It's not all glitz and glamour ya know!
In fact, no, it's not glitz and glamour at all.
So to sort out this common misconception I thought I'd do a couple of posts about my life as a holiday rep, both in Corfu and Lapland, both work days and fun days. They've both been so different so I couldn't combine them into one post, so today it is CORFU AND WORKING.
Day Number 2 - Welcome Meeting Day - aka second worst day
Having welcome meeting day after airport day was like a form of torture. The two longest days glued together was a fuel for my stress induced sleepwalking. Because I had around 40 hotels, which mean my welcome meetings often spread over two days. Welcome meeting day(s) involved going to the hotels and meeting customers, making sure they had settled in, knew how to get hold of you and try to sell them some excursions. I'm not very strong at the sales so this is what I found hardest, and this stressed me out.
Also, welcome meeting day left me with my favourite complaint from the whole 5 months, my second W.M day, and a woman walked past and said:
Is it going to get any sunnier? It's just a bit frustrating you know, we're only here for one week and this weather isn't what we wanted, so...
AH yes, I will just whip out my weather changing switch and make it 40+ degrees for ya, to be moaned at because it's too hot
(at least it wasn't flooding and thunderstorming so your electric and water got cut out, js js js)
In fact, no, it's not glitz and glamour at all.
So to sort out this common misconception I thought I'd do a couple of posts about my life as a holiday rep, both in Corfu and Lapland, both work days and fun days. They've both been so different so I couldn't combine them into one post, so today it is CORFU AND WORKING.
I was on the plane from Gatwick to Corfu on the 21st June 2015, almost a year ago now wat. I had no idea what I was about to experience, but I knew I was excited slash terrified.
But anyway, during my time at Corfu there were three main days of the Holiday Reps life. I got one and a half days off a week, but I was still on call 24/7, so if something happened (as it often did) I had to go and sort it out.
Day Number 1 - Airport Day aka the worst day of every week and every month and my life
I hated airport day. It was looooong. You would get to the airport for the first departure around 9am. We would normally have 2 arrivals and 2 departures, which of course were not grouped together and spread out annoyingly. You had to make sure everybody got on the plane, got off the plane, got off their coach, got on their coach and was happy. Now, Corfu airport is naff. It is sma
ll. It is badly organised and it's always very busy during the summer. I know as well as anybody when you have a 3 hour flight, a 2 hour coach and then an hour long boat - you just WANT TO GET ON with your journey!
I would then make sure everybody got to their respective hotels, and then would normally go to the nearest bar and drink a litre of ouzo and wine. It's impossible to explain how stressful these days were, but stressful people in the heat are 1000 times more stressful. I've been told that everything is your fault, when I offered to help someone they said don't you think you've caused enough harm already?
Having welcome meeting day after airport day was like a form of torture. The two longest days glued together was a fuel for my stress induced sleepwalking. Because I had around 40 hotels, which mean my welcome meetings often spread over two days. Welcome meeting day(s) involved going to the hotels and meeting customers, making sure they had settled in, knew how to get hold of you and try to sell them some excursions. I'm not very strong at the sales so this is what I found hardest, and this stressed me out.
Also, welcome meeting day left me with my favourite complaint from the whole 5 months, my second W.M day, and a woman walked past and said:
Is it going to get any sunnier? It's just a bit frustrating you know, we're only here for one week and this weather isn't what we wanted, so...
AH yes, I will just whip out my weather changing switch and make it 40+ degrees for ya, to be moaned at because it's too hot
(at least it wasn't flooding and thunderstorming so your electric and water got cut out, js js js)
Day Number 3 - Departures Day - aka me getting to cycle around on my bike
This is the day when you have to drop off what time the customers are going to get picked up the next day. Some of the hotels get them emailed to them, so you just need to ring up to make sure they'd got the correct details. This was a lot more stressful than it needed to be. I struggle with accents as it is, so when they have the strongest Greek accent over an awfully connected mobile phone it was hard work. I used to only really have to go to the resorts closest to me for this, which meant I got to cycle around on my wee work bike and pretend I was getting some exercise.
I loved that bike.
UNTIL.
This is the bike on my balcony after it's wheel got nicked. It had been chained up int he same position for about 4 months apart from when I was using it, and someone decided to steal the wheel right when I needed it most. Not still bitter.
OTHER DAYS
The other days would normally just be hotel duties, going to hotels that had a lot of people in, sorting out any problems and trying to get extra sales. I of course also had my day of which was normally spent with a well deserved lie in and trying to explore more of Corfu. Paleokastristas was my favourite place there, so so so so so beautiful!
I would DEFINITELY recommend trying to be a holiday rep! It is hard work but being in a different country is so much fun, and you meet so many different people you wouldn't otherwise!
Got any questions? Gimme an email! Or comment below!
melberryy@googlemail.com
melberryy@googlemail.com
4 comments
Great post. My friend was a Holiday Rep in Tenerife a fair few years ago. My friends and I went out on holiday to visit her. She used to tell us how hard it was and how long the days were but she loved it. I could never do it, i'd never cope out there doing all that. Lovely photos as well. ♥ HWY29
ReplyDeleteIt is really long days with sometimes grumpy people but I really did have an amazing experience. It's been almost a year now since I flew out which is so saddening!
DeleteThanks for the comment xxx
It may be hard work but still sounds like such an adventure and experience! I'd love to try it out some day!! Definitely going to be looking into it!
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely do it! If you want any advice at all feel free to give me a tweet or email!
DeleteI would recommend it to anyone, just be prepared to work hard, it's not as easy as people think (though I did drink a fair bit haha)
Thanks for the comment xxx