Information about our vacancy for a Customer Support Administrator
You can play a vital role in helping to improve the environmental and social impacts of tourism by becoming a Customer Support Administrator for Travelife, a world leading accommodation sustainability certification scheme.
We are a small UK-based team with a big goal! We want to ensure that travellers and travel companies have a huge range of verified sustainable accommodation options available to them all over the world, drastically improving the impact of travel on people and places whilst creating more demand for responsible tourism.
That means that we must continually work to ensure the integrity, credibility and quality of the Travelife Accommodation Sustainability (TASC) scheme. This is so that people can rely on the Travelife label as an indication of responsible business no matter where they are travelling.
About the role
We have one full-time vacancy for this meaningful and rewarding position that reports to our Managing Director. If you are recruited, you will join a friendly and committed London team to work with hotels all over the world. To understand more about this role it would be helpful to head to our website at www.travelifestaybetter.com where you will find detailed information about how Travelife certification works. Here is a summary of the main tasks this position involves:
Customer support: You’ll be the central point of contact for all customer enquiries, whether they be from new customers who are interested in becoming Travelife Certified, or existing customers that have questions about preparing for their audit, accessing information or technology, or renewing their certification. You will also handle general enquiries and requests that come to our central inbox, ensuring they are passed on to the right team member if you are unable to respond yourself. You will also help us monitor customer feedback surveys as part of a wider team effort to ensure we are always delivering the highest standards of quality and integrity.
Administration: You will help to ensure that several of our business administration tasks are being carried out, especially tasks relating to looking after customers including invoices, payments, keeping our websites updated and processing requests for certification award plaques that we ship to customers once or twice a month. You will also help us maintain public listings of all certified properties which includes producing weekly reports and updating our website.
Acquisition and retention support: You will provide support for our customer acquisition and retention activities which means working with almost all members of the Travelife team to ensure that new customer leads are followed up and that we are properly engaging with our existing customers, including securing their renewal payments.
Other: At least once a year you will need to observe a certification audit taking place at a hotel which will require overseas travel. From time-to-time we may ask you to travel to support events and trade shows.
Required skills and experience
In addition to already having the right to legally work in the UK, all Travelife team members must meet the following requirements which form an important part of ensuring the quality and integrity of the TASC Scheme:
Be educated to at least secondary school level.
Be fluent in both spoken and written English.
Know how to communicate with people who do not speak English as a first language (or at all), including how to use resources to help with that (e.g. translation software/apps).
Have excellent communication skills that can be used to deliver clear explanations, instructions, feedback.
Can communicate with clarity, kindness and respect.
Be able to read and understand written materials including requests, instructions, policies, procedures and guidelines.
Be able to compose written materials in order to request and give information clearly.
Be able to carry out basic math calculations and know how to use tools to help with more complex ones.
Be competent with technology (e.g. laptops) and able to use the Microsoft Office suite to create documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
Know how to use technology as a resource for finding information and to generally support their work. For example, research, time management, proofreading, booking travel.
Have an understanding of world geography, knowing how to use maps and other online resources to locate and learn about different locations.
Have a strong interest in tourism sustainability.
This role has some additional requirements:
Excellent customer service skills.
Good social media literacy.
Willingness to cross-train and provide support in other Travelife business areas when required
Speaking a second language is not necessary but would be beneficial, especially Spanish, Greek, Portuguese, French, German, Turkish, Arabic, Thai or Vietnamese.
Experience with updating and managing website content is not necessary but would be beneficial, especially experience with WordPress.
Attributes and behaviours
There are some important attributes, behaviours and values that all team members are expected to hold:
Have a good sense of justice (what is right and what is fair) and be committed to equality and fair treatment for everyone.
Act ethically and with integrity, always striving to remain independent, objective, impartial and consistent when making decisions and judgements.
Be committed to being aware of their personal biases and to doing their best to ensure their biases do not influence the way they make decisions, judgements or how they treat people.
Communicate clearly, truthfully and respectfully with people from different backgrounds, cultures and at different levels of seniority.
Give feedback and suggestions for improvement with empathy, tact and diplomacy.
Treat sensitive or confidential information about an organisation or a person with care, respect and discretion.
Be supportive and kind to their colleagues which includes a willingness to take a collaborative approach to problem-solving.
Be willing to admit to their mistakes and ask for help or clarification when they need it.
Be open to acting on suggestions for improvement from their peers and their managers.
Be open to the idea that there are always new things to be learned and committed to keeping their skills and knowledge up to date.
Be open to considering points of view and ideas that may be different to their own, or that are new to them.
Care about always doing a thorough and professional job.
Be well organised and have processes and/or tools they use to help them effectively manage time, prioritise tasks and to stay on track with them.
There are a few additional ones that are specific to this role:
Able to be self-motivated in terms of staying on track with tasks without close supervision.
Can pay attention to detail.
Training and development
We will provide on-the-job training including travel to hotels to gain on-site practical experience during the first few months of joining us. There may be other international travel required from time-to-time.
We encourage our staff to further their skills and to take their career in a direction that excites them most. That means that we will do whatever we can to support you if you wish to complete part-time study, such as learning a language or taking on specialist sustainability training in an area of particular interest. And whilst we are a small team at Travelife, we always do our best to shape roles to suit a person’s individual skills and interests once they have successfully settled into their job.
Location and hours
Travelife is wholly owned by ABTA so we are based out of their office in London’s Bankside area, just a few minutes from Borough Market and London Bridge Station.
Whilst you will be needed for in-person training quite a lot in your first few months with us (some overseas) once you have settled in, you will only be required in the office a maximum of two days per week, however there may be times when we ask you to come in for additional days in order to complete training, attend meetings, events and so on. We can also be flexible with how you fit your hours around things like childcare, study and personal wellness.
Salary, benefits and start date
We are currently looking for someone to start from the beginning of December but do not worry if you already have Christmas commitments (e.g. travel booked to visit friends or family) as you can take annual leave for the scheduled workdays from Christmas Eve through to the New Year.
The full-time salary is £28k to £32k, depending on experience. Travelife team members are employed by ABTA, a London Living Wage and Disability Confident employer that offers a supportive working environment alongside some great benefits and training opportunities. You can click here for more information about these benefits which include an excellent pension scheme, private medical insurance, an employee assistance programme and paid time off for volunteering.
The application process
Step 1
Click here to complete a short anonymous online quiz which will check if you meet the absolute minimum requirements for working at Travelife. The quiz results will inform you whether or not you should continue with an application.
Step 2
Send your CV and a cover letter to hr@abta.co.uk.
Step 3
Click here to complete an online assessment so we can see if you have some of the core competencies required for working at Travelife.
Step 4
We will review your application and the online assessment and aim to let you know if you have been shortlisted no later than 7th November.
Step 5
If shortlisted, you will be asked to attend an interview which will be via an online video call.
Step 6
You may be asked to attend a second interview which may be at our office.
Step 7
We are currently aiming to conclude this recruitment process by mid November in order to have the successful candidate start at the beginning of December in order that the outgoing customer support staff member can provide training before they depart after Christmas.