Should I be a travel curator?

Do you dream about jet-setting to far off, exotic locales?

Are you the person in your group who is always researching your trips?

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

If you answered YES to these two questions, becoming a travel curator might be a perfect fit for you!

But how do you know for sure? We are here to help you make that decision.

Travel Curation involves envisioning, planning and creating personalized travel experiences based on your clients' unique needs.

• Plan, describe, arrange, and sell selections of or total travel packages

• Speak with customers to choose destinations, modes of transportation, travel dates, and accommodations

• Calculate costs and stay within a client's budget

• Book transportation and hotel reservations

• Print or request passes and tickets

A Day in the Life

1. Check-in with clients who are preparing for upcoming trips, who need to finalize their plans, and potential clients who you are trying to book

2. Meet with team to review sales quotas and how close you are to reaching them

3. Mediate any client problems that are on your radar and prioritize them in order of importance

4. Learn about new promotions travel partners are offering your clients

5. Create promotional posts on social media and make cold calls to find new clients

Photo by Yi Liu on Unsplash

Travel Agencies

• Probably the most popular way to get your foot in the door, travel agencies range from small businesses to large, global corporations.

Non-Profit/Non-Government Organizations (NGOs)

• NGOs are mission driven organizations that often require travel.

Private Clients

• Some executives, celebrities, business owners, and CEOs, travel frequently need someone to plan their trips on short notice.

Businesses

• Corporations and other businesses often require employees to travel for meetings, conferences, etc.

Self Employed

• You can even start your own travel agency business! Consider if you want a brick and mortar approach or if you want to go through an established agency name.

Each has advantages and disadvantages.

What do you want most out of your job/career?

United States

Photo by Maciej Pietrzak on Unsplash

Avg. Base Salary (USD): $43,394/ year

The Breakdown:

Canada

Photo by chris robert on Unsplash

Avg. Base Salary (CAD): C$38,665/ year

The Breakdown:

• You love learning and talking about new places.

• You enjoy planning nitty, gritty details and seeing a project through to completion.

• You are a social butterfly and enjoy speaking with new people all the time.

• You love helping others.

  

• You do not do well in high stress situations like emergency flight cancellations.

• You do not enjoy competition.

• You hate sitting at a desk and staring at a computer all day.

• You are not willing to work odd hours, like early mornings, nights and weekends.

  

Maria

• Can be shy when meeting people at first

• Very detail-oriented, loves reorganizing

Rodney

• Very outgoing, loves to meet new people

• Flexible in his day-to-day life

Peder

• An introverted-extrovert, needs time to unwind from lots of interactions

• Enjoys playing sports on the weekends with his friends on organized teams

Liz

• Loves working together to complete a task or project

• Hates competitive atmospheres, including playing board games

Is travel curation a good path for you?

If so: