Pros
Glassdoor requires me to write here. So i'll say this... I am NOT a disgruntled employee. I made AMAZING life long friends here... most of whom have also left like I did. The relationships you will make here among fellow employees (that are not area leader spies), and the contacts you make with other companies like cruise reps, hotel reps, tour reps, etc... are wonderful and will see you through the best part of your career in travel... When you realize Liberty Travel is the Kmart of travel and the lowest on the totem pole. There is a world outside of Liberty that is amazing. Opportunities for careers in travel that are amazing. Check Facebook for the XLIGBO employee page... you'll find the happiest people there.
Cons
Everything... when you see the forest for the trees. I sat in my two week training with tears in my eyes thinking I would retire from this company. Until I was in the office long enough to realize this is terrible. So here's what they don't tell you. Yes, it's sales and you have goals. You will get an email daily from your Area Leader (in charge of multiples stores in an area) basically ripping store by store apart for not hitting the numbers they want. I have seen new employees quit over the verbal abuse in these emails. You don't want to know what the ones to the Team Leaders (store managers) say. The thing is... Hotels and cruises pay you commission. This is how you hit your goal. Then Liberty travel pays you ONLY 6% of that number.. but if you hit the unrealistic number of $9500 you get 35% of what you make over that number. They make you think this is a breeze and anyone can do it. WRONG. I worked in a VERY busy store in NJ. Doesn't happen unless you've been there 15 years with a huge client base. Corporate is greedy and does not care AT ALL for the agents on the forefront BEGGING for business. The company recently admitted to it's management staff it is in financial hardships and cutting cost, corners, and employees soo..... There is NO work/life balance. NONE. WHATSOEVER. In my time at Liberty I actually saw marriages break up. Could be due to the excessive drinking, partying and cheating amongst employees.. but also because you have to chose; your family or Liberty. They make EVERYTHING mandatory.. including their "buzz nights" which are just terrible parties with booze, hardly any food, usually forever away from where you live, and horrible awards actually scribbled on paper for people who sell their souls and a lot of sales. They want you there morning, noon, and night, but do not allow overtime. Emma Jupp is no longer the president. She was demoted and sent away... like they do frequently. The new president is formerly of Circut City... where he sent it into Chapter 11 Bankruptcy with one of the reasons being it stopped paying it's employees commission and fired 3400 people. Do the math. I saw people let go left and right immediately, and they stopped paying Team Leaders store incentives and bonuses. There is the opportunity to travel, and get promoted... IF you are one of the people who implant yourself in the rears of your Area Leader and above. I have seen Area Leaders and Managers drop everything and run outside to open the car door of the President and lay the red carpet out like Coming to America. There is no value on hard workers, or the agents working 4 hours overtime a night to close a sale... without being paid. Overtime is not allowed. So people sit in the office all night calling back clients off the clock. You can become an assistant team leader if you are lucky, and sit in management meetings complaining about your bosses and ripping the agents below you apart. You used to have to become an assistant team leader to become a team leader, but now they will hire anyone with no experience to fill these positions as they are losing staff left and right. The drama is REAL. But honestly.. it's because of the stress put on everyone in the office. In my time with Liberty I saw agents go out on disability due to anxiety. Senior agents will steal clients from novices to keep their high numbers. Novices sit there taking crappy leads that will not close and never get ahead.. If you work in one of the very, very few offices with protection on your sales (the company doesn't believe in it), you might be ok. But otherwise.. you take a day off, someone takes your sales. No one can live off of $30,000 a year. unless you are 19 and living home with no bills. There are no raises. No bonuses. They tell you that you can make a limitless amount of money in your commissions.. not on 6%. The mother company, Flight Centre (in Australia) keeps the other 94%. Yes, there are people who make a lot on commissions. Don't ask how they do it... A former coworker did it by ripping off seniors. Hey, whatever helps you sleep at night. I could go on for days on the cons.... but I hope this gives some insight. It was nothing but honest... And I will say I know for a fact they encourage favorable employees to write great reviews here to push out real ones like mine.