Children rep
Children rep role is very important because you need to be careful with children because the a legal obligation that the must follow and they need the following qualification NNEB or NVQ in child care and must have first aid certificate
The main reasonability’s of a children rep
- Welcome family meeting
- Organising day time and evening activities
- Supervising early suppers
- Telling bed time stories
- They must focus on health and safety
- Assisting transfers from airport to hotel
- Assisting welcome meetings
- They promote activities and sell children excursions
- Mange big groups of kids regularly
- Health and safety checks before the children arrive to resorts
- Paperwork
- Promoting activities
Task 2.0
Property rep legal and health and safety responsibilities
The rules were changed a few years ago as said in book 2 travel and tourism
“In early 2004 firms were told by there office of fair trade to offer consumers a fairer deal and a new guidance was issued on unfair terns and conditions “
My job is to offer customer satisfaction under the UK package travel regulations 1992 in case of over booking I need to offer my guests alternative accommodation of at least the same standard they paid for as stated in the booking conditions.
This obligatory to me if a guest has a complaint they must come to me so I can sort it out as soon as possible and if they want o complaint to the tour operator they usually have only 28 days to do this. There is much legal reasonability that a holiday rep has to follow.
The supply of goods and service act was set in 1982 and amended in 1994 this states that the tour operator must ensure that the holiday should be carried out using
“ Reasonable skills and care “ and the goods that they advertise are the ones the guest get.
The trade description act affects the holiday rep because they on the front line. And if the tour operator has not had accurate information on the broacher when the guest go on the holiday they complain.
The booking conditions always get raised when some one complains and for example they say they paid for something when they haven’t the tour operator get the booking conditions for every holiday and when a customer complains my job is to check it against the booking conditions that the guest signed for a classic example is when a guest says there put in the room and he bought the room with a view my role is to look at what the bought and I would look and see what room they bought if the guest is right we have to change the room for them or the tour operator compensates them when they come back
Health and safety is very important role and reasonability in my job to maintain it I need to do many checks. The tour operator is directly reasonable for the guests and my role is to carry out regular checks on behalf of my tour operator. Before my tour operator can sign a contract with a hotel I have to carry out a full health and safety check and if there are any changes needed to be done than the hotel must do them before my tour operator can contract with them. The tour operator in this case must make sure the suppliers make educate health and safety checks as the tour operator is liable not the supplier and all these checks are done by the holiday reps.
These are most things a holiday rep will check
- Fire safety- I will check all fire doors and they must not be blocked
- Swimming pool- I check if there depth marks and if the tiles are safe
- Balconies – I will check if they have sufficiently high railings
- Gas and electricity – I check if there safe and there no lose wires or gas leaks
The federation of tour operators (FTO) has devised a code of practice which gives advice on health and safety checks and the tour operator will be ok if the follow these guide lines these include
- Fire safety
- Food safety
- Pool safety
- Beach safety
- Legion Ella management
- Children clubs
- Incident management
All these are the basic that the tour operators need to follow from the (FTO) and they provide them with safety training videos and courses they can go on, on health and safety
In my line of work as a property rep I have to deal with a lot of paper work and documentation to help the tour operator comply with legal requirements. The main form that I have to complete is health and safety checks. These need to be completed regularly and for each new resort before guests can stay in the form if I find something wrong I would write it and give the resort a date for them to fix it bye and needs to be signed and dated this documentation is very important because tour operators always ask to see them as they do spot checks and if something happens to a guest the tour operator always ask for the resent documentation
The other type of report is the risk assessment that I need to do if im taking guests on outings and I would need to check the environment is safe because even on an outing out of the resort the tour operator is still liable so everything needs to be checked the assessment consist of the name of the activity the distance from the resort, the route we will take ECT. The most important report is the indecent report because that documentation may go to court so it must be accurate and because it’s a legal form it needs to be filled in right and signed
Transfer rep legal and health and safety responsibility
The transport rep also has a lot of legal reasonability’s the all follow the basic ones that the property rep does and they have extra responsibilities for example checking the coaches and seen if the follow the domestic and European driver hours. Drivers with more than 10 seats are subject to the European union drivers hour legalisation and they must record there hours on a tachograph. The driver must have a 45 min break after 4 hours driving and they can only drive 9 hours a day. The reps need to check the company they’re using and if they follow this law because if an incident was to occur the tour operator is still liable. Before choosing a company the transfer rep need s to check all documentation before they contract them.
Children’s rep legal and health and safety responsibility
The children rep has a lot of legal responsibility because children need to be looked after and they’re the only rep that needs qualifications in this industry and they need to be educated to adducted level. The requirements for the Thomas cook children’s rep is as I have researched on the website is
“ You should be educated to GCSE level, and hold the NNEB,
Nursing infant teaching children or a child care qualification or NVQ in child care and have at least 6 months practical experience in caring for a large group of children.”
This shows the children rep needs to know a lot because of any minor thing that could happen the tour operator is still liable. With children rep the health and safety check are extended because they need to check children hazards that you wouldn’t need to check with the adult group because to them its common knowledge for example glass doors, how high are the balconies rails are, playgrounds, children’s clubs, kitchens, swimming pools. This are checked regularly for hazards.
Task 1.1
There are many similarities and differences with all the holiday reps as you can see the holiday rep is the basic rep and the transfer rep has some difference to the property rep but some similarities than the children rep also has the basic of the property rep but also has difference but they also have similarities to the property rep and the transfer rep. The similarities between all of them are they give their guest customer service but the difference is they give it in a different way for example a transfer rep is with the guest only a short period of time and they are the 1st contact with there reps so the should be approachable and a children rep customer service is different because they are talking to children so the language should be different and there tone of voice and they approach should be fun and bubbly and not for example like a school teacher because the kids are also on holiday
The two reps that are similar are the property rep and the transfer rep because the guests are on the same level and the use the same language and they both do not need that much education usually its up to GCSE level. The children rep is different from the rest because they have more responsibilities because the parents are leaving the children with them and the children safety is the main priority the property and transfer rep also have to see the guest safety to a level because adults really can look after them self’s
When it comes down to documentation all three have the same documentation but the transfer rep has extras for example coach checks and road checks. The children reps has a lot of documentation extra checks as I have said before and
Task 2.1
The legal and health and safety responsibility affect my role, as a property rep is that I always have to be on point so if something does happen than I have to be there to fill in the right forms. These legal reasonability put pressure on my job to keep everyone safe knowing we are responsible many lives and when a group leaves the resort and going home and every one happy and safe it gives us a self achievement that I have completed my job to the best of my ability. People have a big misconception that holiday rep job easy and it’s a long free holiday but we deal with a lot of legal matters and we do a lot of paper work that the same level as other 9 to 5 jobs as I have stated earlier we are representing the tour operator and if any minor thing happens for example a child feel a grazed there knee we need to write up a incident report form ect. Some times it feel I have become a police officer with all the documentation we do. I think the biggest pressure In my job is the legal side and there no time to slack off because people lives are at risk this is the down side but it worth it to see people enjoying the holidays.
Task 2.2
The legal and health and safety effects their role of a children rep because they deal with children and the wealth fare is very important and the strain of all the checks that they do and the health and safety reports drag you down but they are very important so they have to be done because if an incident happens than all previous checks are looked at and the incident report form need to be filled in.
Children reps have legal reasonability for the children they need to do all checks because the parents left the in there care. The environment needs to be checked where the children play and eat in and out of the resort they need to check
- Fire safety
- Swimming pools
- Children play grounds
All these checks need to be against the FTO guidelines all documentation need to complete while looking after children. So remembering sun cream to what the children can eat or not eat its very stress full. There are many risk assessments taken before they can take them out and for every 4 children their need to be a children rep as it says in book two in travel and tourism book gillan dale states that the children rep normally takes the children on outings and the children needs to check the environment and do a lot of preparation this brings a lot of stress to the children rep and this is the down fall to the job this affects it a lot.
Task 2.3
The property rep can enhance the customer holiday experience by me having excellent customer service skills which includes me known when to use formal and informal verbal communication this shows I can serve different circumstances for example a health and safety talk should be formal language this shows the seriousness of the information and when I am out with guest on a night out I probably speak informal. My voice level also changes also in different circumstances when having meetings my voice will increase so everyone can hear me on the other hand when talking face-to-face with a guest my tone drops down so I sound understanding. To enhance the guests holiday the key is to listen to them this show s them your there for them and because they paid for the service at least the customer service should be excellent and a key to having a good holiday is when at the beginning starts right foot the best way is with a friendly bubbly approach. To enhance the customer holiday depending on the guest for example you would speak to an elderly person very slowly and calmly so they understand
There are many reasons that a holiday rep will fail to deliver an appropriate level of service. The main constraint they have is when a natural disaster happens and many of the summer sun holidays get hit. So there are a lot of disasters that happen in resorts and the holiday rep has a legal reasonability to look after the guests and if something happens than they need to take them to a safe surrounding. But there always something on the news when something goes wrong and the guests take their complaints to tour operator and the media.
As I have researched extensively one account I found on the BBC news website two couples account were published. Francesca cotwal and Paul stone went to the Caribbean when the most powerful hurricanes in history hit no sooner as they arrived there holiday reps re located them to Jamaica than it went horribly wrong there were just in time for hurricane Ivan. Than it bad they were locked in dinning hall of the Ritz carrion hotel along side hundreds of other holidaymakers. There was no hot food holiday reps where no were to be seen all they had was cold rice and old salad, people were having panic attacks and they were violently sick and there was only one toilet and no lights. As they stated the holiday reps were no were to be seen which shows the lack of responsibility and many people were ill and fainted this is the tour operators legal reasonability to have a plan if there was a natural disaster where there suppliers are and where they will take the guests this plan vital and will put the guest at rest if this plan was visible and not only the guest the holiday reps will feel prepared for anything that happens they know the drill and what to do and how to help the guests this should be done by the tour operator and training should be given to the holiday reps. In my view I see if I say a tour operator with a plan than I would chose it over others because than I would know I will be safe and my family to and this will also enhance the customers holiday the rep job.
