Overview
£28,000 to £32,000 depending on experience
Destinations Experience Executive- Saga Travel
Salary from £28,000 – £32,000 per annum
Permanent
Full Time – 35 hours per week
Hybrid role – Hybrid – 3 days a week in office Folkestone, Enbrook, Kent
We are seeking a proactive, guest-centric Destinations Experience Executive to deliver an exciting range of innovative, market-leading shore excursions for Saga’s cruise ships across our European and Worldwide destinations. This role is hands-on, offering the opportunity to make a real impact by shaping our product range and ensuring it meets the highest commercial, operational, and guest experience standards.
You will be responsible for sourcing, developing, and managing excursions that not only align with our product strategy but also set us apart in a highly competitive marketplace. Working with autonomy, you’ll negotiate with suppliers, refine products through competitor analysis, and ensure every excursion delivers exceptional value and unforgettable experiences for our guests.
The ideal candidate will have a background in commercial operations, with proven experience in negotiating contracts, managing supplier relationships and driving profitability. You will be guest focused, proactive, results-oriented, and able to work on your own initiative, with the autonomy to develop your geographic product range and the determination to deliver on commitments in a fast-moving environment.
Role Responsibility
- Plan, develop, and deliver a diverse range of innovative, market-leading shore excursions across all destinations along with a differentiated selection of included tours in every port.
- Negotiate and secure the best commercial terms with suppliers for excursions and shuttle services.
- Draft, review, and sign supplier contracts, ensuring compliance with company policies and standards.
- Build and maintain strong supplier relationships, addressing any issues that may impact service quality.
- Champion product quality by ensuring all excursions meet health, safety, and insurance guidelines.
- Conduct research and competitor analysis to refine, enhance, and refresh the excursion portfolio.
- Collaborate with cruise itinerary planners to maximise commercial opportunities.
- Provide accurate excursion details and updates to content, marketing, and operations teams.
- Brief and debrief ship staff to ensure smooth delivery and guest satisfaction.
- Monitor programme performance, ensuring pricing, margins, and profitability targets are achieved.
The Ideal Candidate
- Strong organisational, time management, and multi-tasking skills, with the ability to prioritise effectively and meet tight deadlines.
- Guest-centric, focused on understanding, anticipating, and fulfilling the unique needs and preferences of each guest to create positive and memorable destination experiences.
- Flexible, adaptable, and detail-oriented, remaining calm under pressure with a proactive, self-motivated approach.
- Excellent communication, interpersonal, and relationship-building skills.
- Strong reasoning, analytical, and problem-solving abilities.
- Commercially minded with proven negotiation and influencing skills (mentoring available to further develop these).
- Ability to build and maintain productive supplier relationships to achieve optimum results.
- European and worldwide travel experience or product knowledge is desirable.
- Confident IT user with strong systems knowledge (Taurus, Word, Excel, Outlook) and high levels of numeracy and literacy.
- Knowledge of contracting processes and additional European languages are advantageous but not essential.
- Flexible and willing to travel within Europe and internationally as required.
Saga Values: Make it Happen, Do the Right Thing, Customer First, Excellence Every Day, Our People Make Us Special
Package Description
At Saga we recognise that our people make us special. We believe our colleagues deserve rewards for the excellence they demonstrate every single day, that’s why we have put together an amazing benefits package for all colleagues.
BENEFITS AVAILABLE TO ALL COLLEAGUES:
- 25 days holiday + bank holidays
- Option to purchase additional leave – 5 extra days
- Pension scheme matched up to 10%
- Company performance related annual bonus – Up to 5%
- Life assurance policy on joining us, 4 x salary
- Wellbeing programme
- Colleague discounts including family discounts on cruises, holidays and insurance
- Range of reductions and offers from leading retailers, travel groups and entertainment companies
- Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
- Grandparents leave
- Income protection
- Access to Saga Academy, our bespoke learning platform
About the Company
Over the past 70 years we have become the UK’s specialist provider of products and services to people aged over 50 in the UK. The Saga brand has become one of the most recognised and trusted brands amongst UK consumers in this demographic, recognised for its high quality products and exceptional standards of service. These include cruises and holidays, insurance, personal finance and the Saga Magazine.
At Saga we are committed to treating all employees fairly and to offering equal opportunities in all aspects of employment and advancement. We value diversity not just because it is the right thing to do, but because diverse teams perform better.
Fair consideration is given to applications from all applicants, including those with disabilities and those over who are over 50 as we are champions of age inclusivity. We are an official Disability Confident Committed employer and ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible and we will make reasonable adjustments as required. For more information on our DEI policies please visit our Saga Careers page.
Saga does not accept agency CVs unless specifically engaged on the role by the Talent Acquisition Team. Please do not forward CVs to our recruiters, employees or any other company location. Saga will not be responsible for any fees related to CVs received in this unsolicited manner.
Job Reference: saga/TP/205960/3334
IMPORTANT: Before applying for this role, please make sure you have the right to work in the country where the role is based. Unless it clearly stipulates within in the job advert above that the hiring company is looking to or able to sponsor applicants it is deemed that the hiring employer will only consider applications from those able to comply with and work in the country where the role is based.
