Adventure Operations Specialist (Bulgaria)

Co-founded by Peter Duncan, ex-UK Chief Scout and BBC Blue Peter man, and Alex Pazderski, an avid hiker and acclaimed expedition kayaker, we are among the best experts in organizing walking & cycling holidays and adventure trips for independently-minded people. Starting in 2009 by developing several pioneering trekking itineraries in the Balkans, we now offer 800+ self guided walking holidays and cycling tours as well as a range of meticulously curated small group and privately guided tours, family and discovery trips.

The position's primary purpose is to provide exemplary post-booking service to our customers, most of which are located in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.

The Role

Your role will be to ensure that the customer has an unforgettable experience with us after booking confirmation to trip completion.

You will work closely with our Adventure Sales Specialists, who will handle new enquiries and bookings from initial enquiry to booking confirmation. After a booking is made, they will be arranging all the elements of the booking with our local suppliers (including hotels and local transfer companies) until booking confirmation.

Once the booking is confirmed, it is the Adventure Operations Specialists who take over from the Adventure Sales Specialists:

• You will be dealing with all customer support requests and questions related to their trip during the entire period between the booking confirmation and departure
• You will handle all booking change requests by customers and make the necessary rearrangements with our local suppliers (including making sure the changes are properly invoiced both by the local suppliers to us and by us to the customers)
• You will be resolving trip issues effectively with minimum disruption to the customer
• You will be quickly finding solutions to situations such as mistakes in the local supplier arrangements, accommodation closures and disruptions to travel schedules
• You will be monitoring balance payments and making sure they are paid on time, and the amounts are correct
• You will be preparing and sending pre-departure materials and travel documentation (including uploading them to our smartphone app) and making sure everything is properly organised and documented for the customer's trip
• You will be taking shifts on the emergency phone line for customers who are currently on a trip
• You will be the first responders to post-trip customer feedback and communicate it to the Sales and Products teams so that we constantly improve our products and service
• From time to time, you will be supporting our sales team by preparing and sending custom itineraries and travel documentation to customers
• You will be building relationships with existing local suppliers to ensure we are their partner of choice

Requirements

• Experience in Operations in an adventure travel company, ideally specialised in self guided walking and cycling holidays, is highly desirable
• Experience in fast paced reservations or operations roles where you have demonstrated your ability to understand customer needs and find solutions is mandatory
• Understanding and sharing of our values related to Responsible Travel is mandatory
• Experience with computer booking systems (ideally TourCMS), help desk and chat software (ideally Zendesk) is highly desirable
• Experience with email-based customer service
• Outstanding organizational skills and attention to detail
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, English must be native or of equivalent level
• Excellent email and phone manner and technique
• Ability to work under pressure while maintaining accuracy
• Ability to work efficiently without supervision
• Friendly attitude, personal integrity and high standards of customer service

Benefits

• Work from home
• Flexible working time
• Fixed base salary
• 25 days of paid annual leave + bank holidays, increasing by one day every year until year 5
• Great discounts for you and your friends/family members on all TNA trips
• Outstanding learning and development opportunities
• Great multinational team and a rapidly growing company

Originally posted on Himalayas