Luxury Travel Consultant

THE COMPANY
Grape Escapes is a leading tour operator, specialising in luxury tailor-made trips to the premium wine regions of France, Spain, Italy and Portugal. Due to unprecedented demand, we are looking to expand our team once more as we continue to provide unforgettable experiences as well as superb customer service. Our customers are primarily high-end travellers and their travel requirements are vast and varied, ranging from couples wanting a gastronomic European tour to groups of friends wanting to celebrate a special occasion for the weekend, and corporates wanting to reward their top performing staff. For further information about what we do, please see our website www.grapeescapes.net.

JOB SUMMARY
This is an exciting opportunity for passionate, customer-centric, highly motivated individuals to join our small and friendly team. You will be planning, perfecting, selling and delivering bespoke wine holidays for your clients, being their main point of contact throughout the entirety of their Grape Escapes experience; from their initial enquiry to providing feedback upon return from their trip (and inspiring their next adventure of course!). To thrive in this role, it is vital that you are very organised and detail focused with the ability to manage a complex and varied workload.

BENEFITS
Grape Escapes is offering a competitive, results driven salary in a friendly working environment, together with additional benefits:

• £32,000-£40,000 basic + generous uncapped commission on every booking - OTE 45K-75K depending on experience
• 23 days annual leave
• Flexible working (with the freedom to accrue hours to take an extra day off each month)
• Annual staff trip

This role is a 37.5 hour per week full time role based at our offices in Hertford, Hertfordshire. We are happy to support hybrid working with up to five days each fortnight working from home if preferred.

YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES WILL INCLUDE:

• Taking enquiries by phone or e-mail from customers looking to explore the possibility of booking a wine holiday.
• Researching and designing tailor-made itineraries, taking account of not only budget and practicalities, but also your client’s dreams and desires. This will involve liaising with hotels, wineries, guides, restaurant and transport providers and beyond.
• Producing detailed itinerary quotes using our booking system.
• Following up with your potential clients, making sure that their proposed itinerary is perfect for them, and amending it as necessary.
• Looking after the complete administration of your clients’ bookings, to include sending reservation requests to the suppliers involved, juggling specific availabilities and logistics, and issuing client booking confirmations and travel documentation.
• Helping to resolve issues which may arise whilst your clients are travelling on their trips.
• Requesting and obtaining feedback after your clients have returned from their trips, and encouraging repeat business.
• Responding to out of hours enquiries from customers currently travelling with Grape Escapes (on a rota basis).
• Representing Grape Escapes in meetings with clients and suppliers, and at trade/retail events.
• Visiting and assessing new hotels, vineyards and restaurants etc. on familiarisation trips.
• Any additional duties as may reasonably be required.

THE PERSON

Essential

• Customer-focused outlook and attitude
• Highly motivated and driven to succeed
• Meticulous attention to detail which can be demonstrated from previous experience.
• Proven ability to multitask.
• Computer literate. Ability to learn new systems.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills (English).
• High level of numeracy and literacy.
• Full passport and free to travel within Europe.
• Permission to live and work in the UK
• Passion for travel

Desirable

• Experience working within the travel industry.
• Experience of working in a customer facing role (ideally within the luxury market)
• Sales experience
• Ability to communicate confidently by phone and in writing in a second European language (preferably French, Spanish or Italian).
• Interest in and knowledge of wine.
• Previous use of Outlook, Word and Excel.

To apply, please contact mark@grapeescapes.net with your CV and a cover letter explaining, in your own words, why we should consider your application. Applications made solely via LinkedIn will NOT be considered.