Group Travel Specialist at Lontours Canada Limited – Toronto, Ontario

ABOUT GLOBUS FAMILY OF BRANDS

With 95+ years in travel, the award-winning Globus family of brands – consisting of Globus, Cosmos, and Avalon Waterways – creates vacations that offer travelers culture-rich experiences featuring must-see sights, the stories behind the scenes and countless joy-filled memories in more than 70 countries on six continents across the globe. With equal measures vision and hard work; team collaboration and commitment; adaptability, honesty, and integrity as well as a genuine love for all-things-travel, the Globus family of brands – a leader in international travel – now offers unparalleled, perfectly planned tours; inventive, inspiring cruises and modern, independent vacation packages to millions of travelers.

Travel and/or in-office presence may be required at times. Generous benefit package including travel benefits and retirement.

THE DEPARTMENT

Customer Care is tasked with growing the Trade side of the business through multiple sales channels; retail travel sellers (primary channel), 3rd party re-sellers and group sales. The Customer Care division includes all business units that interact directly with the customer’s travel agent to sell GVI products, answer inquiries, and resolve problems. The departments under Customer Care are Reservation & Associate Support, Digital Support, Trade Groups, Training, Sales, Service, and Guest Services.

THE ROLE OF A GROUP TRAVEL SPECIALIST

The expectations for the role of Group Travel Specialist at GVI are:

• Maintain day to day administrative tasks with their assigned groups.
• Responds to all internal and external partners in a timely manner.
• Assist with assigned groups and other Group Travel Specialists groups on the phone.
• Understanding and being able to speak to our group policies and procedures.
• Monitoring growth of their assigned groups and maintaining group space.
• Collaborate with different department such as Sales, Air, and Inventory.
• Being able to have difficult conversations with space limitations and tour cancelations.
• Monthly meetings with their sales team.

THE POSITION

The Group Travel Specialist, Group Sales & Service is responsible for the following results:

• Oversee and support the day-to-day operations and/or activities of their assigned groups.
• Maintaining their Siebel calendar and work requests.
• Understand and work on weekly reports sent by management.
• Monitor their assigned groups Materalization growth.
• Provide oversight to groups on policies and procedures.
• Assist with calls on other associates assigned groups.
• Prevent and solve customer issues in a manner that ensures the highest degree of mutual satisfaction between the customer’s needs and those of the business.
• Manage and track all internal and external escalations from assigned groups.
• Closely collaborate with their assigned Inside Sales Representative and Business Development Manager.
• Build solid business relationships with clients, internal partners (air, operations, and guest services) and world-wide offices.
• Coordinate with Inventory department to prevent issues on group bookings and insure inventory availability or restriction.
• Adapt to new systems and policy changes.
• Engages in weekly huddles with team, as well as assigned teams territory meeting.

The preferred candidate will hold a Bachelor’s degree in a related field; or three to five years of related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

The preferred candidate has noteworthy experience in the following areas:

• Three to five years in an administrative role.
• Product planning and travel destination knowledge.
• Knowledge of Sales processes.
• Knowledge and ability to read and speak to policies/ procedures.
• Strong public speaking skills and the ability to build Travel industry knowledge.
• Microsoft Office, especially Word and Excel.
• Knowledge of Siebel preferred.
• Time management skills.