Travelbound Tour Operator

Experience Education; Brighton; Hybrid; GBP 25,000 - 30,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working pattern

Annual Bonus scheme

Opportunities to travel overseas

25 days of annual leave plus public holidays

Global recognition and reward programme

Access to extensive online learning resources

In-house training opportunities

Regular social events

Employee discounts and offers

Job summary

Experience Education, based in Brighton, is seeking a Tour Operator to manage bookings for educational student travel. Responsibilities include planning itineraries, client administration, negotiation with suppliers, and ensuring health and safety compliance.

The ideal candidate will have excellent customer service skills, a good level of written and spoken English, and commercial acumen. The role also offers a hybrid working model and various employee benefits, including travel opportunities and an annual bonus.

Qualifications

• Excellent customer service skills and ability to meet tight deadlines.
• Ability to cope under pressure and possess a responsible attitude.
• Basic knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel is necessary.

Responsibilities

• Planning and booking detailed travel itineraries according to groups’ requirements.
• Dealing with client administration and queries regarding specific destinations.
• Financial responsibility for checking and authorising tour payments to suppliers.

Skills

Excellent customer service skills

Good written and spoken English

Commercial acumen

Basic knowledge of Word and Excel

Good level of spoken and written skill in French

Education

GCSE Mathematics

Job description

About Travelbound

Travelbound is a leading Educational Tour Operator for providing student group travel for thousands of students every year to a vast range of worldwide destinations including the Company's own Chateau in France.

Tour Operator

This position involves the responsibility for bookings to specific destinations, from the confirmation of the reservation to the completion of the tour and post‑tour follow‑up. This is an organisational and customer‑service role.

Reporting to the Senior Tour Operator, the role exists to ensure that the customers receive a high level of personalised service and allow for extra touches to be made, which are key to maintaining the brand’s unique experience. The role requires you to develop tour itineraries into detailed, often complex, tailor‑made itineraries with detailed information and reservations. You would be part of the team that looks to exceed the customers’ expectations. These tours require logistical planning and preparation, as we supply tailor‑made itineraries to suit our customers’ needs. At the same time attention must be given to the commercial and safety requirements of the business. Management of supplier & customer relationships is key to this role.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Planning and booking detailed travel itineraries according to groups’ requirements
• Work closely with the party leader to piece together a “unique educational travel experience”
• Dealing with all client file administration and telephone and e‑mail queries to specific destinations
• As required negotiate rates with suppliers & ground service agents
• Ensure all final itinerary details are prepared and given to the group at least four weeks in advance of travel
• Work with overseas suppliers and internal staff to ensure that all Health & Safety Audit requirements are complete and accurate.
• Financially take responsibility for checking & authorising tour payments to suppliers, working within the tour budget.
• Work closely with the Sales team to ensure that tour requests are handed over accurately.
• Liaising with other departments to maintain credit control with both internal and external customers
• To be part of the internal on‑call rota system
• Overseas travel as required, attend Fam trips and visits to roadshows to keep product knowledge up to date and relevant.
• Checking costings to make sure they match up with booking details and protecting the margin on your bookings.
• There may be a requirement to work additional hours in peak seasons

What We’re Looking For

• Excellent customer service skills are required with good written and spoken English and numeracy (GCSE Mathematics)
• The applicant needs to have commercial acumen, be adaptable, reliable and flexible, with a responsible attitude and possess the ability to cope under pressure and respond to tight deadlines
• A basic knowledge of Word and Excel is necessary
• Desirable – good level of spoken and written skill in French

Some Of The Benefits

• Hybrid working pattern between our office and homeworking
• Annual Bonus scheme
• Opportunities to travel overseas on familiarisation trips
• 25 days of annual leave plus public holidays and a bonus day off for your birthday; we also have a tenure‑based annual leave benefit, up to a maximum of an additional five days depending on length of service
• Global recognition and reward programme
• Access to extensive online learning resources
• In‑house training opportunities
• Regular social events
• Various employee discounts and offers, including discounted trips with our brands

Diversity and inclusion

We believe that people are happier and perform best when they are able to be their true selves and that diverse teams deliver better results.

We are committed to building an inclusive culture and embracing diversity in all its dimensions. This includes inspiring change through increasing awareness of unconscious bias.

Together we will cultivate a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment, where everyone can flourish.

Experience Education Student Travel Group

TravelBound is a part of the Experience EducationStudent TravelGroup, a collective of specialist brands dedicated to delivering exceptional and memorable travel experiences for schools and groups.

Our specialist brands include TravelBound, SkiBound, World Challenge, JCA, Edwin Doran and MasterClass, and they operate across five unique travel categories: curriculum tours; ski trips; expeditions; UK activity centres and sports tours.