smarTours® was founded in 1996 with the belief that more people should have life-changing experiences through travel. We operate group tours to international destinations at prices that make amazing trips accessible to a wide audience. We are looking for a person with strong organizational and customer experience skills, and a passion for travel, to help our team grow our Private Groups business.
This is a new role reporting into our Private Groups team and VP, Tour Products, and will help us manage our growing support needs for private groups. This role is fully remote, and requires someone who is highly motivated and self-starting. Your goal will be to provide outstanding customer care and operational support to our private groups team, prospects and clients. This role requires an empathetic and resilient problem solver who can relate well to others, work positively in a team, and forge ahead independently when needed. Strict time management, attention to detail, and relationship building skills are essential qualities. The ideal candidate will have proven experience working in an operations and/or customer service position in a travel company.
Responsibilities:
Support our Private Groups sales and operations in pre-sales lead qualification, booking management, air arrangements, departure preparation, and customer support as needed to provide for a smooth travel experience.
Work closely with internal teams and external suppliers to ensure our operations are seamless and that we exceed customer expectations.
Effectively communicate departure details to our suppliers to help ensure their success in delivering an excellent experience on the ground.
Take ownership of customers’ and vendors’ issues and follow problems through to resolution, maintaining accurate records and documenting activities and decisions.
Track destination entry requirements with respect to visas, Covid-19 and other restrictions so that we can keep our customers informed.
Handle complex customer service issues and effectively resolve conflicts, but also understand when to escalate issues to a more senior team member.
Monitor ongoing trips to achieve service excellence and take corrective action where appropriate to improve our tour experience.
Create new or update existing tour documents for our customers, making sure they are accurate and up to date.
Proactively identify potential areas of improvement, and advocate for change.
As needed, form part of our departmental on-call rotation to assist with travel related emergencies; must be available for after-hours and weekend call duties periodically.
Requirements
2+ years of travel related operations or customer service experience preferred.
Highly organized and able to balance competing and shifting priorities with a sense of urgency and extreme attention to detail.
Ability to tightly manage several concurrent deadlines across multiple trips and departures.
A self-starter who can work independently to solve problems and identify next steps.
Positive presence with the ability to communicate with a wide variety of internal and external stakeholders.
Tech-savvy; ability to learn in-house booking engine and customer service tools.
Ability to partake in the on-call rotation schedule.
smarTours is an equal opportunity employer and offers:
A competitive salary based on experience
Health insurance (cost subsidized by the company)
4 weeks PTO, plus 5 sick days and 11 holidays off annually
Travel benefits including at-cost vacations and free inspection trips + travel opportunities for team building
Fully remote, flexible work schedule