The Top Luxury Travel Jobs and How to Get Them

While the Covid-19 pandemic is not yet over, many countries are starting to reopen borders, and travel is once again a possibility. If you can’t wait to get back out into the road, perhaps, it’s time to consider jobs that will allow you to travel. It might still be a while before we can go back to normal, but you can use that time to acquire the training and skills needed for jobs that allow you to explore the world. 

Below, check out the top luxury travel jobs and how to get them.

• Luxury Private Chef 

Luxury private chefs and personal chefs are titles that evoke glamour and sophistication. These are jobs that include traveling with world-famous employers and preparing ultra-luxe dinners for celebrities and world’s most important people. If you have a culinary background and love to travel, you might want to consider working as a luxury private chef. But what exactly does this job entails?

Simply put, a luxury private chef works for a single individual or a family. Usually, these are people from upper-class societies. You will be responsible for preparing their daily meals, including during private parties and gathering. And if your employer needs to travel, you will also be travelling with them. As a private chef, you should be expert at proper table arrangement and must possess good interpersonal skills to deal with the other staff members of the household.  

If you’re interested in working as a luxury private chef, you should invest in a high level of training and hygiene certificates. You should consider taking up food hygiene training courses, which covers important topic useful for your career as a private chef, such as food safety principles, food allergy awareness, and more!

• Luxury Travel Advisor 

If you love travelling and are an expert in travel planning, you can work as a luxury travel advisor. Your main role is to assist people in planning, choosing, and arranging their luxury holiday. In most cases, you will need to work to a budget and preferences set out by your client. You will also offer advice and opinions regarding where to go, which attractions to visit, etc. 

Most luxury travel advisors start as junior counter staff, but if you have several years of experience in the field, you can take up managerial positions. Some of the things that will make you shine in this profession are having 2 to 5 years working in the travel industry, a black book of suppliers and clients, excellent skills in IT, and good communication skills. If you want to excel and move up to much higher positions in luxury travel jobs, you should be a team player, a logical thinker with a good commercial mindset, service-oriented, a passion for travel, and excellent time management skills. 

When it comes to education, a degree in any subject should be acceptable. However, having a degree in travel, tourism, geography, or business studies may be advantageous. A travel training qualification or relevant experience in a travel agency, retail or sales can also give you an edge.  

 

• Luxury Travel Designer 

Travel designers are just like interior designers in that they should have a keen eye for detail when it comes to curating trips. Luxury travel designers should be able to choose destinations based on careful consideration and continuous scrutiny while taking into account the needs and preferences of their clients.

If you’re interested in working as a luxury travel designer, you should have excellent communication skills. The job requires you to get to know your clients better, allowing you to better suggest itineraries according to what the client wants and design a holiday package that’s perfectly suited to them. This often paves the way for setting up surprises for the client and ensuring that the lodges have amenities to enhance the client’s experience. 

In essence, a luxury travel designer deals with the upper end of the travel market, creating a personalised itinerary from scratch. Some of the attributes that will put you ahead of your career are the ability to speak multiple languages and experience in sales.

• Luxury Travel Journalist 

If you’re good with words and have experience writing about travel, whether literary or commercial, you may want to consider working as a luxury travel journalist. As a travel journalist, you’ll be writing articles that focus on travel. And since you are in the luxury travel market, your articles must be more focused on luxury tourism.

Generally speaking, a luxury travel journalist will cover topics about restaurants, hotels, bars, and other places of interest in the luxury travel niche. These things usually come with a luxury price tag with the cost covered by the employer, sponsor company, or the establishment that wants to be covered. This means that you won’t be staying in motels or hostels. And while this sounds like a dream job, you may need to have prior experience in the luxury travel market before you can bag this role.

• Lifestyle Director 

Lifestyle directors, also known as activities directors, play a crucial role in maintaining the calendar of social events of a high-net-worth individual or a business. They are usually employed by luxury travel companies to support clients or guests, manage requests, book flights, arrange transportation, make restaurant reservations, coordinate with suppliers, and more. 

Lifestyle directors may also work for private individuals and their families, arranging trips and social activities, and planning their travel itineraries. If you are interested in working as a lifestyle director, you should enhance your lifestyle and leisure experiences. You should have the ability to anticipate your client’s needs and use your extensive knowledge and contacts to develop inspiring and innovative ideas for the best travel experiences.  

Working as a lifestyle director requires having exceptional skills in managing a travel diary. Therefore, if you’re interested in this profession, you have to be exceptionally organised and proactive. You should take an enthusiastic approach and be able to multitask even under pressure. Other essential skills needed to excel as a lifestyle director are flexibility, strong communication skills, and the ability to work as a team or independently.