travel consultant

program manager

travel counselor

project manager

project coordinator

A typical day at work for me consisted of answering back-to-back complex calls where I had to make several changes to existing reservations for multiple people in 1 call, handling multiple administrative tasks with each call, booking new reservations, providing travel advice, and following up on customer service issues. However, most people in my office only took 1 or 2 calls per day. Some people would only have a call every few days.

I learned a lot about business traveler's preferences, airfares, airline policies, and airline contracts. I also learned a lot about a number of different cool career options available in the travel industry that I had not known about before. I also learned a lot from people with first hand experience on how the travel industry has changed over the years.

Management says they care about employees but I felt like their sole focus is maximizing profit by taking on as many clients and as much work as possible while working employees as hard as possible and paying them the least that they can get away with. For example, the account I worked for had a huge, ever growing increase in travel requests and a constantly high call volume but we were continually understaffed, working overtime was the norm, and I was paid far below than the industry average for a new comer.

There are also a number of very strict policies that demonstrate that front line employees are just a number that can be replaced at any time. These policies are supposed to apply to everyone but I have not seem them applied to anyone who is not working a front line position.

The workplace culture is very casual and laid-back with most seasoned employees working from home. Nearly everyone I encountered was very friendly, helpful, and passionate about providing guidance to new employees starting out their career in the travel industry. In my office, there was a lot of focus on ongoing training. 

The hardest part of the job was the stress of being expected to complete complex back-to-back time consuming calls quickly, (meaning we were expected to take less than 5 minutes to finish tasks that could take at least 30 minutes to complete) without making any mistakes. 

It was also frustrating being disrespected and talked down to by executive assistants or travelers and being coerced into fixing situations created by the traveler that that were not my responsibility because my account did not set client expectations or stand up for their workers. However, before being on that account, I was temporarily on another account where the account manager always stood up for us when we were disrespected.

There was also excessive micromanaging that included being watched over literally every minute of the work day and being reprimanded if you went outside of your schedule even for one minute despite not having control over how long a call goes on or having a heavy workload. There was also constant technical problems that we were expected to live with or troubleshoot on our own despite having an IT department.

The most enjoyable part of my job was talking to friendly people who were truly appreciative of the time, energy, and effort I put into managing their travel arrangements and providing them valuable travel advice. I also enjoyed liasing with airlines and taking an unexpected business trip.

One of the best jobs I've had but it's not for everyone, nor should it be. Everyone utilizes their best talents and it all comes together as a team effort to deliver what seems like impossible goals at times. This was best proven to me when everything had to be shifted to virtual and we literally had not done that before. It ended up being smooth sailing as everyone grouped their best skills together and prevented us from losing a single dime. 

At the end of the day, as long as the work gets done, there are no real time management restrictions and I think that creates a mostly relaxing environment. All of the upper management team are great, down to earth folks and occasionally they host fun zoom meetings to talk about non-work related things. If there was ever a company that delivered on the, "We are a family" quote, this is one of those companies. 

Every once in a while, mostly during our busy seasons, we would have to dedicate a weekend or at the least, work a little bit longer hours into the evening during the week. You don't start with a lot of PTO days at the beginning of the year but they more than compensate those extra hours with comp days. A lot of the times, if you just need a mental day, they wouldn't hesitate to give it to you. This is also balanced by some days where we wouldn't have much to do so I think it works out.

The pay is above fair though I could be making more at other companies, this is definitely the least stressful with the best people and I think that makes up for it and why I choose to stay. Health insurance isn't the best though. Could improve as time goes on.

We have people who have worked for BCD Travel their entire lives. Through acquisitions of other companies, etc - we have employees who have worked for us for 47 years. Yes, we have employees who have "hire dates" back to 1973 or so. That just doesn't happen in the work world these days! And these folks are not unique! It is an everyday occurrence to be on a conference call with somebody who has been with the company for 25, 30, 35 years. What does that say? That tells me that BCD Travel is a quality company. They treat their people right time and time again. The Senior Executive Team has had to make some enormously difficult decisions through COVID-19 and the resulting decimation that has hit the travel industry. But even through that turmoil, they have treated every employee with respect, honesty, transparency, and have done everything they can to do what is best for the employees. It may sound corny, but people say it all the time: it's the BCD Family. You work here and you honestly feel like you are part of a family. That's a great feeling. It's more than a job. You really feel like you are part of "something". Is BCD Travel perfect? Of course not. Nothing in life is. But, it's as close to "perfect" as I've ever found. I've been here 8 years. I'm just a baby compared to the long-timer's. I intend to be here for 25 years or so more! 

The account I was on motivated by punishment, and discouraged  ery positive yearly reviews.  

They promoted some great people and too many terrible employees, who were incompetent.  Once had a manager say “Just do what I tell you too do!” when they told me to do something incorrectly and I questioned it.  That person was mean and incompetent.  Many people went to HR about them but they remained in that position misleading and intimidating.   The one Sr. VP I personally knew of was a ‘yes’ person who never advocated for or helped to pull up moral for employees.

Most people in management got there because of favoritism which made life difficult for good employees.
  
You cannot have a work/life balance in this call center.  

Nothing was ergonomic, the pods were tiny, keyboards compressed, regular mouse, and chairs were uncomfortably  hard.

Overall BCD Travel did not care about employees and did not promote based on quality...of course there were exceptions.

If you are a hardworking, competent employee, look for a company that treats employees well, don’t waste time here.  




During training, everyone training me encouraged me to keep all my emails to "cover my back," and that should have been the biggest red flag. When a minor problem arises they are quick to point fingers instead of problem solving. It was the end of the world when a client called my personal phone and I called back 10 minutes later because I was busy doing something else and I didn't know clients could call your personal number. Higher up management is condescending and rude. They had high expectations of me despite being very new (like a couple weeks new) and not properly trained. I wouldn't trust them with any information about myself as they were talking about vaccination statuses of employees in email chains. HR is NOT your friend here. They fired me for "performance gaps", weren't able to provide where these gaps were in writing, then had the audacity to say they would "contest to any unemployment payments."

The job itself I found 80% of my time was dedicated to meetings & admin work like tracking, reports, recaps, etc. leaving very little time to do what I was actually hired to do. 

I am writing this review based on my personal experience as a former employee in Tokyo.

During my time with the company, I consistently delivered strong performance and was committed to my role. However, when I raised concerns about unprofessional behavior, I felt that my concerns were not handled with care or accountability.

After I left the company, I became aware that my personal information was being searched online and discussed openly in front of other colleagues in the Tokyo office. This made me feel uncomfortable and exposed, especially as a former employee with no professional relationship remaining.

What disappointed me most was not a single incident, but the overall lack of empathy and responsibility when concerns were raised. Rather than addressing the behavior itself, responses focused on minimizing the issue.

I am grateful that I have since moved on to a healthier work environment with supportive management. I hope the company reflects on how employee concerns are handled and how professionalism is upheld, both during and after employment.

The Raleigh location is very nice and has great people. The managers and colleagues are very supportive and generally great to be around. However, the turnover rate is extremely high and it feels like everyone is constantly doing at least two peoples jobs while barely being paid enough for one. Raises and bonus are minimal/non-existent for entry level staff. It's a good place to start if you're fresh out of college and looking to add to your resume, but the salary is very low so it's best to keep your options open (most coordinators don't stay more than a year or two from what I saw). 

Daily interaction with leadership, clients, & office staff. 

Manage all Office Administration functions at onsite facility. Responsibilities include facilities management, space allocation and furnishings, security access, vendor negotiations and services, office expenses and policies; while fostering an atmosphere that maintains motivation and high employee morale. Management team are professionals and gear you to a higher education and promotion. It's a daily learning environment with interaction with people and my success was being open outside my job duties.

If you have a chance to work for this company, I suggest you grab it!  I worked there several years ago and my supervisor was one of the best managers I've EVER had.  Always patient and willing to answer any questions I had and I never had a harsh word from her.  The training I got was very thorough and supportive.  I really cannot say enough praise about this place.  I would have loved to stay there if my position was not a temporary one covering a lady on maternity leave.  And unfortunately they did not have any open positions at the end of my term. 

The phone system was set up through the computer so if you were having computer problems they would still mark you late in signing in. The account I was on the first time I worked there was much more nice and accommodating. The account I most recently worked for was very demanding and not always nice to work with. The Management the second time around tried to work with any problem areas to help keep you aware of the needs of the account. My co-workers were nice most of the time. I did enjoy meeting with suppliers to learn about their products and win some of the quizzes offered while working there.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Travel consultant 6 salaries reported	$22.92 per hour
Program manager 3 salaries reported	$84,667 per year
Travel counselor 8 salaries reported	$48,120 per year
Project manager 3 salaries reported	$62,000 per year
Project coordinator 4 salaries reported	$53,000 per year

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