A huge company no longer connected to its roots... - Senior Country Specialist Audley Travel Employee Review

Since the original owners sold the company to investors the vibe, the focus and the integrity of the company has changed for the worse. The tag-line "tailor-made holidays for the discerning traveller" no longer truly applies. The rule is to sell to whatever to whoever. Therefore "tailor-made" holidays are a real rarity. The specialist creating the itinerary will be using a template package that has been used for hundreds of other travellers, not entirely tailor-made. Managers advise staff to sell anything - this results in trips being sold for as little as 2 nights away, sometimes using hotels that no staff have inspected, selling at rock-bottom prices to "price match" competitors - generally adding no value to the client and completely going against the "values" the company prides itself on. The specialists tell clients that "we pride ourselves on recommendations and repeat business and we don't spend any money on marketing". There are some r&r yes. Largely, the company runs on Google advertising. This results in huge volumes of poor quality enquiries for the sales staff. As the company has grown the quality of the recruits has seriously gone downhill. This is down to poor hiring decisions by managers. This quick increase in staff has a negative effect on the more experienced members of the team. For every new member of staff there is a group training lasting around 2 weeks. Once this period passes the responsibility should lie with the managers - yet the managers are always in meetings. Therefore the new and inexperienced members of staff are left in the hands of their experienced colleagues. Whilst people are happy to help it is always to the detriment of your own time, sales and ultimately your pay. What makes this an even bigger blow is that the new staff receive the best and easiest leads. All managers deny this yet all staff know this to be fact. The best leads - the ones from repeat clients and high spenders always go to the new staff, it is supposed to boost their moral. Of course it does - and good for them - we are all new at one time. Yet, this means the more experienced specialists are suffering with a loss of time and now losing the quality leads. It would be great if managers admitted to this bias. With the expansion of the business the new recruitment has meant new managers in the sales teams. With maybe a couple of exceptions the new wave of external managers brought into the business are poor quality. There is a lack of company knowledge, they can't relate to the sales role and they are inflexible, rigid, micro-managers who are ruining the experience for those who once loved their jobs. Audley would have been better to wait, grow slower and recruit and promote from within. Those managers who have progressed from sales specialist to manager are generally, amazing! The middle management approach is "one size fits all". There is a Big Brother feeling about the whole approach. Your calls are monitored and there is a school-like work book to record your every move. There is no scope for flexibility. There is no individual management - simply one approach and hope for the best. Cringe-worthy and low-grade incentives from RSMs including balloon popping (!). Children's toys used to signal a booking. Makes the office feel like a playground. The pay can be good - if you work incredibly hard. However, there is also a lot of luck involved - if you are given the good leads, if your region is popular that year, if you haven't chosen to book your holiday at the wrong time etc. The fam trips can be a great way to explore the world at the expense of the company. However, they are incredible hard work - no days off. You work everyday for 30 days, weekends and evenings too. The hours are long 9-6 and around 12 weekends a year. There are a lot of holiday embargo dates too. The product could be better - Audley is often behind its competitors in terms of interesting day-trips, quirky hotels - it really should better at this. There is a PDP in place with little flexibility and it generally involves signing a piece of paper and never speaking about it again with your manager. This is a shame - if there is a need for a personal development plan, fine, but act on it, be creative, work hard with the individual. If this is simply a rigid rule for 2 months missed targets in an otherwise impeccable year - give the individual a break. The senior management team are distant and removed from the sales floor - so when ideas like the afore mentioned school book or compulsory call centre-style headset are implemented they literally have no idea of the negative impact it has on staff. Whilst the sales career path is clear and achievable there is little scope to move into other roles and areas of the business. There is no opportunities for sales staff to work reduced hours - hence anyone in sales wanting to return post maternity leave (which is a pitiful pay) has to work full time. Audley Travel is sadly no longer the smaller independently run travel company providing bespoke itineraries for the discerning traveller. This huge company is owned by the investors and is managed by corporate managers with the sole purpose of making as much money as possible.