All jobs that involve helping men and women make successful travel plans call for a higher degree of professionalism, but this is especially the case with business travel jobs.
Everyone travelling will anticipate their agent to be exceptional at their job: no one likes to believe that they may endure issues that could have been avoided had their agent been somewhat much more proficient!
But this not merely applies in the context of complications. A private or professional traveller is very unlikely to become amused if they locate that their plans were sub-optimal (e.g. overly pricey) simply since the travel agent didn’t actually know their trade. So, ‘getting it right’ and supplying an exemplary service is essential in the event you operate within a travel agency. Yet in the case of corporate preparing, it becomes potentially much more difficult and your clients may well well be considerably extra demanding.
What makes corporate travel distinctive to recreational travel?
• Enterprise travellers need to depart at their convenience and in line with the demands of their enterprise, meaning that they might be very reluctant to fit in with any plans that do not conform to their needs. Compromise may sometimes be impossible for them to contemplate.
• Clients may have multiple requirements that involve them travelling around the globe, stopping and changing flights regularly – that can be a major logistical and coordination effort for the travel agent.
• Clients may possibly need to depart at short notice and they will count on a fast, efficient and above all, knowledgeable, service.
• Sometimes vast sums of money may possibly depend on the small business traveller being somewhere at a specific date and time – if things go wrong, they might be very pointed in demanding an explanation and an alternative from their agent.
How does this affect company travel jobs?
There are some agents that specialise in delivering dedicated services to corporate clients. Some other agents may possibly offer general travel agency services but also have a dedicated department/office/team to cope with the specific challenges presented by business travellers.
Typically, agents tend to put extra experienced and knowledgeable employees into their business operations, although that could not always be the case and some might offer training opportunities for beginners. There are City and Guild (plus other) qualifications in many aspects of travel and leisure, and some of these may offer specific modules or courses on small business travel.
In case you are interested in business enterprise travel jobs specifically but lack any previous travel agent experience, it could be advisable to consider finding a position in an agency to learn the basics of the trade, then seek further qualifications and the opportunity to move into the small business field. Should you would like to search for enterprise travel jobs directly as a trainee, and without previous travel agent experience, you could obtain this difficult unless you can show a relevant higher academic qualification.
The route to take towards enterprise travel jobs will depend on a number of things, such as your experience, qualifications and perhaps your overall financial position in terms of whether you can support yourself through academic studies on either a full or part-time basis.
