Career Change - Travel

threemuttleys

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

STA Travel, you'd do well to stay away from these absolute total jokers. I booked a hotel and flight though them to go to New York with a friend. Upon arrival at the hotel after a long flight I was told (in the middle of the night) there was no booking for us.They said that they had told STA travel this but STA they had failed to pass this info onto us.
My Friend started crying and we spent the best part of the night trying to get somewhere elce. What if I'd had an elderly relative or a little child with me? We had to shell out an extra grand in hotel rooms.
Upon return to the UK we contacted STA who basically treated us with contempt, they reinbursed the grand and an extra £50.00 or so. It didnt compensate for the upset and their attitude stank.
Basically I wouldnt book a holiday with them, work for them, or **** on them if they were on fire.

If your looking for a job, try and work for a reputable company, these are the Del Boy end of the market.

Thats awful. So sorry, thanks for the heads up

paddyrg

threemuttleys wrote: »

For me, its beach holidays, family holidays and the like. Both UK and abroad. I do need to do more travel to bump my CV...but with everything its about money to do it :o

You can do this kind of holiday quite cheaply independently, and get to know more about the destinations you hope to sell as packages. How about you get a standby/cheapo low season flight to Greece and island-hop for a week or two, use local buses and ferries to get around. Allow yourself a couple of beach hours a day, but the rest of the time get out on the ground to get a feel for what the differences are between different areas, islands etc. Maybe even see the mood of a few resorts and hotels - and take copious notes!

Then when you do get work in a travel shop, you can speak with some authority when someone comes in looking for a family holiday for instance you can reassure them from first hand knowledge how long the ferry takes, how to buy ferry tickets, whether a beach is sandy or shingly - there is no substitute for experience, and it reassures customers hugely if you can say 'oooh yes Crete - this resort might be best for a romantic break, fewer kids and great views over the bay' kind of thing. And any manager will want to see that.

threemuttleys

paddyrg wrote: »

You can do this kind of holiday quite cheaply independently, and get to know more about the destinations you hope to sell as packages. How about you get a standby/cheapo low season flight to Greece and island-hop for a week or two, use local buses and ferries to get around. Allow yourself a couple of beach hours a day, but the rest of the time get out on the ground to get a feel for what the differences are between different areas, islands etc. Maybe even see the mood of a few resorts and hotels - and take copious notes!

Then when you do get work in a travel shop, you can speak with some authority when someone comes in looking for a family holiday for instance you can reassure them from first hand knowledge how long the ferry takes, how to buy ferry tickets, whether a beach is sandy or shingly - there is no substitute for experience, and it reassures customers hugely if you can say 'oooh yes Crete - this resort might be best for a romantic break, fewer kids and great views over the bay' kind of thing. And any manager will want to see that.

That sounds like a brill idea. Will have to do a bit of saving, but would be a fab start,

Thank you :beer:

busyladee

You could try doing a summer season as an air hostess - Thomson, Thomas Cook etc. There then is usually the option to work in store over winter when the peak flying season is over.

Dunroamin

threemuttleys wrote: »

Wow.

Thank you so much for this. I am not close to a major airport (tho Manston is about an hour away) but wondering if a stint at Dover Ferry port would be worth while?

Thank you again. Will save it, and use it as research reference

If you're in the Kent area, working for one of the ferry companies would be a far better bet than trying for cabin crew.

This is the job vacancy site for P&O who seem to be recruiting onboard staff at the moment.

http://www.poferries.com/tourist/content/pages/template/_footer_About_about_P&O_Ferries_jobs_job_vacancies.htm

ttoli

I started in the Industry way back in 1989 as an overseas Holiday rep (Intasun), came back and done a couple of years in retail travel sales, then made my best move ever, I temped for 6 years for a specialist travel recruitment company http://www.aaappointments.com/ , never turned a posting down , be it retail sales, Business travel or even filing clerk, I gained an all round experience of the Industry, travelled the world and loved every minute of it, took early retirement 7 years ago, moved to Northern Cyprus and am back in the Industry.