more effective you will be as a Key Accounts Manager.
Attending meetings is a big part of what you will be required to do constantly and reporting back accurate facts and coming up with solutions is important.
If you passionate about people you will be the perfect candidate for this exciting career opportunity.