Manager of Small Group Travel, Experience Collection
JOB DESCRIPTION
As a key leader in the Experiential Collection Team, the Experience Collection Small Group Travel Manager is responsible for planning, developing, and delivering itineraries & experiences for Exclusive Resorts’ Group Travel Collection:
- Once in a Lifetime (OIAL): Luxury, small group Journeys for Club Members. On average, group size 16-20 pax with departures that run 4-6x a year. When chartering a ship, we use the entire ship which can be up to 225 cabins. Team runs 8-10 different itineraries annually.
- European Villas: Supplemental Club inventory in Europe from May-Oct that include Local Hosting and daily breakfast in residence.
- Member Events: Long weekend events, often around sporting events. Group size average is 16-20 pax
- Requires travel domestically and/or internationally ~20% of year to scout and host Member Group Trips.
ESSENTIAL ROLES AND RESPONSIBLITIES
(This includes but is not limited to):
New Once in a Lifetime (OIAL) Journeys, European Villa experiences and Events:
- Researches and maintains a growing knowledge of industry products, innovations, destinations, and suppliers/DMC
- Assist in the development of new OIAL trips, European Villa experiences and Events by brainstorming new ideas, researching the ideas, creating PowerPoint to present
- Conduct site inspections (mostly international travel) with partners for Once in a Lifetime (OIAL) Journeys, European Villa experiences and Events to finalize Member itineraries.
- Work with Finance to establish a budget.
-Prices Journeys & Experiences in collaboration with Finance team, ensuring that margin targets are achieved, while also maximizing value for Members
-Responsible for negotiating contracts, and working with the Legal department to ensure partner/vendor agreements are kept up to date - Work with legal and partners to develop contracts for new Once in a Lifetime (OIAL) Journeys, European Villa experiences and Events
- Work with Marketing to develop and review collateral for Member Communications
- Prepare and review information for the Member facing website, public website, Journey Guides and Trip Planners that are accurate and stay up to date
- Ensure team/company goals are met including Trip Satisfaction scores and trip margins for budget
- Attends & represents Exclusive Resorts at travel industry conferences
- Assist Sales Team and Ambassador Team, as requested, with program and trip questions
- Researches and resolves customer service issues appropriately – addresses, troubleshoots and resolves Members concerns, when required
Execution of group Once in a Lifetime (OIAL) Journeys, European Villa experiences and Events:
- Collaborate with Trip Leads weekly on manifest and timeline requirements (each OIAL/Villa/Event has a Trip Lead on each trip to assist Manager)
- Become an expert on and manage Once in a Lifetime (OIAL) Journeys, European Villa experiences and Events
-Actively manage the budgets for these experiences
-Weekly management of the tour operator/partner relations for these experiences
-Work with the OIAL Operations Coordinator and accounting to ensure billing is done promptly and accurately
-Draft Member-facing communication to deliver important trip information - Host 1st Member trip of the given set of departures (mostly international travel) – this could include 1-3 trips annually
- Respond to all Post Trip surveys
General Support:
- Attend weekly Team and Company meeting(s)
- Oversee the creation of all travel binders (site trip, executive and Member trip)
- Oversee vendor payments
- Oversee development of experience webinars
- Be in the Denver Office two full days a week
- Travel ~20% of the year, able to travel on international trips 10-14 days at a time
Billing Support:
- Experience billing: Manage billing for the experiences, including maintaining an accurate spreadsheet, notifying accounting of upcoming billings, working with Ambassador Trip Lead to handle cancellations and refunds
- Vendor payments: Manage payment requests and vendor payments for all OIAL trips and European Villa Experiences. Set billing reminders in the OIAL calendar and process payment requests, as needed
- Attend monthly budgeting meetings and understand the payments that have been made and the ones that are approaching
EDUCATION, SKILLS, AND EXPERIENCE
- 5-10 years of group travel planning experience.
- Bachelor’s degree; or equivalent combination of education and experience
- A background in event management, high-end customer service, hospitality and/or travel related industry
- Has network of DMC and suppliers in the luxury travel industry
- Ability to travel domestically and/or internationally ~20% of year
- Excellent and polished verbal and written communication skills and professional demeanor while facilitating conflict resolution
- Experience interacting with sophisticated travelers and affluent clientele
- Strong computer proficiency and telephone skills
- Attention to detail, organization and efficiency
- The ability to multi-task and work within an ever-changing environment
- Ability to take a proactive approach to managing trips
- The ability to handle other duties as assigned, or as the business needs change
- Must be able to learn quickly and adapt to changing circumstances
- Proficient in Microsoft Outlook, Word, Power Point and Excel (particularly good excel skills to work on budgets and Word skill include Mail Merge)
- Proficiency in Salesforce and SharePoint, is a plus