If you've an innate desire to see the world and experience different cultures, then a great way to make that happen is to align your professional ambitions with it. A role in which travel and exciting experiences are very much the order of the day is holiday rep, and the great news is that tourism courses online can provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to get there.
Here we look at being a holiday rep, so you can decide whether you have the necessary personal traits. By reading to the end, you'll understand whether you're ready now or there's some more training needed as part of your development plan.
Holiday Is A Job That Requires Lots of Energy
As tourism education short courses show us, the day-to-day of a holiday rep is typically very full and requires lots and LOTS of energy. In addition to being full of vim and vigour, you'll need excellent customer service skills. You're typically the primary point of contact for groups of varying sizes at any given resort or hotel.
Your reason for existing is to ensure that all your customers enjoy their holiday and that all events, trips, and pastimes include going planned. As the face of the company, the impression you provide is vital, so you must be friendly, professional and responsive, no matter what time of day it is. After conducting a welcome meeting, you have a range of responsibilities.
An All-Encompassing Position- Holiday Rep
A tourism travel course will teach you a lot about the industry - such as how all-encompassing the position of holiday rep is. Not only will you have to resolve customer issues and complaints when they occur, but you're also likely to have sales targets to meet, with additional services like resort excursions needing to be offered to all visitors.
Other essential elements of the job include:
- Meeting customers at the airport & taking them to their hotel
- Creating and maintaining relationships with local businesses
- Dealing with unexpected issues like flight delays
- Accompanying clients on excursions as a guide
- Sorting out conflicts between clients
- Arranging car hire for guests
- Locating lost luggage
Your role is comprehensive, as you're very much in charge of everything to do with their holiday. So, in addition to the above, you might need to organise kids' activities, arrange nighttime activities, keep written records, conduct local safety checks and more.
The Skills You'll Need To Succeed
A tourism course will give you the specific industry knowledge needed for the job, but you'll also need to back this know-how up with certain personal skills. In order to be suited to all the tasks involved, you'll need:
- Good verbal & written communication skills
- Great negotiating, presenting & listening skills
- An ability to sell packages on their merits
- A confident and energetic manner
- A good sense of humour (this is an important one!)
- Excellent organisational skills
- Common sense & flexibility
You'll be working with large groups of people as they enjoy their holiday and travel around the local area. This means that it's also essential that you're able to solve problems. It's also best that you're able to work well under pressure.
Realise Your Ideal Travel Role With Online Learning
For those with 'the right stuff, the role of holiday rep is one of the most engaging and exciting jobs out there, and the good news is that training for work like this is easy, affordable and flexible, thanks to video-based, CPD-approved short course training like our Travel, Tourism & Aviation Courses.
Like all of our online courses at OCA, this is created in conjunction with industry experts and can be taken at a pace that suits your needs. To learn more about this or any of the training we offer covering more than 20 different industries, visit us today at www.onlinecoursesaustralia.edu.au.
Alternatively, we're happy to assist if you'd like to speak to one of our friendly experts about your training needs. Call us on 1300 611 404, and we'll give you the answers you require.
