Brand: Global Touring (Topdeck Travel & Back-Roads Touring)

Position: In-Destination Experience Manager – 12 months, Maternity Cover

Reporting to: Global GM of Experience

Location Base: Hybrid – 2 days per week Topdeck HQ (Chiswick, London), 3 days per week remote

Contract: Fixed term - 12 months, immediate start

Here at Global Touring, we’re a travel company specialising in group tours and inspiring people through life-changing travel experiences. Through our brands Topdeck Travel and Back-Roads Touring we are ever developing our product range, driving growth in key sales markets (Australia, New Zealand & North America), innovating product delivery and ensuring we deliver a first-class customer experience. Don’t worry if you can’t find Global Touring when you search online – this is our internal brand; externally we only use our customer-facing brands.

Topdeck and Back-Roads serve very different customers, however our ‘one best way’ approach is consistent and effective in supporting the specific strategy and activity for each brand. This role will primarily focus on the Topdeck brand and the in-destination experiences that form such a crucial part of our customer experience.

We’re looking for someone to join our team that aligns perfectly with our brand and values... if this sounds like you then keep reading!

The Role

We’re looking for maternity cover for our In-Destination Experience Manager to continue transforming Topdeck’s optional activity offering globally. You will be responsible for managing and growing a global portfolio of the very best activities and experiences. Owning the full cycle from design to launch; you will manage analysis & research, product development & supplier partnerships, commercial negotiation and launch. This is a hands-on role and requires a thorough understanding of group and individual touring product, contract negotiation and the operation that sits behind it. The role requires extensive experience in creative product development, supplier management and analysis, and ability to solve problems holistically across different teams, operating models and geographies. You will also need proficiency in managing reservation systems, facilitating operations, and coordinating effectively between our suppliers and partners. This role entails comprehensive organization, overseeing the management of suppliers, as well as ensuring smooth operation of our reservation system. To succeed in the role you must be a self-motivated problem solver, hungry to re-write what is possible and with a desire to push boundaries. A great relationship builder, communicator and collaborator, you need to be obsessed with our customers’ experience in-destination, bringing them the latest, most authentic and impactful experiences out there. You will be numerate, possess excellent planning skills, and have an innate ability to identify opportunities, future partnerships and creative solutions to our customers’ problems, including leveraging technology solutions to automate or improve customer experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage in-destination experiences from conception through to launch

• Conduct destination research to identify key trends and new and relevant experiences in-destination.

• Build a deep understanding of the different Topdeck customers, their needs, interests and values.

• Look beyond traditional travel suppliers to provide unique, limited edition and differentiated experiences to Topdeckers.

• Ensure experiences are competitively priced, demonstrate high value to our customer and are differentiated vs the competitor set.

• Build long term strategic relationships with new and existing suppliers to ensure access to the most unique experiences at the best rate.

• Manage the procurement and contracting of all in-destination experiences, ensuring rates, payment terms, cancellation periods & operational restrictions enable sales.

• Build a robust yet simple process for contracting and on-boarding all new experiences and suppliers, moving products from contract to live within 2 weeks.

• Work with the Marketing and content teams, ensure there is relevant and high impact content for all experiences within the portfolio.

• Liaise with local partners and Topdeck City Insiders to present relevant, time-sensitive recommendations for customers across key destinations.

• Manage and load all experiences within Topdeck’s technology platform so activities, recommendations and maps are visible for customers via Topdeck’s mobile app.

• Review sales trends to help refine and refresh the experience offering on a rolling basis, never allowing the portfolio to go stale.

• Review customer feedback to help shape the portfolio and address supplier and experience issues that fall below expectation.

• Build and maintain operational tour schedules and ensure trip documentation provided to our customers and road crew is accurate.

• Be a vocal and passionate advocate of our in-destination experiences; creating and delivering training and being the in-business champion of bringing the most innovative and exciting experiences to market.

• Support the wider experience team to ensure in-destination experiences are delivered to company standard and suppliers fulfill the Service Level Agreements.

• Ensure product is developed in accordance with Global Touring crisis management and health and safety guidelines.

Experience, Requirements And Key Behaviours

• Minimum 2 years’ experience in a travel industry Product Development role (or similar)

• Creative thinker with high adaptability and problem-solving skills

• Self-starter with the ability to work independently

• Experience of developing travel products from initial conception

• Commercial awareness with strong negotiating skills

• Highly numerate and analytical

• Proficient in Microsoft Excel and suite products with a strong aptitude for technology and a willingness to quickly learn new software

• Capacity to collaborate effectively across teams with agility

• Experience in building long lasting partnerships with suppliers

• Experience in developing unique, creative product experiences

• Demonstrable negotiation skills

• Excellent English verbal and written communication skills

• Confidence to deliver presentations and interact with a wide range of individuals

• Excellent time management with the ability to deliver to deadlines

• Ability to undertake business travel independently

• Foreign language skills are desirable

• Knowledge of travel technology platforms and applications desirable

• The right to live and work in the UK

• And of course… a passion for all things travel!

Powered by JazzHR