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Job description

Travel Experience Specialist

Branch: Bristol, UK

Work location: Office

Reports to: Travel Experience Manager

Our Values

In everything we do at Inside Travel Group, we strive to deliver a Quality and Friendly service with Integrity, Determination and Passion using our collective Knowledge. This is at the heart of the organisation, and the company looks for every individual to demonstrate this daily. Each member of the team is expected to exemplify the company values through their work and professional conduct. We expect everyone to set an example to those around them and to be conscious that they are representing the company when working with customers and partner organisations.

Our Culture

You'll be part of a fun, friendly team of employees, all of whom share a passion for our destinations, a belief in our brands and a strong collective sense of values and purpose. Our work culture is supportive, creative and dedicated, and it's at its best when we all try to lead by example; the more you put in, the more you and the team get out, and it'll be important that you play your part.

Job Purpose

Our Travel Experience Specialists own the in-destination customer experience, delivering peace of mind and a service that exceeds expectations to ensure happy customers that recommend and travel with us time and time again.

The Role

Your role as a Travel Experience Specialist is twofold, proactively seeking opportunities to improve clients’ experience, as well as reactively helping to resolve any inbound issues, problems or requests.

Proactive

The Customer Experience team plays an important role in monitoring the day-to-day travel environment, surveying everything from air and rail services through to weather events and public health risks, to keep our travellers abreast of any potential issues that might arise. At times, we all need to pitch in together to keep our customers safe, and you’ll be expected to work quickly, calmly and methodically to ensure all bookings are accounted for. Most importantly, we stay connected with our clients every step of the way and look to you to proactively enhance the client experience at every available opportunity. We have some ideas for how you can go about this, but there is no such thing as one size fits all approach – your thoughtfulness, innovation and creativity are welcome here in delivering our trademark ‘above-and- beyond' service.

Reactive

No two days are the same for our Customer Experience team. There will be lots of itinerary-related questions, assistance for any missed transfers and requests for extra guides or experiences, as well as assisting with more serious incidents such as lost items or illness and injury, too. This is a real plate- spinning role, overseeing our customer support phone line, inbox and TESS (our customer support ticketing system) to calmly, effectively, and efficiently find solutions. In the world of travel, things don’t always go to plan - you are the port in a storm, using your resilience and determination to turn things around so our customers can carry on with their day.

Off-peak

Outside of peak season, you will also be involved with various projects within the Customer Experience function and beyond centered around systems, service and performance improvements to increase the overall productivity, efficacy and performance of the CX function in line with the company vision and goals. We are all working towards the same objectives, so we help each other and the company as is needed, even if it sometimes goes beyond the requirements of our specific role.

Who you will be working with

You will be working as part of the Customer Experience team to provide comprehensive support for our customers. Teamwork is at the heart of everything we do, and central to providing our industry- leading customer service.

You will also maintain strong working relationships with the global Booking Delivery and Sales teams, providing first-line support in resolving any customer difficulties for any clients who may have routed their request via their Travel Consultant.

You will share issues and insights with the Product team; if an issue arises that relates to a problem with one of our suppliers, Product needs to know about it. This enables the continuous improvement of our product offering and reduces the chances for future issues.

Lastly but certainly not least, you will be in regular contact with our external suppliers. Focusing on the client experience while also maintaining mutually beneficial commercial relationships is a critical part of this role.

Level of budgetary responsibility

Once you have passed probation, you will have authorisation to spend up to 40,000 JPY to satisfactorily resolve customer issues as you see fit. Costs over and above this amount require additional sign off.

What you will be doing

Proactive

• Monitor day-to-day travel environment (e.g. transport, weather, health and safety, etc.)
• Provide operational assistance in the event of service disruptions (e.g. earthquakes, typhoons etc.), communicating with internal and external stakeholders accordingly
• Review upcoming and underway trips to assess opportunities for quality improvement

Reactive

• Field all inbound customer queries and record in TESS
• Respond to all inbound queries
• Resolve any issues, liaising with both internal and external stakeholders to ensure seamless service delivery

Off-peak

• Participate in projects during low season as required by the business

Outputs & Deliverables

• Up-to-date record of Customer Experience interactions via our internal software TESS
• Coherent and consistent incident reports
• Internal/external communications regarding service disruptions
• Client whereabouts and service reports
• Client documents for reissued/rebooked services
• Tour Operator Liability insurance notifications
• Ensuring all comms to clients are in line with our service standards

Outcomes & KPIs

Your performance will be assessed by your effectiveness at bringing about the best possible outcome for our customers. Some of the KPIs used to measure this currently include:

• Client incident feedback
• Adherence to company policy and budgets

Additional metrics will be added, pending discussion with you, in due course.

What you will need

• Excellent communication skills: able to present information in a clear and coherent manner and use language to engage, assess and negotiate with confidence
• Keen eye for detail: able to interpret large data sets and maintain records accurately and consistently
• Creative approach to problem solving: able to think outside the box to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes
• Collaborative approach to teamwork: understand the importance of clear communication in building trusting working relationships that enable a team to succeed
• Technologically confident: proficient in using Microsoft Office and an aptitude for information technology and database systems in general
• Experience of travelling in Japan: a strong cultural and operational appreciation for how things work

What we are looking for from you

Passionate about helping others, you’ll take a quality improvement approach to everything you do, always looking for ways to turn something from acceptable into outstanding. You’ll be a true master of communication and will understand how to use language to your advantage, ensuring a calm and professional approach at every turn. A high level of emotional intelligence will help you to build rapport quickly and effectively, combining empathy with determination to get the job done.

Beneficial skills and experience

• Strong linguistic ability: English speaker with advanced Japanese (ideally JLPT N2 or higher), or Japanese speaker with advanced level English (ideally TOEIC score of 900 or higher)
• Experience living/working overseas
• Experience in a customer facing or customer service role
• Vested interest in travel and tourism (industry or personal)
• Experience in using databases (CRMs, booking systems, etc.)

Pay and Conditions

• This is an office-based role, and it is expected that most of your initial induction and onboarding will take place in the office.
• In line with our flexible working policy, we’re happy to consider applications for hybrid or remote working, subject to demonstrating task competency.
• You will be required to work 5 days per week, at least one of which will fall over a weekend. You will receive 150% of the equivalent daily pay for any Saturday or Sunday worked.
• As this is an operational role, you will be required to work public holidays on a rota basis, with either additional pay and/or time off in lieu.
• Your shifts will require you to work on rotation to ensure coverage of our 8:30am to 6pm Japan office support desk opening times (or an alternative arrangement to be agreed with you in advance, which ensures coverage of our Global Customer Support service).
• Candidates will need to have the unrestricted right to work permanently in the relevant branch country. For Japan-based Travel Experience Specialists, we are able to sponsor visas for those who require it.

UK

Base Salary  £27,201.00 - £29,723.00 per year

Hours  37.5 hours per week

Holiday  25 days annual leave, rising by one day each year to a maximum of 28 days,
plus statutory holidays, plus an extra day’s leave for your birthday

Health Employee Assistance Program; Enhanced parental leave

Pension 3% employer pension contribution

Bonus Annual discretionary performance-related bonus of up to 125% of monthly salary

Benefits Hybrid working Volunteering leave Regular staff socials Discounted travel for staff, family and friends Discounts via Perkbox Designated learning and development time

About Inside Travel Group

Inside Travel Group Ltd is a growing travel company whose head office is in Bristol, with other sales branches located in Broomfield, Colorado and Brisbane, Australia, and an operations branch based in Nagoya, Japan. The company consists of specialist travel brands, InsideJapan Tours which was established in 2000, and InsideAsia Tours, established in 2012 and specialising in travel to South-East Asia. The multi- award-winning company offers unique group tours, tailored travel, and cultural experiences that few get the chance to discover. Our team have had years of experience living, working and travelling in destination countries, and we offer unrivalled advice and support, whatever the customer budget or personal interests. Our holidays grant people the chance to experience both the popular and little-known aspects of local culture, giving customers an insight into the diverse character of the country they are visiting.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: £27,201.00-£29,723.00 per year

Benefits:

• Additional leave
• Casual dress
• Company events
• Sick pay

Schedule:

• Day shift
• Weekend availability

Supplemental pay types:

• Performance bonus

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Bristol: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)

Experience:

• customer service: 1 year (preferred)

Language:

• English (preferred)
• Japanese (preferred)

Work authorisation:

• United Kingdom (required)

Work Location: In person