Part-time Travel Experience Specialist (Remote)

Looking for a flexible role that lets you make an impact? Want to join a startup part-time during after-hours? Enhance your CV while studying and gain hands-on experience in the fast-growing travel industry? This is your chance to be part of a team that’s shaping the future of sustainable travel.

About Viatu:

Be part of shaping the next-gen travel platform that empowers travellers to design and book their next adventure of a lifetime. As one of only forty B Corp-certified travel companies in the world, Viatu is a young and ambitious startup with a mission to make sustainable travel accessible to all. At Viatu, we carefully curate our partners and use technology to enable travellers to consider destinations that once seemed out of reach, allowing them to design and book adventure-packed itineraries with ease and confidence. Think of experiences like the gorilla trekking in Rwanda, hiking the tallest dunes in Namibia or witnessing the world’s best safari during the Great Migration. With Viatu, we promote experiential travel that is memorable for our travellers and meaningful for people and the planet. We are a remote and diverse team of shakers and doers, representing over 10 nationalities. Through diversity of thought, we constantly challenge ourselves to find new solutions and craft better travel experiences for our guests. We take calculated risks because we believe that change is positive and fosters progress for a more regenerative paradigm shift in travel.

Role

We are looking for an On-Call Travel Experience Specialist to join our Customer Experience team. In this role, you will be the key point of contact for our travellers, assisting with any requests that arise during evenings, weekends, and public holidays. As an ideal candidate, you are detail-oriented, possess strong communication skills, and are committed to delivering outstanding service. You will play a vital role in the success of our start-up by assisting travelers when they need it most—whether it’s clarifying pre-travel queries or providing support during their journeys.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Your role and responsibilities will include but not be limited to:

• Manage Client Inquiries and Emergencies: Be the go-to person for addressing and resolving client needs and emergencies that pop up after hours.
• Keep Clients in the Loop: Ensure itineraries, bookings, and any travel updates are promptly communicated so travelers stay informed and confident.
• Engage with Travelers: From booking to returning home, be the friendly guide that ensures every trip is smooth, memorable, and stress-free.
• Support them during their trip: Help travellers experience Africa in a unique way by offering personalized experiences, handling requests, and checking in to make sure everything is going great.
• Collaborate with Hotels and Lodges: Work closely with accommodation partners to anticipate and sort out issues, and help make special moments even more memorable.
• Track and Improve Performance: Regularly monitor and report your KPIs to keep customer satisfaction on the rise.

What you bring to Viatu

• You have an incurable case of wanderlust, and a passion for travel, African wildlife, and people.
• You are passionate about turning our customers’ dreams into reality, and understand this often requires you to be flexible and think on your feet.
• You have a service mindset and can put yourself in the shoes of our customers.
• You work meticulously with a high degree of autonomy.
• You recently got, or are in the process of getting a Bachelor's degree in tourism, social science, marketing, economics or a related field.
• You are an effective and engaging communicator.
• You have travelled to one or more of our destinations extensively and are familiar with the places we offer to our clients.

A big plus

• Based in Cape Town.
• Previous experience in a Customer Experience department.
• Destination knowledge of Namibia and South Africa.
• Experience working with a modern CRM tracking your activity and working towards ambitious KPIs.
• Working knowledge of Google Suite.

Benefits

• Working fully remotely with a decentralised team with regular meetups in Cape Town & Europe.
• Having a direct impact on people and planet in the destinations we operate in.
• Access to internal and external education and life-long-learning opportunities.
• Join an international, fast-paced startup culture that empowers you from day one.
• Work on exciting projects with some of the world’s most sustainable brands in tourism.
• Collaborate with a talented, motivated team, including former Googlers, Booking.com engineers, and Rocket Internet executives.
• Enjoy flat hierarchies, agile decision-making, and immediate ownership.
• Access attractive travel allowances, and special travel incentives for yourself and your family.

Compensation

Industry-related salary (R 3,000) - South Africa based.

Work hours

This estimated workload for this role is 20 hours/week, and it depends on a seasonal volume of enquiries - some days may have none, while others could be busier. Daily availability is required to respond to clients’ queries. You have the flexibility to structure your own work hours; however, as a service-oriented business, we require the following availability:

• “On-call” availability outside of regular work hours for answering client or hotel WhatsApp messages, emails, and calls:
• Weekdays: 5:00 PM - 10:30 PM
• Weekends & Public Holidays: 7:30 AM - 10:30 PM
• 5 weekly hours during regular business hours (9:00 AM - 5:00 PM) for calls and potential alignment with the rest of the team.

Reporting

You will report to our Head of Product and Customer Experience. #J-18808-Ljbffr