Vacancy expired!
Lets start at the beginning.
After 15 years of building companies and traveling the world, we realized that, as business owners, no one could manage our travel like we could. Our assistants - as amazing as they were - couldnt get the nuisances of selecting the right seats or the perfect hotels (and hotel rooms!), and they couldnt nail the logistics required to make our travel seamless and easy. Worse, they always seemed to get bogged down with long hold times with airlines whenever something didnt go right, and they found it challenging to keep up with the ever-evolving nature of travel.
As a result, the two of us, Dan and Leigh, the Co-Founders of Savanti Travel, became glorified super-nerds on all things travel. From miles and points and credit card strategy, to which airlines had the best planes and most comfortable seats, to what technology was available to enhance the travel experience, to the intricate details of business and leisure (or bleisure) travel planning with things like hotel hookups and upgrades and free amenities received just for booking through the right channel - we spent time mastering and nerding out on all of this! Not to mention the tiny details that also mattered - like adding travel to our calendar, checking us in, sending us mobile boarding passes, ensuring our frequent flier numbers were on our tickets, and most importantly, making sure we had the highly important TSA Precheck.
And as such, three and a half years ago, our friends (who all became clients in the early days) encouraged us to finally launch the full service travel management company that they had always wanted - and that we had been doing for ourselves. In early 2016, Savanti was launched. From the start, and still to its core today, Savanti sits at the intersection of best in class customer service and insane travel intelligence.
Our chief premise is to ensure that someone is looking out for our clients and has their back. Its as simple as that. If there was a deal, they are getting it. If there was a more comfortable plane, they are on it. If we had a hotel hook up with VIP amenities, they are going to get them. AND, its on their calendar, we check them in, monitor for delays, and remove all friction before they know it even existed.
The past three and a half years have seen Savanti turn into a successful business, with a growing team of 10 full-time employees, and lots of happy clients. However, as co-founders, we are still managing the majority of the day to day clients under Savantis umbrella. Weve realized that the time has come to grow our small team, to bring on some really talented, detail-oriented, passionate customer service gurus to learn from and with us, and to ultimately take over the current client roster to become front line client facing ninjas for some really incredible Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists, Executives, Actors, Musicians, Tech CEOs, Venture Capitalists and more.
What were looking for: we want travel-seasoned people who are irrationally obsessed with taking care of other people and who are excited to build on their travel intelligence, whether they have been a travel agent in the past, or an Executive Assistant to someone who has always been on the road professionally, to join our amazing team. If youve managed complex travel logistics (including but not limited to things like complex corporate and leisure travel, or handled logistics and movements for bands/touring artists/conferences/festivals), AND if you live for being of service to others and delighting people, then we want you to join our team of client service gurus. In addition, the perfect candidate is a people person who loves looking after others, and is always thinking 3 steps ahead in an effort to remove any potential friction along the way that our clients may experience.
In order to be successful in this role, you need to be a sponge. Youre going to shadow one of us co-founders for a few months to learn not only the ins and outs of how we think about customer service, but also how we think about travel intelligence, and to do so in real life, via day to day client management scenarios. Youll be supporting us in the beginning, and throughout your training, by managing the travel needs of some really incredible clients, who are friendly and gracious, but also have come to rely on our support.
As you successfully learn and grow in the Savanti way, you will ultimately take on and manage your own client roster, and ultimately youll be responsible as the front line relationship advisor for and travel advisor to all their travel needs, whether its business or leisure. This doesnt mean that youll be alone, managing travel all by yourself; theres a team of people to support you when you need help, when youre overloaded, and when you need guidance. But you are the front line to these individuals and their travel needs, and are expected to manage and fulfill the majority of their requests.
You can be anywhere in the United States for this role, though periodic travel to San Francisco or other sites for conferences, meetings, and training, will be required. You can work from home, and well help you get a comfy remote virtual office set up if you need one. We will make sure you have the best computer and internet speed to make sure you are in the best position to do your job.
In order to be successful as a client facing advisor, you have to be irrationally obsessed with taking care of people. You have to know that missing the smallest detail can bring down the whole house. You have to be a master task organizer and learn how to prioritize multiple things coming in at once. You have to be an impeccable listener to what our clients need. You have to have a thirst for continued learning, because the travel industry is continuously evolving. You have to be both an independent thinker and a collective team contributor. You have to realize that our clients success is rooted in your ability to think ahead for them, to think about the problems they might encounter, to check all the boxes, to ensure that if there is a deal weve found it, and to feel secure that all relevant information has been passed onto the client to make their travel seamless, easy, and successful.
It wont always be easy, but thats why were a team, and thats why we will deliver a supporting community of other colleagues to help you when the tide is in, and will expect you to lend a helping hand if a teammate needs help.
As such, we will ensure that you have a fair and generous salary, that you partake in sharing the company profits as we grow, that you will have health insurance and 401K contributions - and of course, opportunities to travel - because hey, were a travel company after all!
These are the things a successful candidate must have:
4+ years experience taking exceptional care of high profile people who travel regularly either as their travel advisor, as their EA, and/or their logistics coordinator
Ability to receive multiple requests (sometimes at the same time), and prioritize based on whats most important - not on whats easiest or most fun to handle
Detail oriented mindset
Fastidious self organization
Obsession with taking care of others
Best in class listening skills
Advanced written and oral communication skills
How to apply:
Send an email to jobs@savantitravel.com with the subject: Im your BEST hire ever
Attach your resume, and title it [John Does] Resume for Savanti Travel - please replace the brackets and John Does with your actual name
In your cover letter, please specify how many travel transactions you have completed, and one thing that excites you about Savanti. If theres anything else that makes you stand out or is special, please let us know!
Share a time when you have experienced best in class customer service, and why you thought it was exceptional.
If you could change 1 thing about the travel industry, what would you change and why?
