Working for us

We get paid to indulge our great passions, travel, the Northern Lights and Northern Scandinavia!

Not surprisingly, we have a pretty contented team which comprises males and females aged from 20 up to 61 years old.

We work hard but always strive to ensure that our days are both interesting and fun and that our work/life balance never becomes all about work, work and more work. Our focus is on providing our clients with the best possible Northern Lights holiday experience but, at the same time, enjoying a rewarding and hopefully inspiring work environment.

Job description

This is an excellent opportunity for someone with fantastic customer service skills to join our vibrant team in Newcastle.

Our Customer Support Team is seeking a new team member to help make the team efficient, organised and a key department in our travel company.

Reporting to our Office Manager, you will be involved in all aspects of the post-booking processes and will help ensure that our clients experience the best possible level of customer service.

About the job

Below we have outlined three main areas of responsibility with a little further info on each along with some other more of the general types of task you could expect as part of this day to day role.

 Administration

• Processing bookings in our booking system – this consists of doing careful quality checks and producing documents for our clients
• Processing any documents when clients make changes to their trips (adding on activities/changing dates etc)
• Processing payments
• Dealing with cancellations
• Ticketing trips

Point of contact for all customers post booking

You will be the friendly voice of the company for anyone with any questions, amends, or problems from after they have made the initial booking through to when they have travelled and returned home.

• You will have responsibility for a number of inboxes and all incoming phone calls via our dedicated admin/customer service line
• Liaising with suppliers and colleagues to make all amendments and adaptions to any existing bookings. Some examples of these types of request include booking additional activities, actioning any specific room requests, making any changes to flights (such as upgrades) etc.
• Work with the Sales Team regarding booking queries
• Responding to client queries as, given the nature of our holidays, people naturally do have questions! You will work to answer these in a timely manner working with the product team or overseas suppliers to fully answer questions.

 Managing customer feedback

When our customers complete a feedback form after their holiday we read, act upon, and respond to each and every one.

• This involves feeding back positive comments to other colleagues before replying to the client to thank them.
• For any problems you will deal swiftly and professionally with client complaints during and following holidays, liaising with all departments and possibly local partners necessary to provide swift and effective resolution.

 About you

• Must have good IT skills and be able to use Outlook, Excel, and Word with ease. Our digital booking system can be quite complex but full training will be given. Decent all-round IT knowledge would be advantageous
• Must be able to work well under pressure and appreciate the need for urgency (many of our tasks are time sensitive)
• Must be happy picking up the phone and talking to our clients. Must also be able to confidently call and speak with others in the business and our overseas suppliers.
• Should have excellent attention to detail and take pride in the documents they produce
• Exceptional organisational skills are required as there will always be multiple tasks underway at any one time.
• Should be a positive and enthusiastic person. Whilst serious complaints are few and far between you need to be someone who is able to handle clients who might be upset/angry (you will always have a manager to offer guidance and support however)
• Our candidate should have the ability to work well within a small team whilst managing their own workload
• Strong English skills are essential, both written and verbal
• Experience working in the travel industry would be advantageous but not essential

 The following are standard responsibilities for all positions within the company:

• Contribute to a positive working atmosphere and to the generation of good morale
• Cover other positions in the company as directed by your line manager
• Contribute to and attend meetings and training as required
• Participate in any staff review processes
• Take appropriate responsibilities to ensure the health and safety of self and others, this will also include cleanliness of your desk area
• Pursue the achievement of equal opportunities throughout the company

 What can you expect in return?

• A vibrant office environment. You are within easy walking distance of local transport links, cafes and pubs. On-site parking is free
• Permanent contract with 28-35 hours per week (will include some Saturdays in peak periods)
• Flexible working hours and potential home working can be discussed after a three-month probationary period
• 28 days holiday
• Discounted trips

Job Type: Full-time, Permanent (this can be flexible for the preferred candidate)

Pay: £21,000.00 per year

Expected hours: 35 per week (office based with the option for some home working after probation)

Application Process

To apply please send us a copy of your CV with covering letter (outlining why you are the ideal candidate for the role. Please feel free to be informal and show your personality on the cover letter – we would like to know more about you!) to dawn@artisantravelcompany.com by Friday 13 September 2024.

If you are selected you will be invited to come and meet with us. There will be a short interview and then you will be required to do a short task/IT test.

Applications without cover letters will NOT be considered