About Us
Winner of the 2021 & 2022 Conde Nast Traveller ‘World’s Best Tour Operator’ award, Red Savannah is a luxury travel company established in 2011 by George Morgan-Grenville and a team of extraordinarily knowledgeable professionals, each with many years’ experience at the luxury end of the travel industry. Our address books are the best in the business – from Kings to Concierges – and we deliver only the most superlative life-changing travel experiences.
Beautifully planned private journeys across the Americas, the Indian sub-continent and Asia, ruggedly exciting African safaris, idyllic palm-fringed Indian Ocean islands, the most stunning portfolio of hand-picked Luxury Villas and Resorts in Europe & the Caribbean and an impressive fleet of Turkish Gullets – all delivered with charm, passion, integrity and style.
The Red Savannah experience strives to be authentic, substantial and intelligent. The aim has always been to bring back craftsmanship in order to create journeys of substance, without the glitz and over-hackneyed travel jargon. Every Travel Designer sells what they know and says what they think. No hogwash. No luxury- speak. Just up-to-date knowledge and an ability to listen to and interpret sophisticated needs. In 2020, the company won the prestigious ‘The Queen’s Award for Enterprise’. Quite simply, cutting edge travel redefined for the 21st century.
About You
Are you independently-minded with a passion for luxury experiential travel? We are looking for a dynamic and intelligent Travel Designer – Europe to join our fast-paced and fast-growing tailor-made travel team, based in the Cotswolds. The Red Savannah brand shines because of the people we employ. We have a specific brand DNA that requires team members to be confident, sophisticated self-starters, independent thinkers with excellent social skills and a well-developed sense of humour. We deal with many High Net Worth clients / celebrities and are therefore deadly serious about what we do – but we try and have fun doing it and there is a terrific team spirit across the business.
Roles and Responsibilities
For this specific role, we are looking for candidates with extensive experience of selling FITs into Europe and in particular Italy, Spain, France, Croatia & Greece. Knowledge of Northern & Central Europe would also be an asset.
The Travel Designer role at Red Savannah is markedly different from most travel companies. We seek an experienced individual who would typically consider themself to be ‘travel designer’ as opposed to a ‘sales consultant’. All of our team instinctively know how to turn an ordinary holiday into an extraordinary holiday and most importantly, every designer is responsible for the products they select, with the creative freedom to design itineraries and introduce new hotels and journeys to the company and its clients. Apart from making the job far more interesting than simply selling ‘off the shelf’ products, a sales role at Red Savannah offers enormous scope for individual growth within the industry from a career perspective.
As well as enjoying excellent relationships with clients, the successful candidate will also need to develop and progress strong relationships with the company’s suppliers from DMCs to hotels, representation companies, trade associations and leading travel agents. From time to time, you may also be required to brief PR companies and travel journalists / editors.
The role itself requires an ability to think proactively under pressure, be able to adapt to fast-moving and dynamic situations on the ground and above all, to be able to listen to, empathise with, and correctly interpret each client’s individual brief. We believe that cutting edge product knowledge is at the heart of an effective sales process, and therefore we invest time and money into travel & familiarization trips.
The successful candidate will likely have good experience of tailoring and selling upmarket travel products and they must be able to demonstrate success at meeting and exceeding sales targets. They must also demonstrate a high level of understanding of the drivers that motivate a High Net Worth traveller to want to travel in the first place, as well as their priorities, concerns, preferences and requirements. Additional knowledge of how these can vary across the different source markets would also be helpful. They will be passionate about product development and strive to deliver impeccable client service and exceed client expectations. In addition, they will be financially and numerically competent with proven ability to correctly cost travel products in order that they meet or exceed Gross Profit targets.
An ability to write good copy in clear, expressive English is essential. Not all clients wish to speak via telephone and it is thus important that the sales process can continue via email or other electronic medium. In addition, key destination information and / or itinerary highlights will often be required by the Marketing Department for website or PR purposes.
This is an exciting role and will suit either a graduate, or a seasoned travel specialist. We are also not committed to employing graduates only. Those who have not gone to university will be equally considered provided they have earned the equivalent of a degree in ‘life’ – eg. doing something interesting whether educational, business orientated or philanthropic.
Preferred Skills
- A passion for experiential travel and a deep-rooted desire to sell luxury holidays or villas.
- Intelligent willingness to immerse yourself in the subject by reading all appropriate travel columns / luxury magazines.
- Excellent writing skills and understanding of grammar.
- Excellent sales skills, demonstrating a mature, empathetic sales approach and an ability to lead the sale.
- Proven track record in selling product / managing logistics and demonstrating achievement of targets.
- Good creative eye for photography.
- Experience of travel to a variety of destinations.
- Good numeracy skills and commercial flair.
- Ability to communicate effectively from both a written and oral standpoint.
- Proactive, creative character with high degree of initiative and resourcefulness.
- Luxury brand experience is an advantage, though not essential.
- Entrepreneurial ‘can do’ attitude.
- Deep rooted and visceral customer service ethic.
- Excellent interpersonal skills and team player.
- Good working knowledge of a GDS (ideally Galileo).
We are seeking a highly motivated individual to deliver this brief. They must be enthusiastic about joining a dynamic and successful company and committed to playing a pivotal role within the business. They will also be entrepreneurial, flexible, trustworthy, reliable and happy to contribute in any way they can to the success of the company, irrespective of whether a particular request or course of actions fits exactly within their job description.
We offer above average remuneration and have an excellent bonus scheme. Our aim is always to offer an excellent career path to the right candidates. The role is full time and is based in the thriving Georgian Spa town of Cheltenham (fast becoming the cyber capital of the UK). Currently team members work in our large, open plan office on Tuesday-Thursday, and from home on Monday and Friday.
Further information and application
Please send your CV and cover letter to Katharine Landale at Bold New Recruitment, katharine@boldnewrecruitment.co.uk stating why you should be considered for this role. Please note any applications without a covering letter will be disregarded. Thank you for your interest.