Personal Travel Expert - Cheltenham

We are looking for an experienced Travel Consultant to join our team in Cheltenham. We would consider full time hours, or 4 days a week. When you work in one of our beautiful stores, you’ll discover a travel career with a difference – from how we treat our team to the experience we give our customers. We call it the Kuoni Difference.

Come and join our team of enthusiastic, inspiring and knowledgeable people and experience the buzz of sharing your passion for travel. You’ll sell an unrivalled range of luxury holidays, add the Kuoni touch to take things to the next level, and jet off around the world on incredible educational trips. We know that personal growth is key, so we offer ongoing training, excellent career progression opportunities and a fun, supportive and inclusive work environment.

As a Personal Travel Expert, your personality, exceptional customer service skills and your destination knowledge is what our customers come back for time and time again. You will create and sell worldwide holidays and own your customers' journey from start to finish; from enquiry to welcoming them back onto home soil. We make sure that booking holidays are as enjoyable as the trip itself.

So what are we looking for:

• Confident & well-travelled natural conversation starters that can bring their personality to work!
• Be passionate and enthusiastic about travel (with first-hand experience of multiple long-haul destinations).
• Be self-motivated and dedicated to building a repeat customer base.
• Have proven experience thriving within a sales environment.
• Have a good knowledge of the travel industry and experience in selling & designing tailor-made holidays, including knowledge of third party products.
• Manage own time effectively; there’s a lot to do before, during and after the customer journey.
• Adaptable and flexible in an ever-changing and omni-channel environment.
• Have experience using booking systems or have the ability to pick up new systems quickly.
• Experience working retail hours (Most of our stores are open 7 days a week therefore a requirement to work 37 hours across 5 days which will include a selection of shifts including evenings and weekends).

What does a typical day look like as a Personal Travel Expert? It all starts by talking all things travel whilst your customer enjoys the in-store experience; whether it be over a glass of Champagne, a cold Peroni or sipping tea from around the world. You will deliver a personal service on a daily basis and your aim will be to inspire and create excitement for the customer by designing a holiday to match their interests, taste, spend and of course all created with absolute commitment to quality.

Once your customer has booked their dream holiday with you – it’s down to you to ensure their booking experience doesn’t stop there. We go above and beyond to blow our customers away by surprising & delighting them at different touch points before they are due to travel, therefore you will also act as the customer's concierge and point of contact. Alongside exceptional customer service, you will work towards monthly sales targets and create relationships with our specialist brands and third party suppliers.

Benefits for our retail team:

• Ongoing training and strong career progression opportunities.
• The chance to broaden your horizons and see the world in an exclusive way.
• We’re also a company that values wellbeing, sustainability and giving back.

Retail training & career progression:

• Our training kicks off with a 13-week training induction, mixture of training in Head office, virtually and in store, all supported by our dedicated training teams and managers.
• Ongoing coaching and development throughout your career, from our dedicated sales support and training teams.
• Strong connection and open communication with our leadership team and amazing head office.
• Opportunity to grow your own database of VIP customers and build lasting relationships.
• Opportunity to attend and organise events as a Kuoni ambassador.
• The chance to take on extra responsibilities such as running your store’s social media account or in-house projects.
• Strong recognition and internal promotion opportunities.
• Yearly overseas conferences for our Retail Store Managers & Assistant Managers.
• The unique opportunity to sell an unrivalled range of luxury holidays.

Travel opportunities:

• At least one educational trip per year, gaining first-hand knowledge to share with your customers.
• Weekly opportunities to earn incentives such as cash, vouchers, experiences, accommodation, flights and holidays.
• Discounted staff travel.
• The top sales performers in our retail stores are awarded an overseas VIP trip.

Lifestyle & financial benefits:

• Discounted gym memberships.
• From 25 days’ annual leave, increasing the longer you work with us.
• Matched contribution pension scheme.
• Exceptional performance-related pay.
• Friendly, fun and supportive work environment.
• £290 per year clothing allowance.
• Interest-free season ticket loan on public transport.
• Bike2Work scheme.
• Free annual family travel insurance.
• Loyal service awards to celebrate important milestones.
• Recommend a friend – we welcome referrals to join our team.

Wellbeing & giving back:

• Employee Assistance Programme that provides a complete support network.
• Wellbeing support from our fully trained Heads Together Team.
• Free flu vaccinations at a convenient location.
• Free eye tests and money towards glasses for VDU use.
• Two days of paid leave each year to volunteer.
• Opportunities to get involved in great fundraising activities for our charity partner, Mind.

To get a further insight into our culture please follow us on Instagram: @workatkuoniuk and visit Kuoni Stores.