Travel Designer - Essentialist
7 days ago
Santander
About Essentialist Essentialist is a members-only travel service with offices in the United States, Mexico, Argentina, and Spain. With a global team of Travel Designers, destination specialists, and an extended network of local experts, we create highly personalized journeys that go beyond the expected. Our mission is to help members travel more meaningfully by connecting them to the people, places, and experiences that define each destination. About the Role As a Travel Designer, you are responsible for transforming each member's travel dreams, preferences, and aspirations into exceptional, tailor-made journeys that feel effortless, thoughtful, and deeply personal. Working within a Pod that operates as a business unit, you will combine curiosity, creativity, commercial awareness, and outstanding communication skills to design experiences that delight members while contributing to the Pod's commercial success. You will report directly to the Experience Manager, who provides your day-to-day leadership, sets priorities, and supports your performance and professional growth. You will partner closely with the Travel Design Lead, who is responsible for establishing travel design standards, coaching the team, and ensuring every itinerary and proposal consistently meets the quality standards. You will also collaborate closely with the Destination Team, leveraging their expertise to create exceptional journeys while contributing your own insights and feedback to continuously improve destination knowledge, experiences, and recommendations. Together, you will collaborate across the Pod to deliver the level of personalization, attention to detail, commercial impact, and service excellence. Your Areas of Ownership Member Understanding ● Collaborate closely with the Experience Manager to develop a deep understanding of each member's travel style, preferences, priorities, and aspirations. ● Demonstrate curiosity by asking the right questions and proactively seeking the context needed to design highly personalized journeys. ● Translate member profiles and insights into thoughtful recommendations that accurately reflect each member's needs, preferences, and expectations. ● Apply empathy, active listening, and exceptional attention to detail to ensure every itinerary feels personal, relevant, and carefully crafted. ● Demonstrate sound judgment by delivering recommendations that are accurate, relevant, and fully aligned with the member's needs, budget, preferences, and expectations. Travel Design Excellence ● Design highly personalized journeys that combine creativity, attention to detail, and operational feasibility. ● Craft itineraries that reflect each member's lifestyle, interests, and travel aspirations. ● Work closely with the Destinations team to combine destination expertise with member insights, creating thoughtfully curated journeys that feel authentic, personalized, and truly exceptional. ● Deliver proposals that feel unique, thoughtful, and tailored to every member. ● Balance inspiration with practicality while maintaining Essentialist's standards of quality and luxury. ● Partner with the Travel Design Lead to continuously elevate the quality, creativity, and consistency of every itinerary and proposal. ● Continuously expand your destination knowledge and seek inspiration to create unforgettable travel experiences. Commercial Impact ● Contribute to revenue growth by identifying opportunities to enrich every itinerary with meaningful experiences and additional services. ● Support trip conversion through timely responses, thoughtful recommendations, and compelling travel proposals. ● Balance creativity with commercial awareness, ensuring recommendations deliver value for both the member and the business. ● Recognize opportunities to surprise and delight members while strengthening long-term loyalty. Destination Collaboration ● Build strong relationships with the Destination Team to continuously deepen your destination knowledge. ● Partner closely with Destination Specialists to ensure every itinerary reflects local expertise, operational feasibility, and the highest quality standards. ● Share feedback on destinations, suppliers, and experiences to help continuously improve recommendations and travel content. ● Proactively identify gaps, inconsistencies, or opportunities for improvement and collaborate with the Destination Team to strengthen future itineraries. ● Contribute to building and evolving destination's knowledge by sharing learnings and insights from your member interactions. Operational Excellence ● Respond promptly to member requests and internal priorities, maintaining speed without compromising quality. ● Manage multiple trips simultaneously while consistently meeting turnaround expectations and service standards. ● Translate member needs into clear, structured, and actionable plans for the Operations team. ● Build accurate, complete, and operationally feasible itineraries by working closely with the Destination Team and leveraging their expertise. ● Maintain exceptional attention to detail across every stage of the travel design process, ensuring every proposal meets the quality standards. Collaboration & Continuous Improvement ● Partner closely with your Experience Manager, Operations Executives, Travel Design Lead, and Destination Team to deliver exceptional member experiences. ● Collaborate with the Destination Team to ensure every itinerary reflects local expertise, operational feasibility, and the highest quality standards. ● Proactively share feedback, identify gaps, and suggest improvements to destination content, supplier recommendations, and travel experiences, helping continuously strengthen the destination knowledge. ● Maintain clear, proactive, and accurate communication with the Operations Executives, ensuring all information is transferred seamlessly to enable flawless trip execution. ● Collaborate openly across the Pod, embrace feedback, continuously develop your travel expertise, and contribute to raising the team's standards. Qualifications / Requirements ● Proven experience in luxury travel, bespoke travel agencies, tour operators, DMCs, concierge services, or premium hospitality is required. ● Outstanding written and verbal communication skills in English; additional languages are a plus. ● Exceptional curiosity and a genuine passion for travel, destinations, and cultures. ● Excellent attention to detail with the ability to interpret complex requests accurately. ● Strong commercial awareness and the ability to naturally identify opportunities to enhance both the member experience and business results. ● Highly organized with the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment. ● Excellent judgment, problem-solving skills, and decision-making ability. ● Collaborative mindset with the ability to work effectively within a cross-functional Pod structure. ● Comfortable adopting new tools, technology, and AI solutions that enhance efficiency, collaboration, and the overall member experience. What Great Looks Like Success as a Travel Designer means creating journeys that feel deeply personal, effortless, and unforgettable. You will: ● Consistently design exceptional, highly personalized travel experiences. ● Develop a deep understanding of every member's preferences and travel aspirations. ● Respond quickly while maintaining outstanding quality and attention to detail. ● Deliver recommendations that are thoughtful, accurate, and commercially impactful. ● Build trusted partnerships within your Pod to ensure seamless execution. ● Continuously expand your travel knowledge and inspire members with exceptional ideas. ● Contribute to long-term member loyalty by creating experiences members can't wait to repeat.
