jobs in travel industry industry, jobs, travel

siuyudim

Any LYK here have experience working in the travel industry, say a travel agency? What is it like? Do you enjoy doing what you do?

小叻

I have worked in a wholesale travel agency in downtown few yrs ago. I used to sell air tkt to travel agency... very low pay.. (around CAD$11/hr) .. umm..it's kind of interesting when u try to find different routing to multi destinations.. interesting job..but not a good pay job..

AAC

I was in the Traval Industry (wholesale) years ago and change field after 911. It's owned by HK Chinese. Well established by still low pay. I was earning $2600 per month as a "management grade" staff but no extended health care coverage, no OT (despites OT 1-2 hours everyday), and under high pressure. Junior staff was paying $8-10 an hour.  I know some local agents paying nothing to "volunteers" for 3 months as "training period" and fired them after 3 months. At least my boss paying little money for trainee.  This is a keen competition industry and Chinese owners try everything to lower the cost and paying minimum wages to staff.

cmmm

my bf used to work in travel agency before, and he said it is really low pay, lots of OT, even weekends...  some agencies have commission (very low), some have low base pay...  (e.g. 1600/mth) especially for Chinese travel agencies...

小叻

The company I used to work is a western company, so they do have health and dental (good one, too) benefit.. and if OT we will get extra pay… but we rarely OT la.. u also got some special air fare and discount hotels.. (one time, we can get discount rate @ CAD$800 for a Round trip to Germany with Luthansas Business Class)
they have 3 weeks pay training.. train u how to read airline contracts.. how to calculate fares from paper.. other than electronics.. teach u more on the Sabre... (many many useful commands) I am pretty sure their training is better than other chinese companies..but just their pay is very low..(CAD$10 to CAD$11) but if u want to learn more.. that is the place where u can go.. after a yr in my company..most ppl will move on to another call center (also in downtown)..starting wage is CAD$2600 + commission..coz $$ more ar mah..  that company is helping bank/ rewards center purchase tkt...they always looking for experience staffs from my old company (so that they dun need to train new hires)..but many many pressure in that company.. the supervisor will count you how many times u go to wc (my previous co-worker went there)..and u have to meet their sales target....

kandygirl

agree with 小叻. I was working in a chinese retail agency for 2 yrs & wholesale company for 2 1/2 yrs b4. Retail: basically you need to know everything, hotels, air, tours, car, insurance, etc.. not too many OT but meet lots of trouble customers. They love to price match and waste your time to gain lots of info. Very low pay and the agency i worked for they only paid me minimum wage for 2 yrs and they never raised a penny. The company kept all the commission without any bonus at all. Wholesale: Lots of OT and high work load with very minimum pay also. The company still gave us bonus quarterly but based on the revenue you have earned for the company. NO benefits. Frankly speaking, each ticket only earned about $20-30. Some agents tried all possible ways to gain benefit from u, such as price match, offer more gift cards, etc.. If you couldn't meet the target, the manager would love to "CHAT" with you. Also, if you misquote fares or receive debit memos from airlines will directly affect the yr end bonus. It's just BRUTAL. However, if i do not gain that 4 1/2 yrs "great" experience, I would not able to work in CX right now.

siuyudim

i just applied to flight centre and i have a phone interview tomorrow morning. i'm kind of nervous because i think the job will be quite interesting. at least lots of things for me to learn. do you guys know of anyone who has worked there? how do they like it? i looked at their website and seems like they are a well-liked employer, rated top 50 in the last 7 years, and four of them are in top 4. what kind of skills do these companies look for?

小叻

原帖由 siuyudim 於 15-12-2008 21:19 發表
i just applied to flight centre and i have a phone interview tomorrow morning. i'm kind of nervous because i think the job will be quite interesting. at least lots of things for me to learn. do you gu ...

Some of my old co-worker went to flight center too.. if i remember correctly.. probably around 3 yrs ago.. their starting wage was CAD$12/hr + commission. Their entry requirement is 1 yr experience in travel industry. In there, to tell u honestly, u got not much stuff to learn,,the reason why is..they will only call consolidator (wholesaler) for rate and routing.. flight center like to call my ex-company (Holiday House/Sunquest). Those flight centre agent will just call us and tell us they want to go to this place and that place..give us ur best rate and best routing.and then I found it for them...email them itin & fare quotes.. then they will present it to customer.. some of those flight center agents sucks.. they have no knowledge at all..

They are top rated company..probably becoz they really pay out commission.. flight center slogan is "unbeatable" on their price.. but to tell u the truth..their fares are very high..they are not cheap.. they have huge mark up..

So when u go to interview.. probably what they need is customer service..problem solving..wide knowledge of Sabre commands...familiar with airport codes and airline routing... and some previous working experience..i dun think it is hard to get into flight centre~ but i suggest u to think deeply if u want to go to this industry..this industry is not a high pay job...that's y i quit..i love this industry..but i love money more

siuyudim

thanks everyone... can i assume an average month's commission to be around $800-1000?
i'm glad you enjoyed the job 小叻. may i ask what kind of job you are doing or have done after working in the travel industry?

小叻

you can assume avg monthly salary is CAD$1600 la.. commission is relatively SMALL. (dun expect too much)
For me.. i work anything that can earn more $$..so i can't really give u any good future reference.. now i do shipping and sales.. those boring office works.. but good pay....(but I did learn a lot of import/export, tariffs, logistics stuff while working as shipping..) so it's kinda like gaining extra experience..
If money is not a big concern for u..and u want to do sth that u really like.. then go for it.. but selling tkt do have pressure.. u really need to know what u are doing..or else u will easily misquote to ur clients...but dun worries la..practices make perfect mah~