If you’re someone who enjoys working directly with clients and has a passion for travel, then working in the luxury travel industry might be perfect for you.  Even in these unprecedented times, there are many benefits to becoming an executive for a luxury travel company. You get to work in an emerging industry with many growth opportunities, with a chance to travel the world and meet people from different walks of life.

Regardless of your past work experiences, you can work for a luxury travel company for as long as you have a passion for travelling. Others even have backgrounds in law and medicine, and some are full-time mothers. Another great benefit of working as an executive for a luxury travel company is that you can work at your own pace. 

But before you can be recruited into luxury travel, you need to demonstrate that you have the knowledge and skills. Remember, any job is a challenge at the start if it is going to be worth something. So, here are some interview tips for executives working in the luxury travel industry. In the end, the goal is to sell yourself and prove that you can carry out the responsibilities.

1. Show You Understand the Customer Behaviour

In a post-pandemic world, the travel industry will be gearing towards a more guest-focused approach. Therefore, you should demonstrate that you understand customer behaviour.  For instance, if you plan on working as an executive of a luxury hotel, you should be willing to listen to the guests’ needs and adapt to their offers. In a post-covid world, these needs have evolved significantly.

Studies show that travellers are now more sensitive to a new kind of travel, emphasizing sustainability and contribution to the local economy. On the other hand, business travellers, who are usually the main clients of most luxury hotels, are likely to travel much less this post-pandemic. All these changes in the behaviour of travellers can have a significant and lasting impact on the luxury travel industry. To meet these expectations, travel executives should have a deeper understanding of their clients, from who they are to the things they want.

In this unprecedented time, the travel industry is in a volatile phase. With the constant evolution of quarantine regulations, border restrictions, and lockdowns, it can be hard to predict when people can go back to the old ways of travelling.  As such, travel executives must be able to make bold decisions according to where they feel the market is heading and how their clients’ behaviour will evolve.

2. Show Remote Agile Leadership

Now that companies are operating remotely, executives in the luxury travel industry must demonstrate remote agile leadership. They should show support to the team and help them to focus on outcomes when faced with disruptions and challenges. Leaders should also cultivate a shared purpose and clarity of goals that can help to reconnect and build a remote team culture.

Remote working requires more purposeful and structured communication. Using breakout rooms for smaller discussions is highly recommended, as it allows everyone to participate and share their own opinions, before sharing these ideas with the wider group. Eventually, teams can start to have more organic discussions and collaboration while everyone is still adjusting to the new means of working. While working remotely, team leaders should consider how they can be transparent during team discussions and document these in a shared workspace.

In today’s world of limited face-to-face interaction, executives should be more deliberate when engaging with clients and agile teams. Executives might need to double down on communication and be purposeful in engaging the agile team, stakeholders, and external clients. They should be transparent and reassuring when communicating with the team regarding their performance and objectives.

Leaders should demonstrate in their actions and approach that they support everyone in these uncertain times. For instance, some leaders are doing individual check-ins with their team members for the entire week aside from the usual sprint events. Too much communication could overwhelm remote teams since there are lots of new mediums to be used. Therefore, leaders should know the most appropriate communication medium to use and ensure that everyone is heard without overwhelming them even further.

3. Understand Website UX, SEO, and Email Marketing

In this age of the Internet, executives working in the luxury travel industry should be aware of website user experience, SEO, and email marketing. User Experience, or UX for short, is everything that a client perceives throughout their interaction in a website or app. Proper UX research can help understand how the website and customer interaction, and the flaws that need fixing. The goal is to make the clients feel that they are in control and that everything is easy for them. Meanwhile, a good SEO will get a website in a good position in search engines and attract new clients, while email marketing is a digital marketing channel that allows you to send information about new products, discounts, and other services to the customers on your email list.

Even though we are in a pandemic and the travel industry has been badly disrupted, there is still an increasing number of travel websites, especially in the industry of luxury travel. Usability is a key factor that customers would consider when choosing which website to visit. Improving a website’s usability can be achieved by applying common usability techniques and following the best practices. This would also require developing different solutions and understanding the final users through testing and measuring.

When it comes to SEO, keyword research is an important aspect. It is also a great way to gain insight into your target market and understand their needs. If you design the website without proper keyword research, you won’t be able to reach out to the right clients in the luxury travel segment, and they won’t be able to find you as well.

Even though many people thought that email marketing is already dead, industry experts believe that the number of email users continues to increase. Therefore, email campaigns can still provide the best return on investment compared to other digital marketing channels. The key to successful email marketing is in using the right software. There are fantastic email marketing tools out there, and most of them come with excellent functionality.