Unit 15 - Working as a holiday representative P1

Introduction:

I will be describing the roles, duties and responsibilities for different categories of holiday representatives, highlighting changing roles and working practices

Resort representative: 18-30’s 

• Key roles, duties and responsibilities to the customer, organisation and suppliers

• Main duties to the customers are: meet and greet welcome meetings, selling of excursions, problem solving, organising activities and managing groups  

Club 18-30’s reps have many responsibilities to the customers as they spend most of the working day with the customers between the age range of 18-30. They look after guests on the holiday and arranges activities for the holidaymakers to participate in. Also the organisation they are representing which is Thomas Cook. finally the suppliers, for example: hotel will hire them to be the holiday rep, pubs, clubs and will give them packages 

The duties they have are:

Meet and Greet: 

Sometimes the holiday rep’s meet the groups from the airports and introduce themselves to create a positive relationship with the holidaymakers from the start. 

Transfers & Coach Commentaries:

Occasionally the reps go on the coach for taking the groups to each hotels and on the coach, the holiday reps talk about what there is to do is the holiday destination and what attractions the coach drives past on the way to the hotels. 

Welcome Meetings and Selling: 

These are massively important to the reps as this is where they talk about what excursions they can book and pub crawls/ going into clubs. They also talk about what the hotel rules are, the company they are working for and their name. 

Noticeboards: 

To promote the activities they are pushing or to show how to contact the reps for information either wanting to complain or asking about an excursions before, during or after. 

Information Booklets: 

To let the holidaymakers know any emergency contact numbers, what to do in an emergency and some other booklets show brief information about the excursions that are on offer. 

Health and Safety Checks:

The reps have to do checks on places they are visiting and the holiday makers visiting the host destination. 

Property Visits: 

Sometimes if there is a big group of 18-30’s, they may go to a villa but still want a holiday rep to take them on bar crawls and on activities. 

Calculating Payments:

The holiday reps have to work out how much they get from selling each excursions and working how much commission they will get and how much to give to the supplier and also sometimes they give money to the hotel companies if they use a room to do welcome meetings. 

Administration and Paperwork: 

Sometimes the reps have lots of paperwork to complete mainly about the guests they will be looking after, any new information they have to sign off, 

Problem Solving:

Sometimes the reps come across problems such as other people in the hotel complaining about the 18-30’s being rowdy and making their holiday horrible and ruining it, the reps will have to deal with it appropriately and professionally. 

Non-routine Incidents: 

Sometimes when the reps are faced against incidents that they cannot plan such as: the group they are looking after, maybe one of the party members has to be rushed to hospital for a medical reason, another holiday rep within in the same group maybe off ill for a day meaning the rep that isn't ill will have to find a substitute to help for that day. 

Organising Activities: 

One of the main jobs of  being a holiday rep is organising the activities for the groups to go, the activities can be planning nights out, excursions or just activities around the swimming pool and hotel complex. 

Managing Groups:  

When the reps go out on a night, they have to manage groups and control them to not create any hassle whilst out in the clubs.

Category Specific: 

They may also have to do cleaning such as: clearing up from the welcome meetings, cleaning up from the groups if they make a mess whilst out.

Transfer representative: Thomas Cook

• Key roles, duties and responsibilities to the customer, organisation and suppliers

A rep who accompanies people from airport to hotels, they do a welcoming speech which is about the basic information of the host destination (temperature, local time) they talk about the activities and attractions that are on the way to the hotels. They kind of do a little tour guiding but whilst staying in the vehicle. The health and safety checks is that making the coach is up to standards and making sure the customers on the coach behave and obey the rules. They solve the problems and incidents such as the coach breaking down.  The payments they have to calculate are the transfer fees people pay to get to their accommodation and the petrol charges.

administration and paperwork - working out who the coach drivers are, making plans of each journey and planning a timetable

non-routine incidents - wrong hotel or overbooking meaning the reps have to try to sort it out or bring the guests back onboard.

Children’s representative: Input youth 

• Key roles, duties and responsibilities to the customer 
• Key roles, duties and responsibilities to the organisation 
• Key roles, duties and responsibilities to the suppliers

Meet and greet & Transfers & Coach Commentaries:

They meet the guests and the families at the airport, and taking them to accommodation via coach and talk about the attractions that appeal to families.

Welcome Meetings and Selling:

Soon after arrival to give out information on health and safety and departure details, and on things to do and see during their stay. 

Noticeboards:

To promote the activities they are pushing or to show how to contact the reps for information either wanting to complain or asking about an excursions before, during or after. 

InformationBooklets:

To let the holidaymakers know any emergency contact numbers, what to do in an emergency and some other booklets show brief information about the excursions that are on offer.

Health and Safety Checks:

When there are children involved, lots of safety checks need to be done everyday to insure maximum safety, the checks could be making sure they are no sharp edges and corners on table and counters, check the wires are not out on display and the children cannot trip over them. 

Calculating Payments:

This could be working out how much each child has to pay for trips and activities they do if they have to pay in the hotel.

Administration and Paperwork:

Sometimes the reps have to fill out paperwork that are about CBR checks to work with the children, doing a safety assessment on all of the activities and excursions they have on offer. 

Problem Solving: sometimes the children create problems which may need to be resolved with  by an older person (rep)

Non-Routine Incidents:

In extreme cases, children may break their arms and have to be taken to hospital, the reps will need to get in contact with the parents.

Organising activities:

This is the main thing for reps to do when working with children as the children like to be entertained at all times. 

Managing Groups:

The groups of children may be sorted out by ages or by gender.

Unit 14 - Specialist Tourism P2 & M1

Introduction 
I will be explaining the market factors that have led to developments in specialist tourism.

After explaining, I will then analyse how specialist tourism provision meets the demands of a changing market


Socio-Economic

Change in disposable income More people are booking holidays as they are getting more money. They are getting more money as people are getting higher paid jobs and more people are saving their money so they can go on holidays. As more people are getting more money they can spend on personal things such as holidays.  Now more people are having more money they may not want a boring beach holiday and want a different kind of holiday. Some people may even want to book onto a course they having been saving up for ages (cooking course in Greece for example).
The role of budget airlines is that more people can still travel to different destinations even if they do not have a lot of money. Even though most people are in employments and are getting a regular income, there are some people aho are: not in employment or are on a zero hour contract  meaning tat if they want to book a holiday they have to dit n a budget so by having budget airlines it means the customer can save money and use the money on paying for an activity whilst away, for example a course on surfing lessons if they want a sport related holiday.

Changing amount of leisure timePeople are having more leisure time as companies are giving them more holiday allowance, nowadays people are having  more time of work allowance meaning they can can have a longer holiday or many short ones during the year.   
Access to new locations is a development as more people are having time off to go travelling or just a week away. Due t the change of law in 1999 which mad work places give employees four weeks of holiday every year, it means people  have more time to travel to new places rather than just going to Spain for a week (example)
Also more people are having a gap year when finishing studying at university to travel around the world and find new locations out of their comfort zone to explore and travel to (Thailand is a very popular place for gap year travellers to visit) 
Packaged to unpackaged is also a development that has increased leisure time, this is because people can plan their holidays to make the most of their time off meaning they can book any short breaks through the year 

Change in the perception and status of specialist tourism
People are having a different view of specialist tourism as  they are now wanting to have a different kind of holiday whether it be going to a location where a negative part of history occurred or helping out at a animal sanctuary.
Mass tourism to specialist tourism is a positive development as people are learning that too many tourists in one place is bad for the location so they now want to help the place place they visit. 
Another kind of specialist tourism is that people visit a destination to help and volunteer on a project such as helping build a school, medical centre pr other community facility. Response to social change  and trends is also a development for the status of specialist tourism because people are wanting to show off that they are helping a community whilst on holiday rather than spending a week on a beach. 

Desire for new challenges
Tourists are wanting to push themselves and participate in new challenges. This could be going out of their comfort zone and their normal routine for specific reason: helping building a school in a developing country or camping out in rainforest.
More people are wanting a different kind of holiday rather than a package holiday to a European destination so access to new locations is a development for people wanting a new challenge as people are booking more adventure based holidays or even a sport holiday.
By people wanting new challenges, tour operators are always finding a way to meet customers needs and expectations 


Self-Actualisation 

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

This hierarchy was created to show the needs of people and what the five separate stages are: physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs and self-actualisation. Physiological needs: breathing, food, water Safety needs:security of: body, employment, resources, morality, the family, health and property Esteem needs: self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others Self actualisation: morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of fact.

Access to new locations. By having access to new locations it meets different points of the hierarchy chart, with the esteem needs being the highest point. 
When people travel, they do not realise they gain the respect of others.
Also when people travel they gain self confidence especially if they go on holiday with a twist (volunteering with lions or trekking in a rainforest) 

Holidays = happiness

When people are going on holiday they notice whilst on holiday and then when they come back they be more happy and be more productive at home and at work.
As people are finding out, by going on holiday it makes them happy and when it finishes it increases work productivity and general happiness and wellbeing. By having budget airlines it means that people can have more holidays throughout the year without having to spend a lot of money

Expectations of tailor made holidays 

High level service
People expect a high level service of each part of their holidays as they don’t always know what to expect from what they have booked, expect by reading other peoples reviews about the destination, accommodation or activities to do.As more people are responding to social change and trends they are expecting more things for the money they spend. For example when booking a luxury safari in Kenya. people would expect a private tour guide and car as well as meals in the day included.

Tailor made
People book their own holidays to different destinations as it means that their expectations are personal and unknown. When people book a packaged holiday they know what they are booking as it is in the brochures.
People are now having unpackaged holidays as it is cheaper and they can plan it all theirselves on the go or at home when they can be comfy. By having tailor made holidays it lets the tourists be in control of their holiday.

Trends

Active holidays
People are having active holidays or having a part of their holiday doing a sport related or adventure related: going scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef.
As this is a new trend people are responding by wanting to participate and show off to their friends and family. 
it is a development as tour operators are noticing that people would pay to go on a sport holiday or do a sport activity whilst on holiday. 

Culture holidays
Travelling for a religious reason: such as to go to Jerusalem.
This is a new location development as people are booking holidays to go learn about different countries culture or increase their knowledge of their own culture and believes . 
It has developed as tour operators only offer the holidays in small groups they can book many groups into going to one destination and make a lot of money whilst doing the tours 


How Specialist tourism is responding & meeting these changing market factors 

Growing demand for activity holidays / More people are booking short breaks – more need for budget airlines
as more people are wanting to have a different kinds of holidays which involve participating in an activity. The holidays could be a long weekend of cycling in Spain or golfing in Portugal. Another kind activity holiday is a four day cooking courses in Italy or Greece. 
As many activity holidays are only doable for a few days (mainly beginners), it is having an increasing demand for tour operators to offer short breaks as people only want to go away for a few days at a time. The tour operators who already offer short breaks (British Airways for example) have already got an advantage over their competition.
Furthermore, the tour operators who already offer short activity breaks are now increase their: amount of flights going to different destinations, more destinations and different kinds of activities for guests to participate in.

The tour operators who already offer short breaks could be a budget airline (Easy Jet), people would book their activity holidays with a budget airline. When booking with a cheaper airline it means that they can spend money in booking an activity for a day of the holiday or the whole holiday

Unit 20 - Hospitality Operations in Travel & Tourism P3 & M3

Introduction 

In this document I will be explaining how internal and external factors affect hospitality operations in travel and tourism organisations and then I will assess how hospitality operations in travel and tourism organisations have responded to internal and external factors

Internal factors: 

Pricing strategies –
This factor can affect the hospitality as the pricing makes or breaks the company, if the pricing of the product/service is too expensive or if people do not think it not worth the money it will not be purchased. Hospitality providers work out the best way to gain customers and income, whether it is by an advertising campaign or working out when people are more likely to book things. Pricing strategies at festivals and events vary on the period of time staying, the longer period ticket you get, the cheaper it works out to be. The festival tickets are usually on sale a year or 9 months before the event actually happens, they do this to gain customer sales and keep them interested. When booking to stay with a hospitality provider, you can book via their personal website, booking websites, via the phone, through work or in the hotel itself.  When eating at a restaurant, the main pricing strategies is by having a meal deal which is either a starter or a desert, a main meal and a soft drink. Especially in Europe, the restaurant providers are always fighting for competition and gaining the most amounts of customers, so the dinner deal is around €7 and the children’s dining deal is around €5.

Promotional strategies –
Hospitality organisations are always promoting their businesses and thinking the best way to do it and grab people’s attention at the same time, prime time TV, a popular magazine or on websites. Festivals have promotions of their event throughout the year; by announcing the dates, the main headliners and then the full set list a few weeks before the event. Hotels promote their businesses by adverts on the TV, radio and in magazine offering new products and services and any sales which are upcoming or a new location. Restaurants promote their new products by emailing customers on their email lists and writing posts on their social media platforms to gain people attention. Sometimes, in newspapers they have a voucher to get people into the restaurants (it may be a discount off or a free dessert)

Location –
This internal factor can either positively or negatively the business as the distance entices the customer if they do not need to travel far. Many festivals are in two locations in the country so many people can go without feeling left out. Examples of these festivals; VFestival is in Chelmsford and Staffordshire and the artists perform at one location and travel to the other location to perform on the next day. Reading and Leeds festival is another one where the same acts perform at both locations but on different days. Hotel providers, such as the Hilton and Premier in have responded to this factor by making their hotel locations worldwide to gain a wider customer base and entice customers to visit other hotel locations when travelling.  Some restaurant has locations just in the UK, Weatherspoon’s is an example of a restaurant which has pub like features and is many towns as well as airports to reach as many customers as they can with their product which is food and drink. 

External factors:

Economy – Hotels and restaurants are having to reduced their prices and increase the incentives offered to get more bookings and money into, as during recessions, money is spent on paying the bills and putting money away as saving for something important and not spending it on a leisure trip (hotel break, a meal out or a day trip to a local attraction)

Hilton hotels do a sale in the beginning of January, which are half price rooms and can book any date in the year and get it at a cheaper price.
If business customers know where there are working throughout the year and travelling around, they can book up many rooms at once (may get it cheaper) and save the company money but still stay in a high end hotel. Hilton hotels also offer a loyalty scheme where you get a certain amount of points, once there is enough the points can be spent on hotel rooms 

Accessibility –
This external factor is if suitable for everyone to enter and not feel left out, examples; having a ramp or a disabled access for wheelchair users or people who can’t do the stairs. At festival, there is always a disabled entrance and disabled tickets (the carer goes for free) and at some festivals there is a disabled camp which is close to the stages and has all of the amenities needed – toilets, food stands and a flat so it is not bumpy for the wheelchairs to be pushed across.
Some hotels, you can request to have a room on a low floor or can have a room with a walk in bathroom/ wet room which mean there is no bath and can be washed by a shower whilst sitting down on a little pull out seat. 

Trend for healthy eating –
More and more people are becoming coeliac which means more restaurants are having to provide a gluten and wheat free menu for customers who want to eat in the restaurant and have a choice on what to eat rather than just salad or a jacket potato and will feel normal if you can order a normal meal and not feel picky.
All festivals now have a food stand which has healthy food and not deep fried food and unhealthy drinks (fizzy drinks and alcohol)   

Unit 6 Preparing for employment in Travel & Tourism P1

Introduction:
Describe career opportunities within different industries in the travel and tourism industry in a leaflet format 

Accommodation
The accommodation sector is to provide a place to stay for customers for one night and over. 

Hotel receptionist 
The role of a Receptionist is to greet guests when they arrive and to check the guests in and out of their rooms. They also answer any queries the guests may have face to face or via the hotel phones.
The progression routes of being a Hotel Receptionist is becoming a Night Receptionist and then Head Receptionist 

Hotel manager
The role of a Hotel Manager is to manage and maintain the operations and the daily routines of the hotel.
There are many progression routes for Hotel Manager and they range from working in another hotel of the same chain or to have your own hotel 

House Keeping
The roles of being a House Keeper is to clean rooms and all areas of the accommodation whether it be the lobby or corridors.
The house keeping progression routes is to become Head of House Keeping for the same hotel or a higher ranked hotel (a large five-star resort instead of a small three-star hotel)

Chef
Many accommodation providers have Chefs to cook the meals for the restaurant(s) and room service, so the role is very important. The progression routes for being a Chef is becoming a Chef from being an Apprentice Chef, Head Chef or Specialty Chef  

Airports & Airlines

The airline sector is a system of transportation and is part of the aviation industry

Air Hostesses

The role of an Air Hostess is to provide excellent customer service and customer safety throughout the flight. The typical progression routes of this job is:  Head of Cabin Crew, or transfer to long haul airline (if on short haul airline company)

Pilot

Airline Pilots have extreme responsibility for the safety of the passengers and air hostesses on the flights they carry out Pilots can progress onto is Captain (senior pilot) or Flight Instructor for future Pilots   

Schedule coordinator

Schedule Coordinator maintains crew records and plans what flights the Air Hostesses work on. Progression routes for a schedule coordinator are: becoming a Senior Schedule Coordinator and then the Chief of Schedule 

Airline ticket agent

Ticket Agents are located at the boarding gates and check passenger tickets before the passengers go on the plane. The progression routes for Airline Ticket Agents is to become Head Ticket Agent or be a Ticket Agent for a long haul airline 

Visitor Attractions

The visitor attractions sector is where people visit attractions whether they are man-made or natural

Ride engineer 
The roles of a Ride Engineer are to be on the site incase a ride has a problem or breaks down or improve it for the future. 
The progression routes for a Ride Engineer is to be Head Ride Engineer or Manager for all Engineers for within in the chain. An even higher job is becoming Director of Engineering for rollercoasters in a well known theme park

Attraction reviewer 
 This job is to write personal experiences for each attraction they have visited in a blog format. The progression routes for this job role are: become a Worldwide Attraction Reviewer and even publish a book with personal reviews.

Ticket booth assistant
The main role of a Ticket Booth Assistant   is to collect the tourist’s money and give them a ticket or wrist band to show they have paid.
The progression route for ticket Booth Assistant is to become Manager of Ticket Booth Assistants for the same attraction or a bigger chain of attractions

Event planner 
This job can be planning events for the whole area surrounding the visitor attractions or planning an event within the attraction which could relate to the time of year (Easter, Halloween or Christmas for example)
The progression routes for an Event Planner is to be Lead Planner on events and then Head Planner to delegate jobs to Lower Planners  

Unit 6 - Preparing for employment in Travel & Tourism P6, M3 & D2

Introduction
In this assignment I will be explaining the factors that contribute to an effective workplace in travel and tourism organisations. I will then review how different travel and tourism organisations motivate staff in the workplace. I will then analyse the factors that contribute to an effective workplace, highlighting good practice from different travel and tourism organisations  

P6

In this part I will be explaining the factors the contribute to an effective work place
An effective working environment, including:  

Location
By having a good work location, it contributes towards the staff members working harder as they enjoy their work location. For example, holiday representatives working in hotel resorts will enjoy their job as they gain the holiday atmosphere., making the customers happy because they are enjoying the weather and creates an overall positive atmosphere just by working in a certain place  

Working conditions 

The employers must make positive working conditions for staff members to work in as if there are not good working conditions it means that they will not be wanting to work and decrease their work motivation. By having negative working conditions it might high staff turnover as they do not want to be working there are find another place with better working conditions

Hours of work 
In 1998, working time regulations were brought in place for different ages. For everyone over 18 the general rules are: to do a 48 hour working week, five weeks of holidays a year which include some of the bank holidays, a day off each work and a twenty-minute break if working a shift more than six hours. 

For staff members aged between 16-18, they should have a half hour break when working over 4.5 hours and can work no more than 40 hours of work a week, and can only do eight hours working days.

By having set hours of work it makes an effective work environment as it makes the employees know what shifts they are working and it will also create a positive environment, as staff members do not need to get the others to covet the shits they might be working in the future  

Health and safety 
There are specific regulations relating in the travel and tourism sector such as: when food is being served at a restaurant there needs to be high levels of hygiene, chemical levels in swimming pools, all staff to be DBS checked and lifeguards to be around swimming pools, water rides or any water area. Safety procedures are important for an effective workplace as if procedures are not met and kept up to date, could make the workplace close down. Health and safety is important for staff members and guests/customers to ensure that everyone is safe at all times

Equipment and resources
Computers and the systems used are important for people working in the travel and tourism sector especially travel agents. It is important for travel agents as they use different computer systems to plan and book customer’s holidays. By having the computer systems, it helps them do their job. 
Resources also help make a positive work environment such as: having an area where the employees can relax during their breaks, have all equipment onsite such as stationary items for staff to use. 

Social events 
Most travel and tourism companies will have a yearly Christmas party and social events throughout the year for the staff to go to.  the events exist to make the staff get along with each other out of the workplace to create positive working relationships and a good team bond

Theorists 
The other theory is by Herzberg; he identifies characters which help people enjoy or not enjoy their job. The factors of positive work are:  the type of work, chance of promotion, have responsibilities and duties, being noticed for their achievements, being recognised by senior workers and feeling like they are making a difference.  
The factors that contribute to the staff to not enjoy their job and the work is: salary, working conditions (if it is clean and tidy), relationships with other colleagues and senior staff (if the relationships are negative or positive) and the company policy (maternity pay, sick pay)

Incentives, including:

Performance related pay 
Depending on how they employees works the pay varies. The better the employee works the more money they earn. This will make the staff more motivated as they will get more money if they work harder. 
Incentive schemes
An example is a competition for staff to enter and the prize could be shopping vouchers or a short break. Commission levels are also important for travel agents as it goes on how many holidays and ancillary services they agents they sell in a month. Depending on the amount the commission could be high. This contributes to make them motivated to help customers and then book as many holidays they can in a month to gain extra money. 

Management style
 Different management styles affect the day-to-day operation of an organization, but also have an important role to play in encouraging effective teamwork. 
The management styles vary depending on the manager. Some may find it more effective to show not tell how to do something or otherwise will go into a lot of detail and not give examples how to do.
Equal opportunities and legislations 
 Having equal opportunities has a positive effect on create a positive working environment.  The equal opportunities are to interview all different people for the same job role no matter of their gender, age, sexuality, race, religious believes, disabilities and lifestyle. 
There are also legislations to make workers more equal: Race Relations Act 1976, Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Disability Discrimination Act 1975 And 1995, Equal Pay Act 1970 And Age Discrimination. 

Investors in people
 Investors in people is a UK quality standard award which came in 1991. Companies in the travel and tourism sector who win the award show that they invest in training schemes for current and new employees. There are four principles for the organisation to meet in order to get the award, and they are: commitment from the top to develop all employees, regular review of training and development needs (if a new course has been made and it would benefit the company if they send their staff members on the course, taking relevant action to meet those needs throughout people’s careers and evaluating training and development outcomes for individuals and the organisation in order to improve their staff motivation and work quality  
Appraisals 
Before the appraisal finishes, an action plan will be filled out to show how the employee can develop their skills and will be able to monitor each individual. 

Remuneration
This means how much money the staff members get. The pay includes the daily wage, benefits included such as from the government, a percentage to pau for the nursery fee if they have a child or paying into a pension scheme. T
his makes people motivated to work as they would want to know thy4e have a pension for in the future. They might also have more motivation if they are on a higher wage rather than a wage they were on previous in an old job. 

Discounts
This is mainly for  certain jobs in the travel and tourism sector such as  working in a travel agency or hotel, the discounts are on holidays and hotel stays.
The discounts could also be on holidays where they will be researching destinations for work if they are a travel agent 

Holiday entitlement 
Organisations have to let their employees have at least four weeks of holiday every year. Some organisation may give their staff 25 days off depending on how long they have been working there.

Pension schemes
A pension is money that employees get once they retire. The money comes from themselves, the company and the government, this will motivate people as they will be guaranteed a pension if they stay working there and the place does not close down. 

Perks 
 Many jobs within the travel and tourism sector come with job perks. The perks are likely to be: having a company car, free meals during the working day, free or discounted cost on the uniform they must wear, discounted or free use of a local gym and facilities (swimming pool, steam and sauna rooms), deals on tourist attractions for them, family members and friends. The main perks are free or low cost rail travel and holidays abroad. This will motivate staff as they can get things for a lower cost than everyone else and they will want to stay with their company.

Opportunities for promotion and progression 
When people know that there is a possible higher role in the future, they are more likely to be motivated to be the best that they can be and to show that they are able to do the job and take on roles and responsibilities.  

Working relationships, including:

Teamwork
Working in teams is very important as it is what will make people enjoy their work if they get on with their colleagues. By having good teamwork, it increases work quality, less staff conflicts and reduce the staff absence (as they will be not avoiding their team members)

Job roles and lines of responsibility 
It  is important for organisations to show the clear job roles of each staff member so they all know what they are doing during the working week. By having job roles, it helps gives out responsibilities such as being responsible of training apprentices 

Channels of communication 
Open communication is vital in the work place, because if staff members cannot talk to their peers and managers at ease and able to share anything, the work environment will be negative and not make the employees motivated to complete their work and duties. The types of communication are: verbal and face to face, written in a style of a letter and electronic communication such email, video call or text message. 

Grievance and disciplinary procedures
The procedures must be stated in the employees contract when they first start their job or when the progress onto a higher job role and the contract changes. 
The procedures happen before the employee gets fired. There are many warnings, such as: lack of capability and qualifications (even though the employer should make sure correct training is given), misconducts (when them employee is always late and have many sick days off, even if they aren’t sick) and gross misconducts (assault to another team member or customer). 

Buddies and mentoring

Mentoring schemes are more popular in the travel and tourism sector. This increase staff morale as new employees get a work relationship with an experienced buddy. Both of them meet regularly (if not daily) to talk about the new person’s job and how they can develop on their personality and how to get promoted in the work place. Sometimes it is not official about the mentorship and it is more of an undeclared buddy system to help them in the workplace especially if it is a small independent business, for example as a travel agency.

Job security 
 Many job contracts are fixed term, especially in the tourist attractions jobs meaning that they must stay in their job role for a certain period of time normally ranging from six months to two years. Having a fixed contract increases job security as staff members do not need to worry about losing their job and the income which could demotivate their work performance and no need to worry.

Induction
 All new staff members when they join a new organisation must go on an induction course and some kind of training. The induction is the first stage of training. The induction covers: what the job is, introduction to the workplace and meet the other staff members, what their roles and responsibilities would be, where the facilities are (toilets, locker room if needed and where the canteen or staff room is and the health and safety basics such as the fire exits and safe places and the rules of the company

Training opportunitiesThere are two different types of training opportunities: in house training and external courses. In house training is when the larger travel and tourism companies are able to hold training courses within the company location or just for the company in general (for example all employees doing a certain job role within the UK will go to the head office for a course). The courses are important and useful as the companies can create them to meet specific needs. External courses are when companies send their staff to courses outside of the company, the courses are normally held in colleges, trade associations and private companies. Travel and tourism organisations will send their employees to attend the courses as it will give the employees a qualification, depending on the course and how long it takes the qualification might be worth more. By having training opportunities, it motivates the staff as they will want to work as hard as they can in order to get the chance to do a course, as it will enhance their knowledge and gain more qualification whilst working for the same company


Appraisals Appraisals happen every year when travel and tourism companies decided to measure the performance of their staff. Appraisals are in the style of interview with each employee and team manager or head manager.  The things they discuss are: training needs, future job aspirations and how they staff member can improve to boost the work produced. Before the appraisal finishes, an action plan will be filled out to show how the employee can develop their skills and will be able to monitor each individual.  By having appraisals, it makes the staff motivated and creates a happy work place as everyone knows what they have to do in order to meet the companies’ objectives 

M3

I will be reviewing how different travel and tourism organisations motivate staff in the workplace. The two companies I will be reviewing will be Virgin Atlantic and Thomas Cook

Virgin Atlantic 

Virgin Atlantic motivate their employees in different ways depending on the location and the jobs roles. First of all, they work out how to motivate around 10,000 employees who work in 30 different countries. 

Having flexible working arrangements motivates the staff as if they need to have a half or a whole day off work for personal reasons they do not need to pretend to be ill as they can easily get their shift covered if someone else wants more money or swap shifts in general.

Virgin Atlantic also make sure all employees are working the correct amount of hours that are legal and that no one goes over their allowance (until over time pay is allowed and approved). The company also makes sure they offer employees a good sick pays depending on the job role and how the person will be off. 

Virgin Atlantic offer a lot of training opportunities in-house mainly to go on to a higher job role and progress within the company. By having training opportunities, it motivates the employees to go on the courses and gain extra qualifications they wouldn’t be able to get if they were working for a different company or unemployed. 

Virgin Atlantic make sure all of their staff members are comfortable enough to address any problems, queries all general talk to any other staff, managers or even Richard Branson himself. This motivates the staff as they know they are all treated the same without being looked down on or feel unequal in any way. 

The company motivates the cabin crew and pilots on the flights as they know if Richard Branson comes on the flight, they will be taken out for dinner with him. It motivates the people working on the aircraft as it is a chance to show they work responsibilities and duties to the owner and get rewarded for doing so. 

After six months working for the company, employees get given a discount card to get a certain amount off on: Virgin trains, Virgin holidays, Virgin gyms and Virgin salons (within airports). This motivates staff to stay at the company longer than six months in order to get the card, rather than getting after their induction as it will motivate the employee to work and stay at the company

To motivate workers who have children under the age of 16, the company offer childcare vouchers to spend on nursery’s, play groups, childminders of after school activities. This motivates employees who are a single parent, unable to drop or pick child up or just can not afford to pay a full childcare look after cost. 

By having award ceremonies, it motivates the staff to work hard every year to progress in their job and motivated to maximum their work productivity.  The people who win the awards (varying in different categories) get a prize which can be: an increase in wage, shopping vouchers, air miles, free flights to a certain location, free stay in a hotel in a certain location or a free package holiday 

As Virgin Atlantic are on the TV, Radio and have their own travel brochures the offer the chance to be one of the faces of the company to their employees. This motivates the staff because the more work they do, they increase their chances to be the face of the advert and be recognised. 

Thomas Cook

The informal way Thomas Cook motivate their staff is by praising them every time something good is done. This could be: when a travel agent books their first customers holiday, finally finish a course and get a qualification or done something useful that will help the branch/ The company in the future. 

During the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, the company was given over three thousand tickets to the events for their staff, however the staff was only allowed to go if they had been a good employee for several months and always complete their workloads. 

This motivated the staff because they would have wanted to go see a sport game for free as it shows that the company values them. 

Having a shares plan for all of Thomas Cook employees motivated to stay at the company for a minimum of three years (how long the share plan is). The staff can pay in £50 to £200 every month and it comes out of their wages. 

The company have the shares plan to motivate the employees to put away some of their money as an investment as they will not lose any just gain the money back and up to 20% more. 

Thomas Cook give staff bonuses and offer short breaks frequently as a sign of recognition to those who deserve it. 

The employees know there is a chance of extra money or receiving a short break which means that they will work harder to show that they are suitable for either prize making them more motivated to beat their other team members 

D2

I will be analysing factors which contribute to an effective workplace and highlighting the good practices of Virgin Atlantic and Thomas Cook   

Legislations 

By having certain legislations in the workplace it allows everyone to work equally. For example, not all pilots on aircrafts are male and air hostesses are female. Both Virgin Atlantic and Thomas Cook treat both genders the same, no matter what the job role is they have applied for or progressing on to a higher job role. 

This contributes to having an effective workplace because it allows their employees to work in any job role they want to no matter of their gender.   

Staff Motivation 

Both of the companies motivate their staff by offering them free or discounted flights with the airline depending on the season, location going to and how many people are going on the flight.

They also motivate their staff by giving them chance to enter and win competitions such as: a free short break, gift vouchers or tickets to an event (sport or music concert for example)

This contributes to an effective workplace because it helps the employees to want to work for the company for the free flights and the chance to win a competition

Training and opportunities for promotions 

Thomas Cook offer three different types of training jobs in different locations in the world. 

The one in Germany is an apprenticeship for school leavers and has received an education award for making the students to go onto the Thomas Cook apprenticeship. The UK and Ireland apprenticeship is for people aged 16-18, they get a qualification and a job at the same time, producing hard workers wanting to progress into senior roles. The third training job scheme is in India where travel and tourism students go on placements to different branches as stay there for three to six months. 

Thomas Cook and Virgin also offer training courses for their employees if it will benefit them in their current job role or want to gain another qualification so they can progress in their job role to become a more senior person. 

This contributes to a positive work place as it allows people to get job whilst gaining the vital experience needed and carry on doing qualifications to earn a promotion. 

Discounts

Both Virgin Atlantic and Thomas Cook offer discounts to their staff after the probation has finished (normally a year) or once they have finished their apprenticeship.

Virgin Atlantic offer their employees a good discount on all virgin related products and discounts at airports if they need to eat, drink or buy any products).  Virgin Atlantic also offer immediate employees family free or discounted flights. 

Thomas Cook also offer discounts on their holidays for staff and their friends and families.

This contributes to a positive workplace as it boosts staff morale as the employees feel valued and get discounts at the same time as working for a company they enjoy.