Job description

Travel Consultant – Riyadh

Position: Travel Consultant

Department: Sales & Travel Operations

Employment Type: Full-Time – Onsite

Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Working Hours: 9 hours per day, 6 days per week

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced, motivated, and customer-focused Travel Consultant to join our team in Riyadh.

The successful candidate will manage customers' complete travel requirements, including flight reservations and ticketing, hotels, holiday packages, transportation, car rentals, cruises, tours, and visa services.

The candidate must have hands-on GDS experience and strong knowledge of international travel, visa requirements, and travel products.

Key Responsibilities

Customer Service & Sales

• Handle customer inquiries through WhatsApp, phone, email, social media, and in person.
• Meet customers and understand their travel requirements.
• Recommend suitable travel options based on customer needs and budget.
• Prepare professional quotations and convert inquiries into confirmed bookings.
• Create customized travel itineraries.
• Follow up on quotations, leads, and pending bookings.
• Maintain strong customer relationships and encourage repeat business.
• Achieve assigned sales and revenue targets.

Customer Site Visits

• Visit customer locations in Riyadh when required.
• Meet corporate and individual customers to understand their travel requirements.
• Present travel solutions, packages, and corporate travel services.
• Build and maintain relationships with key customers.
• Identify new sales and business opportunities.
• Represent the company professionally during customer visits.

Flight Reservations & GDS

GDS experience is mandatory.

• Make airline reservations using Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo, or equivalent GDS systems.
• Search and compare fares, schedules, availability, and routing options.
• Issue, reissue, exchange, and refund airline tickets.
• Handle fare rules, baggage allowances, penalties, and ticketing conditions.
• Manage cancellations, schedule changes, and flight disruptions.
• Provide accurate flight quotations and ticketing information.

Visa Services

• Advise customers regarding visa requirements, documentation, procedures, fees, and processing times.
• Assist with visa applications for destinations including Schengen, UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Asia, and other destinations.
• Review customer documents and identify missing or incorrect information.
• Prepare and organize visa application files.
• Assist with visa appointment bookings and submissions where applicable.
• Follow up on visa applications and provide customers with updates.
• Stay updated on changes to embassy, immigration, and visa application requirements.

Hotels & Travel Packages

• Book hotels through OTAs, bedbanks, supplier platforms, and direct hotel channels.
• Arrange airport transfers, private transportation, and car rentals.
• Book cruises, tours, excursions, and activities.
• Coordinate with DMCs and international suppliers.
• Create customized holiday packages combining flights, hotels, transfers, tours, activities, and other travel services.
• Negotiate with suppliers to obtain competitive rates.
• Assist in developing new travel packages and destination products.

Booking & Operations

• Process new bookings, amendments, cancellations, refunds, and rebookings.
• Issue tickets, hotel confirmations, vouchers, and travel documents.
• Maintain accurate customer and booking records.
• Follow supplier payment, cancellation, refund, and booking policies.
• Handle urgent customer requests and travel disruptions.
• Provide pre-trip and during-trip customer support.

Skills

Mandatory Requirements

• Previous experience as a Travel Consultant / Travel Agent.
• Hands-on GDS experience is mandatory.
• Strong airline reservation and ticketing experience.
• Practical experience with visa applications and requirements.
• Strong knowledge of international travel destinations.
• Excellent customer service and communication skills.
• Strong sales and negotiation skills.
• Ability to manage multiple customers and bookings simultaneously.
• Willingness and ability to visit customer locations when required.

Language Skills

• Arabic: Excellent written and spoken Arabic is required.
• English: Good to excellent written and spoken English is required.
• Ability to communicate professionally with both Arabic-speaking and international customers and suppliers.
• Ability to write professional emails, quotations, itineraries, and travel-related communications in English and Arabic.

Computer & Technical Skills

• Good to excellent computer literacy.
• Strong knowledge of Microsoft Office, particularly Word, Excel, and Outlook.
• Ability to learn and work with travel booking platforms, CRM systems, supplier portals, and online tools.
• Strong ability to work with GDS systems and online reservation platforms.
• Ability to manage digital documents, customer records, quotations, and booking information accurately.
• Comfortable using WhatsApp Business, email, and other digital communication platforms.
• Ability to quickly learn and adapt to new software and technology.

Soft Skills

The ideal candidate should demonstrate:

• Excellent communication skills
• Strong customer-service orientation
• Sales and negotiation skills
• Professional and confident personality
• Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills
• Excellent listening and problem-solving abilities
• Strong attention to detail
• Good organization and time-management skills
• Ability to multitask and prioritize work
• Ability to work under pressure
• Proactive and self-motivated attitude
• Teamwork and collaboration
• Professional appearance and behavior
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Positive attitude
• Ability to handle difficult customers and resolve complaints professionally
• Strong follow-up skills
• Commercial awareness and ability to identify sales opportunities

Preferred Experience

• Amadeus, Sabre, or Galileo.
• Hotel bedbanks and OTA platforms.
• DMCs and international suppliers.
• Car rental and transportation suppliers.
• Cruise bookings.
• Customized holiday packages.
• Travel insurance.
• Corporate and group travel.

Working Hours & Conditions

• 9 working hours per day, 6 days per week.
• One weekly day off according to the company's schedule.
• Fully onsite position in Riyadh.
• Primary work location will be the company's office.
• Customer site visits may be required for meetings, presentations, corporate accounts, and business development.
• The candidate should be comfortable traveling within Riyadh for customer meetings.
• Flexible working hours may occasionally be required depending on business requirements.
• Weekend and public holiday work may be required when scheduled.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Sales and revenue generated
• Flight ticketing sales
• Hotel and package sales
• Visa service sales
• Conversion rate of inquiries to bookings
• Customer satisfaction
• Response time
• Repeat customer rate
• Booking accuracy
• Customer visits and business development
• Upselling and cross-selling
• Supplier relationship management

Ideal Candidate

We are looking for a professional, proactive, sales-oriented, and highly organized Travel Consultant who can independently manage the customer's journey from the initial inquiry through to the completion of their trip.

The ideal candidate should be confident in GDS reservations and ticketing, visa services, hotels, holiday packages, transportation, supplier coordination, sales, and customer relationship management.

Strong Arabic and English communication skills, excellent computer literacy, and strong interpersonal skills are essential for this position.

The successful candidate must be comfortable working onsite at the office and visiting customer locations when required.

GDS experience is mandatory.