Siobhan Barakat’s Post

Good Opportunities

Dubai, UAE, great opportunity

You might be wondering Why I'm always hiring. Whether it's a smart move. And you're right, there's always going to be risk involved when you bring new people on. I'm not going to deny that. But I've gotten real good at forecasting our revenue and workload over the last 4 years. And that's something I learnt managing hotels. They were super strict. We had to have our end of month P&L within 5% of the budget. Doing that each month helped me get a good understanding of how to predict revenue. And I use that knowledge to keep track of where we'll be as a business at any point in time. Then I forecast our workload so I know when we need to hire someone else. And these days, hiring is taking longer than it used to. Because we're looking for better and better people to be part of the team. We advertised roles in October for our February intake. It takes that long to find the right people. And over that time period, I'll keep tracking our revenue. To make sure we bring on the right number of people at the right time.

Living and breathing Disney for a living sounds like the stuff dreams are made of, right? While it is an incredibly fun career with some sweet benefits, remember it’s also a job. At times, it can be a stressful one. After all, the magic of a family’s Disney vacation has fallen into YOUR HANDS. No pressure there! In reality, there can be a lot of pressure on you. Whether by the guest or just self-imposed because you want to be the absolute best, provide the most incredible service and ultimately get referred to again and again. So before you embark on any journey to become a travel agent specializing in Disney destinations, it’s important to decide if it’s truly a goal, a dream or just a fleeting whim. That means asking yourself some tough questions and being really honest with your answers. If you cannot, with certainty, answer YES to the following five questions, you might not be ready to get on that path just yet. Am I an organized person? Organization, attention to detail and management skills are non-negotiable when considering a career in travel planning. If you are a cross all the T’s and dot all the I’s type, you’re on your way! Can I function in the early hours of the morning? Particularly with the Walt Disney World Resort, many of the most important functions of a Disney travel planner happen in the early morning. If you call yourself a morning person, then let’s call that two cheers for you! Can I work hard without making any money (for a while)? This career is a very LONG game. Travel planners work on commissions and commissions aren’t paid until AFTER travel is COMPLETED. Not booked. If you plan to work on building up your travel business as a side-hustle and don’t need the extra income immediately, that’s three things telling you to go for it! Can I be objective about rejection? Not every potential guest that comes your way is going to book a vacation with you. Some will ask you to prepare a quote or several quotes then suddenly stop responding. This is part of the nature of the business of sales. It happens to all travel planners, all the time. If you can take so-called “tire-kickers” in stride, shrug off rejection and know that another opportunity will come along, well then, you are amazing and this just might be the right career for you! Am I a people person? In today’s world where face-to-face and even voice-to-voice interaction is almost obsolete, it’s still a requirement that you are generally happy to meet and talk with new people. If you really want to be successful, you’ve got to enjoy working with, servicing and talking with people. It’s essential to not only BEING in business, but GROWING your business. To succeed, you must build a know/like/trust foundation with your clients so they refer you. Word of mouth referrals are gold to travel planners. Did you answer YES to all five? If so, what are you waiting for? Take the next steps! https://lnkd.in/ersgTXhD