Hi, my name is Kirsty and I am in the Customer Operations team based in Portugal.
I started my overseas adventure in the spring of 2012 as a Destination Host in Crete. After an amazing 6 months I got to come home, take part in a recruitment weekend and complete an experienced reps training course before heading off to Lapland for the most amazing 6 weeks that I have ever had! Over the past 3 years I have covered just about every job role that is available overseas, my favourite roles by far have been Destination Support (resort admin) and Customer Operations.
The Customer Operations department is a new department that only went live in winter 2014. As customers have told us what they want and need from us on holiday, we have listened and expanded the department. We now have two Customer Operations Managers in the UK that cover 8am-8pm 7 days a week. In support of that, there is a team of four in Portugal that supports the UK team during the day along with out of hours coverage at night.
I would really love to give you a list of day to day tasks that we complete but we can never predict what our day will be like, it all depends on what our customers need while they are on holiday. We can take anything from 20-200 calls a day from anybody that needs our help, this could be customers, travel agents, colleagues in other departments and of course teams that are on the ground in resort.
One of our tasks is incident management, unfortunately this year we have had lots of practice at this and played key roles during the Tunisia evacuation and more recently the Sharm El Sheikh incident. Incident training is given to all overseas staff and when an incident occurs we draw on everything we have been taught to make sure we act efficiently and effectively, whilst also using previous experience and information from past incidents. As Customer Operations team leader it is vital I look at the hours that an individual will work – does this match the volume of calls and requirement of our customers and operation. My knowledge of individual team members is key to make sure we have the support where we need it- some people are excel whizzes so may pull reports that we need and keep our colleagues updated, others may have strengths at taking phone calls to make sure all customers are receiving a high level of customer service wherever they are in the world. At various points within the incident we will touch base to ensure that everyone is on the same page, and where we are headed next until the issue is officially completed. Of course we don’t want to see these incidents occur at all, but if they do, we work together as a team and put our skills and knowledge to the test. We have to be there for each other 100% so that we can make sure we are delivering the best service to the customers at all times.
We also deal with anything from customers needing a transfer pick up time/ curtailing or extending their holiday, to being unhappy with the accommodation they have picked. We need to get these issues resolved as quickly as possible. After all, our customers have saved for months or even years to have 7 days of sunshine!
Winter 2015/2016 will be a particularly exciting time for us now that we have gone through the brand transition and are now known as Monarch. We have a fresh start for the future with brand new uniforms and the opportunity to learn all things airline. By going through the brand transition we have seen an increase in volume of flight-only queries – especially evident during the Sharm El Sheikh incident. Our number appeared on the Monarch social media channels to direct customers to us to help with their queries, what a proud moment!