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The skills i had used when working at PebbleShore were maths skills and problem solving. This is because i had to use maths to find the commission and the best holiday choice. I used problem solving when i had to find the right holiday for enquiries and when i had to find the best price for different hotels and different dates. I also used team work when working with Faith because one of us found the hotel and one found the flights for the same enquiry.

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Pebble shore is a local independent travel agent that is part of a bigger group of independent travel experts & The Travel trust association.

The trade association has over 450 independent travel agent that work from shops or are home workers. Pebble shore is one of these. The organisation is private as it gets money from profits, not the government.

The Trade association is at the top and runs the business however, it has branches from it. They have shop workers and independent home workers. Rachel/Pebble shore is classed as a homeworker however, she does has a shop now.

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The customer service at Pebble shore is very good even though there aren't any specific policies about customer service.

Some examples i saw in my work placement would be that when customers come in to enquire/book a holiday, she is always happy to offer a drink or if a child comes in she gets them toys to play with as they could be there 1 hour+ discussing holidays or payments. this is very good as it means the children aren't bored and therefore, they have something to do. On the last day of my work placement, customers came in to book a holiday with a child and Rachel got lego for them to play with and to keep entertained.

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The security of the shop is very good as it is in the market which gets locked every night to make sure it is secure. This is one level of security for Pebble shore however, Rachel also has a shutter that  goes down in front of her shop as a second level of protection. This is the physical security of her shop but the websites she uses also have a lot of security for her to access them. You need to put the password in each time logging in which means they people can't access if something is stolen. This is very important because customer personal detail will be put on there.

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The products that Pebble Shore travel agency offers are the different holidays. There are a range of different holiday types for different people. On the FaceBook, there are holidays for leisure (sunny country with all inclusive hotels), there are overnight safari stays, entertainment stays for special events, cruise holidays and some small holidays to disneyland/world.
These are all products that suite different peoples wants and needs.

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City breaks are a popular holiday for customers. with Jet2 there is package flights specifically for city breaks which will make the holiday a lot more enjoyable as you can book it all at once instead of booking each city separately. This is a good way to explore different places around the world. Rachel will help customers decide what is the best holiday for the needs which will make the customers feel at ease and let Rachel handle all the booking for them.

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The skills needed for this job include customer service, this is a big skill as you work with customers all day and find what is best suited for them to make their holiday the most enjoyable and relaxing. You need to be able to promote a special holiday online (persuasive) and you need to be committed as sometimes it takes a while to look through all the hotels to find the right one and price match them all. I believe these are the best skills to have if you want to be a travel agent.

This picture is my work when i was learning how to find the commissions Rachel gets from each booking and to see if its worth the time and effort. This is a maths skills as independent travel agent need to be able to work out the commissions they get with each customer.

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The tasks that Rachel did throughout the day include talking to customers, looking at emails/messages, talking to suppliers on the phone and if there are any problems she needs sorting she will ring up the company. She

Some of the tasks that i did included making social media posts for holiday specials, working out the commission Rachel receives from each booking done through jet2, looking for the best hotels and flights throughout the time period a customer wants and we booked a holiday for a customer on the last day and had to fill all the customers and flight/hotel information online on a travel agents website.

The picture is my work finding out which hotel would be the best for the customers needs and requirements.

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Within the working team, plus with the other staff in the market place, I saw evidence that Rachel treats everyone equally and embraces diversity.

I also feel that Rachel embraces equality and diversity within her customer base as she doesn't treat any of her customers different when they came into the shop and she was always polite, giving them the best customer service.

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The code of conduct for Pebble shore was to be there for 9:30 wearing smart casual clothes. It is important to follow this as if not it will give Rachel a negative view of her employees and it will give the customers a negative view of the staff if they aren't smart. The lunch break was around 30 minutes long and we could go anywhere to get lunch and eat it in her shop while working at the same time if wanted. This is what Rachel expects from her staff.

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As Rachels shop is in the market place, her health and safely is governed by the health and safely within the building. For example, the fire alarm systems are all connected and associated fire exits are located around the market place. She has a small kitchen with a kettle. She has IT equipment with two office chairs which can be adjusted to the appropriate height. The toilets are located in the market place. Rachel cleans her own shop. She has a shutter she uses on a night time even through the market place gets locked.

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Customers personal details are protected as they are held online on a secure data base. The only time paper would be used is for enquiries and this would not contain too much identifiable customer details, which reduces risk of a breach in date protection. These forms are shredded once the enquiry is dealt with.

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I developed my social skills/customer service when talking on the phone to suppliers to see if they had any package holidays for an enquiry. I also learnt how to use different websites to compare prices of holidays.

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At the top of the organisation, there is the owner of the business which employs many staff and smaller businesses like pebble shore which is under them.

At Pebble Shore, Rachel is the main member of staff as she owns her independent business. She has 2 part-time employees working for her. She is a very small independent business so she doesn't have many employees however, she is looking for getting an apprentice so she will have extra help and expand the staffing structure.

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Package family holidays are popular because some holiday have kids free on certain days. This makes it more affordable for families, they will also be activities for the children in the hotel like waterparks which will mean the adults can relax as well without having to worry about entertaining the kids. Rachel sells a lot of these types of holidays on Jet2 as they have the best deals.

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Rachel has a lot of booklets for cruise holidays around her shop. This is because they are becoming very popular and they are a good way to explore the world as they can stop off in many different places and have a day exploring before setting off again.

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Rachel has the most responsibility in the shop as she is the independent travel agent. She talks to suppliers to organise the leaflets she gets to promote holidays. Rachel also talks to different businesses that can give quotes on pricing for a domestic trip, for example, going to London that includes a musical ticket and a hotel. this makes it easy to book all together instead of the ticket and hotel booking separate. She finds ways to make it more convenient for her and the customer. Rachel also books flights and holidays for the customers, she makes sure they have all the important documents they need printed and a digital copy as this will make it easy for the customers and they will want to return as they get taken care of very well and they only have to look forward to the holiday, without worrying about the complicated documents they need. She also takes payments from the customers.

Rachels employees are mainly in charge or the social media aspect of the business. They post special offers and luxury holidays on Facebook for people to browse and see if they want to go. They also answer enquiries about holidays through email. This makes Rachels job easier as she doesn't have to worry about doing that as well.

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Whilst i was on work experience, Rachel was my contact if i was unable to go to work due to illness. She expected me to be at Pebble shore for 4 days (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) from 9:30 until 4:30-5:00. I was to wear smart causal clothing, I had half an hour for my lunch and I could eat it in her building or leave and be back 30 minutes later.

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This is an enquiry I was working on and I had to find the best flights for a customer and price match different airlines/airports.

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Although, I didn't discuss visions and values with Rachel at Pebble shore, I would expect them to be similar to other travel agents. This would be to encourage everyone to travel so that people can be connected through positive experiences allowing them to see the world. Values would likely include delivering a quality service that is accessible to everyone regardless of their background, ethnicity, beliefs etc. There would also be values within the workplace such as being a good team player where each member of staff could bring their individual experiences and qualities to their role within the working team.

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Going on work experience has made me think about following in this career path when im older as i really enjoyed what we did everyday therefore, i think it might be something i want to do when i leave college.

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Rachel has 2 part-time staff who are able to make decisions with customers and book their holidays. Rachel is their line manager so if they were faced with decisions that they were unable to make they would go through her. If Rachel is faced with decision/complaints that she needs support with she would seek advice from the travel agency that Pebble shore is a part of.

Rachel is looking at employing an apprentice who decision making may be supported by Rachel's junior staff. When I was on work experience my decision making was supported by Rachel as the other members of staff were not in work that week.

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When i was in 6th form i did work experience for a week at an independent travel agents called Pebble Shore, this was for my travel and tourism course. It was an amazing week as i got to see what a travel agent does day-to-day and i got to take part in it. I was looking for holidays for customers enquiries. I also talked to one of the suppliers that do package holidays to find the right holiday for a customer. This is a skill i developed by going to do work placement. I used social media to sell holidays to customers and i had to compare prices of different holidays to find the best one for the customer.