Manager of Small Group Travel, Experience Collection

Job Description:

As a key leader in the Experiential Collection Team, the Experience Collection Product Manager is responsible for planning, developing, and delivering itineraries & experiences for Exclusive Resorts’ Group Travel Collection:

• Once in a Lifetime (OIAL): Luxury, small group Journeys for Club Members. On average, group size 16-20 pax with departures that run 4-6x a year. When chartering a ship, we use the entire ship which can be up to 225 cabins. Team runs 8-10 different itineraries annually.
• European Villas: Supplemental Club inventory in Europe from May-Oct that include Local Hosting and daily breakfast in residence.
• Member Events: Long weekend events, often around sporting events. Group size average is 16-20 pax

Requires travel domestically and/or internationally ~20% of year to scout and host Member Group Trips.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities (This includes but is not limited to):

New Once in a Lifetime (OIAL) Journeys, European Villa experiences and Events:

• Researches and maintains a growing knowledge of industry products, innovations, destinations, and suppliers/DMC

• Assist in the development of new OIAL trips, European Villa experiences and Events by brainstorming new ideas, researching the ideas, creating PowerPoint to present
• Conduct site inspections (mostly international travel) with partners for Once in a Lifetime (OIAL) Journeys, European Villa experiences and Events to finalize Member itineraries.
• Work with Finance to establish a budget.
  • Prices Journeys & Experiences in collaboration with Finance team, ensuring that margin targets are achieved, while also maximizing value for Members
  • Responsible for negotiating contracts, and working with the Legal department to ensure partner/vendor agreements are kept up to date
• Work with legal and partners to develop contracts for new Once in a Lifetime (OIAL) Journeys, European Villa experiences and Events
• Work with Marketing to develop and review collateral for Member Communications
• Prepare and review information for the Member facing website, public website, Journey Guides and Trip Planners that are accurate and stay up to date
• Ensure team/company goals are met including Trip Satisfaction scores and trip margins for budget

• Attends & represents Exclusive Resorts at travel industry conferences

• Assist Sales Team and Ambassador Team, as requested, with program and trip questions
• Researches and resolves customer service issues appropriately – addresses, troubleshoots and resolves Members concerns, when required

Execution of group Once in a Lifetime (OIAL) Journeys, European Villa experiences and Events:

• Collaborate with Trip Leads weekly on manifest and timeline requirements (each OIAL/Villa/Event has a Trip Lead on each trip to assist Manager)
• Become an expert on and manage Once in a Lifetime (OIAL) Journeys, European Villa experiences and Events
  • Actively manage the budgets for these experiences
  • Weekly management of the tour operator/partner relations for these experiences
  • Work with the OIAL Operations Coordinator and accounting to ensure billing is done promptly and accurately
  • Draft Member-facing communication to deliver important trip information
• Host 1st Member trip of the given set of departures (mostly international travel) – this could include 1-3 trips annually
• Respond to all Post Trip surveys

General Support:

• Attend weekly Team and Company meeting(s)
• Oversee the creation of all travel binders (site trip, executive and Member trip)
• Oversee vendor payments
• Oversee development of experience webinars
• Be in the Denver Office two full days a week
• Travel ~20% of the year, able to travel on international trips 10-14 days at a time

Billing Support:

• Experience billing: Manage billing for the experiences, including maintaining an accurate spreadsheet, notifying accounting of upcoming billings, working with Ambassador Trip Lead to handle cancellations and refunds

• Vendor payments: Manage payment requests and vendor payments for all OIAL trips and European Villa Experiences. Set billing reminders in the OIAL calendar and process payment requests, as needed
• Attend monthly budgeting meetings and understand the payments that have been made and the ones that are approaching

Education, Skill and Prior Experience:

• 5-10 years of group travel planning experience.
• Bachelor’s degree; or equivalent combination of education and experience
• A background in event management, high-end customer service, hospitality and/or travel related industry
• Has network of DMC and suppliers in the luxury travel industry
• Ability to travel domestically and/or internationally ~20% of year
• Excellent and polished verbal and written communication skills and professional demeanor while facilitating conflict resolution
• Experience interacting with sophisticated travelers and affluent clientele
• Strong computer proficiency and telephone skills
• Attention to detail, organization and efficiency
• The ability to multi-task and work within an ever-changing environment
• Ability to take a proactive approach to managing trips
• The ability to handle other duties as assigned, or as the business needs change
• Must be able to learn quickly and adapt to changing circumstances
• Proficient in Microsoft Outlook, Word, Power Point and Excel (particularly good excel skills to work on budgets and Word skill include Mail Merge)
• Proficiency in Salesforce and SharePoint, is a plus