What does a Travel Coordinator do?
Travel Coordinators are administrative employees who specifically work on the travel-related needs of the company and its employees. They arrange travel based on the request of the involved department. They manage flight and hotel bookings, shuttle services, and car rentals. They coordinate with accredited travel agencies or providers to meet the requirements. Travel Coordinators should be familiar with the travel-related policies of the company to ensure that they follow the guidelines. They should also be mindful of the company budget. Travel Coordinators manage the list of accredited travel providers and maintain a good working relationship with these vendors.
Travel coordinator responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real travel coordinator resumes:
- Manage corporate travel arrangements for business accounts, including passport and visa documents.
- Assist with rail, hotel and rental car reservation utilizing the Sabre GDS system.
- Create and store written documentation of all communications and transactions in the Amadeus system.
- Ensure above optimum customer service through effective use of the worldwide web & multi GDS system.
- Resolve customer escalations including complex booking challenges and provide service guidance to team members.
- Analyze and book employee reservations for possible corporate jet travel resulting in significant annual savings.
- Organize and confirm reservations for lodging, entertainment and dining, taking into consideration individual dietetic requirements and preferences.
- Coordinate domestic and international travel for several national accounts, using both Apollo and Sabre systems.
- Utilize Apollo operating system for travel arrangements.
- Use Worldspan and other on-line engines to process tickets.
- Utilize WORLDSPAN and company proprietary programs to receive and process client requests.
- Identify a defect with an AMEX refund script.
Travel coordinator skills and personality traits
We calculated that 19% of Travel Coordinators are proficient in Customer Service, Reservations, and Booking. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Customer-service skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Travel Coordinators that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 19%
Provided quality customer service to clients and listened attentively to caller needs to ensure a positive customer experience.
- Reservations, 18%
Scheduled flight, car and hotel reservations for employees Accurately tracked and reported travel history Monitored travel arrangements for cost efficiency
- Booking, 12%
Resolved customer escalations including complex booking challenges and provided service guidance to team members.
- Credit Card, 7%
Earned compliments from employer for consistently identifying and resolving discrepancies and balancing monthly credit card statement.
- Ground Transportation, 4%
Coordinate travel arrangements including flights, hotels and ground transportation for both commercial and private aviation itineraries.
- PowerPoint, 3%
Prepare semi-annual reports for proposed project improvement, PowerPoint and video presentations.
Common skills that a travel coordinator uses to do their job include "customer service," "reservations," and "booking." You can find details on the most important travel coordinator responsibilities below.
Communication skills. One of the key soft skills for a travel coordinator to have is communication skills. You can see how this relates to what travel coordinators do because "travel agents must listen to clients’ travel needs and offer travel advice and information that meet those needs." Additionally, a travel coordinator resume shows how travel coordinators use communication skills: "coordinate and participate in promotional activities and trade shows align senior management objectives successfully through effective communications of marketing teams plans. "
Customer-service skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling travel coordinator duties is customer-service skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "travel agents must be able to interact with clients and respond to questions and complaints in a friendly, professional manner." According to a travel coordinator resume, here's how travel coordinators can utilize customer-service skills in their job responsibilities: "research and book travel arrangements for customers. "
Detail oriented. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of travel coordinators is detail oriented. This skill is critical to many everyday travel coordinator duties, as "travel agents must ensure that the reservations they make are for the dates, times, and locations that match travelers’ schedules." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "created detailed and efficient itineraries, and negotiated hotel and car rental rates. "
Organizational skills. travel coordinator responsibilities often require "organizational skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "travel agents often work on itineraries for many clients at once." This resume example shows what travel coordinators do with organizational skills on a typical day: "ensured flawless execution of organizational events improved and prepared visual presentation materials for executive-level meetings using powerpoint & flash. "
Sales skills. A commonly-found skill in travel coordinator job descriptions, "sales skills" is essential to what travel coordinators do. Travel coordinator responsibilities rely on this skill because "travel agents must be able to persuade clients to buy transportation, lodging, or tours." You can also see how travel coordinator duties rely on sales skills in this resume example: "arrange all travel for sales personnel and management for trade shows, business meetings, sales appointments, and personal. "
The three companies that hire the most travel coordinators are:
- Traveling Teams5 travel coordinators jobs
- Pinkerton Government Services Inc4 travel coordinators jobs
- Close Up Washington4 travel coordinators jobs
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Compare different travel coordinators
Travel coordinator vs. Tour agent
A corporate travel agent assists people in planning, choosing, and arranging holidays. Corporate travel agents will work to the budget set out by those planning the holiday. They provide opinions and advice on the places to go as well as local tourist attractions, customs, and events. The characteristics of agents include enthusiasm, resourcefulness, people skills, and professionalism. They offer foreign and domestic travel services for their corporate clients. Also, they coordinate international and national travel for clients.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, travel coordinator responsibilities require skills like "booking," "credit card," "ground transportation," and "powerpoint." Meanwhile a typical tour agent has skills in areas such as "telephone messages," "sales floor," "data entry," and "crs." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
The education levels that tour agents earn slightly differ from travel coordinators. In particular, tour agents are 2.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a travel coordinator. Additionally, they're 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Travel coordinator vs. Cruise counselor
Each career also uses different skills, according to real travel coordinator resumes. While travel coordinator responsibilities can utilize skills like "ground transportation," "powerpoint," "corporate travel," and "hotel reservations," cruise counselors use skills like "customer calls," "travel arrangements," "sales strategies," and "customer relations."
Cruise counselors earn similar levels of education than travel coordinators in general. They're 2.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Travel coordinator vs. Corporate travel expert
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, travel coordinators are more likely to have skills like "credit card," "powerpoint," "corporate travel," and "travel itineraries." But a corporate travel expert is more likely to have skills like "gds," "amadeus," "travel arrangements," and "real estate."
Most corporate travel experts achieve a higher degree level compared to travel coordinators. For example, they're 5.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Travel coordinator vs. Corporate travel agent
Even though a few skill sets overlap between travel coordinators and corporate travel agents, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a travel coordinator might have more use for skills like "customer service," "credit card," "powerpoint," and "corporate travel." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of corporate travel agents require skills like "rental cars," "reservation system," "corporate travel arrangements," and "international air. "
In general, corporate travel agents hold similar degree levels compared to travel coordinators. Corporate travel agents are 3.6% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of travel coordinator
Updated January 8, 2025
