xtravel left the National Travel Industry Awards over the weekend with quite the prize haul, it took out Travel Broker of the Year Business/Team, while its md Tori Keating was highly com mended for Customer Advocacy of the Year, and named Qantas’ Best Dressed Female.
The Travel Broker of the Year Business/Team win was an awesome celebration of the xtravel team, says Keating, who is quick to sing the praises of those she works with.
“Honestly, the consideration, the enthusiasm, the zest with how they approach all of their clients’ trips, how they engage with each other and the wider team, and how they represent xtravel in the entire industry is absolutely outstanding,” she says. “We’re very humbled to get to work with such an awesome team of professionals.”
Behind this win, says Keating, is a really strong focus on all relationships. “What makes us so successful is the fact we place as much emphasis on our team, as we do on our supplier relationships, as we do on our clients,” she says. “We recognise if one of the corners of the triangle doesn’t get tended to properly, the others get compromised.” There’s also the freedom and independence that xtravel offers. Keating says this allows the business to connect clients with the experiences they want to have, and of course its community connection.
“We do an awful lot of volunteer and philanthropy work here in Queenstown, and that’s very much part of our narrative,” says Keating, who adds that xtravel brokers across the country also make an effort to volunteer.
“As a business if you celebrate success, you need to share that success, and I think we, to a certain extent, become a role model for other business in the region and encourage them to step up.”
. . . Best Dressed
On the best dressed win, Keating admits she felt the pressure after going all out last year, but she managed to claim the crown with some incredible op-shop finds. “I kept the entire outfit under $100, the shoes I bought second-hand as well, so I was pretty chuffed with that.”
