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A travel director oversees travel arrangements for a company or clients, requiring an undergraduate degree, travel experience, and negotiation skills. They manage budgets, handle customer complaints, and liaise with foreign clients, often requiring language skills. Previous experience in hospitality or entertainment is beneficial.
A travel director is responsible for overseeing the travel arrangements of persons employed by a specific company or for handling travel-related matters for the clients of a travel company. Someone who wants to become a travel director typically must complete an undergraduate degree program. Additionally, many companies prefer to hire travel directors who have traveled extensively, as these individuals are familiar with the types of challenges and difficulties their clients may face.
Some universities offer degree programs in travel and tourism and someone who wants to become a travel director can choose to complete this course. In other cases, companies employ individuals who have completed degree programs in business administration or management, since much of a director’s job involves negotiating contracts. In addition, many travel directors oversee a team of travel administrators. In that case, previous supervisory experience may be listed among the job prerequisites. Some companies prefer to hire directors with professional experience in the travel industry. Therefore, someone aspiring to be a travel director may have to gain some prior experience working as a travel agent or resort customer service representative.
Many large companies employ in-house travel directors, and these individuals are responsible for managing work-related travel activities for company employees. The director should try to negotiate reduced rates with hotels, airlines and tour companies. In most cases, the director is responsible for ensuring that the company’s overall travel costs stay within the annual budget. Therefore, someone wanting to become a travel director may have to gain some experience managing staffing budgets as a department manager in another area of the company.
Tourist offices and tourism companies often employ travel directors who are responsible for handling the day-to-day operations of a particular hotel or resort. This individual must ensure that the sales team achieves revenue targets while maximizing cross-selling opportunities. The director must also arrange transportation arrangements with taxi companies, bus operators and other companies to transport guests to and from the resort. Customer complaints and minor service issues are usually handled by junior staff, but serious issues are often referred to the travel director. Therefore, someone who wants to become a travel director ideally has good customer service skills and many people employed in these roles are those with previous experience as managers in the hospitality or entertainment fields.
Like many people employed in the travel industry, a director may have to liaise with foreign clients and business partners. Consequently, someone employed in this role may need to have second language skills. Some companies prefer to hire people who have completed language education, while others employ directors who have completed short-term language classes.
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