Global Guest Excellence Director - Support Operations
- Prague
- Hybrid
A bit about the role:
Overview:
We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Director of Global Guest Support Operations to lead and optimise operational excellence across our Global Guest Excellence Center. This is an exciting opportunity to have a significant impact on our Guest Booking and Servicing experience for both direct guests and indirect guests through our travel agent and tour operator partners. This strategic role will oversee the development and implementation of supporting operations for the Global Guest Excellence centre, that has presence in several global markets, ensuring a seamless and exceptional guest experience. You will help us design, implement and lead a team of highly professional operations professionals across a variety of disciplines in the Global Guest Excellence centre, that mainly resides in Prague, but supporting presence in our London, Americas, and Australian hubs for optimised global guest reach. This team will continuously optimise Guest Sales & Service efficiencies through workforce planning, quality, fulfilment, processes & systems improvements, as well as continuously optimising capability through knowledge management, and ultimately implementing data-driven strategies to enhance the guest experience.
Key Responsibilities:
Strategic Leadership:
- Develop and execute a comprehensive global strategy for operational support to guest sales and services that aligns with the company’s vision and goals.
- Lead cross-functional teams to enhance the guest journey, from pre-booking to post-stay follow-up.
Sales & Service Optimisation:
- Design and establish Support Operations function within the GX Center, focusing on operational efficiency, guest feedback integration, and service excellence.
- Deliver on revenue, conversion and guest NPS targets, and other critical KPIs agreed with management.
- Implement best practices and industry standards to ensure the center becomes a benchmark for guest experience.
Team Development:
- Recruit, mentor, and develop a high-performing team dedicated to optimising our guest experience.
- Foster a culture of excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement within the team.
Guest Experience Enhancement:
- Utilize guest feedback, data & analytics, and market research to identify areas for improvement in guest services and sales.
- Develop and implement training programs for staff to enhance service delivery and guest interaction.
Performance Metrics:
- Collaborate with Senior Management to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of guest services initiatives and sales programs.
- Analyze performance data and implement corrective actions as necessary to achieve business objectives.
Stakeholder Collaboration:
- Work closely with senior leadership and other departments to align strategies and ensure cohesive guest service delivery.
- Build strong relationships with external partners and stakeholders to enhance service offerings
Skills & Requirements
Requirements:
Knowledge & Skills:
- You ideally come from a travel or hospitality sector, with extensive experience leading cross-functional teams in a guest-centric contact centre environment, with demonstrable experience of continuously optimising capacity & capability, efficiencies and automation.
- You consistently employ a guest-centric, agile process mindset, that empowers teams to put the guest experience at the heart of everything they do, while continuously improving the process & systems to deliver the guest delight on a repeatable and scalable scale.
- You are adept at working across the entire organisation to pull on resources and input from Sales & Marketing, Product, Marine Operations, IT & Digital, Finance, People & Culture to meet & exceed Guest-centric and efficiency KPIs.
- Strong understanding of global markets and cultural sensitivities in guest service.
- Excellent coaching for performance of sales and service teams.
- Excellent communication, interpersonal, influencing and negotiation skills.
- Proven ability to drive change and innovation in sales & service delivery.
- Analytical mindset with the ability to leverage data for decision-making.
Key Personal Attributes/Behavioural Competencies:
- Self-driven and independent, yet with a will to ask and understand.
- Relationship building & influencing skills.
- Curious and dedicated
- Effective & confident communication skills across all levels of the organisation
- Ambitious and thrives in a high-paced, international, changing work environment.
- Problem Solving Skills
- Guest-Centric: delivering results and regularly exceeding guest expectations.
Why Join us:
- Be part of a forward-thinking company dedicated to redefining guest experiences.
- Lead a passionate team committed to service excellence in a global environment.
- Opportunities to work on a global level, with extensive exposure to the executive leadership.
- Excellent growth opportunities and the ability to impact with velocity.
HX Spirits:
- Passionate Explorers: We are proud of our history and are driven to create more.
- ‘Can-do’ Mindset: We jump-in and proactively contribute to the greater good.
- Humble Leadership: We have a short distance between leaders and teams.
- Genuine Interactions: We want all people to be their true selves.
- Supportive & Collaborative Teams: We are curious and generous with our knowledge. We Trust.
Great Place to Work
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Passionate Explorers - We are proud of our history and are driven to create more.
-
‘Can-Do’ Mindset - We jump-in and proactively contribute to the greater good.
-
Supportive and Collaborative Teams - We are curious and generous with our knowledge. We Trust.
-
Genuine Interactions - We want all people to be their true selves.
-
Humble Leadership - We have a short distance between leaders and teams.
About the company
Since 1896, HX have championed sustainability in the expedition cruise sector. From launching the world’s first battery-hybrid expedition cruise ships to banishing heavy fuel oil and single use plastics from our fleet. We are at the forefront of driving sustainable practices in expedition cruises that prioritise greener travel.
For nearly 130 years we have been committed to continuously improving what we do for our guests but also for the people we work with.
We are a group of explorers who want to seek out the very best journeys for our guests but also for ourselves. We take our guests on big life-changing adventures, from the stunning wilderness of the Arctic to the incredible creatures on the Galápagos Islands all on our purpose-built expedition ships. Our HX fleet explore hundreds of destinations in over 30 countries across 5 continents.
Our ambition is strong and lofty – we want to become the number one sustainable expedition brand in the world. But we recognise we need passionate explorers, with can-do mindsets, humble leadership skills which bring people together for genuine interactions in a supportive and collaborative way.
As a newly branded company built on a 130-years heritage, HX is at an exciting new chapter and as we embark on this new journey, we believe your skills and passion could thrive. We are looking for talented explorers who want to join us on our exciting expedition to growth and success. This could include travelling and working in amazing HX hubs both on sea and land. From our impressive new Headquarters in London to our state-of-the-art Customer Service Centre just opened in Prague as well as various offices across Europe, the US and APAC.
One thing you’ll find whether on sea or land is a group of people, all connected with the same mindset and purpose - we want to explore more, champion sustainability and become the world’s very best expedition cruise operator.
Single-use plastic banHurtigruten was the first major travel company to have removed single-use plastic from its entire fleet and our hotels.
Hybrid Explorer shipsHX Expedition has two hybrid-electric powered expedition cruise ships that offer a 20% reduction of fuel consumption.
Beach cleanupsHX Expedition Teams encourage guests to take part in beach clean-ups, which results in several metric tonnes of trash every year being removed.
HX Expedition FoundationOur HX Foundation is a dedicated charity supporting local communities and environmental initiatives solely on the areas where HX’s Expedition ships sail, from the Arctic and Alaska to the UK, Galápagos Islands and Antarctica.
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