Updated 16 Nov 2020
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Helpful (8)
Recommends
Positive Outlook
I have been working at TCS World Travel full-time for more than a year
Pros
If you are enamored by international travel and the different cultures of the world, this is the place for you. The work is interesting, the people are passionate about what they do and the guests they look after and the atmosphere is fun.
TCS is at a crossroads. They have been successful in their business for 25 years but change is afoot. To survive and grow as a company, it cannot rely on the same way of doing things. Some people don’t like change and are resistant or openly fight it. Those that embrace it, see the bigger picture and can look into the future will find the current environment invigorating, challenging and fulfilling.
There are pros and cons to working for a smaller company. I have worked for multinational companies with over 100k people and I’ve worked for small company with less than 50. Personally, I like working for smaller organizations. I enjoy the ability to have a large impact without having to involve 30 other people to get things done. You will wear many hats at TCS. A necessity with most small companies. This isn’t a Microsoft where there are resources to hire tons FTEs, contractors and agencies to get things done. You either do it yourself or it doesn’t get done. Again, you can find this challenging and invigorating or you can moan and groan about it. I choose to be energized and accept the opportunity to expand my knowledge and skills in areas I am not necessarily an expert in.
There is always a fine line between balancing what has worked in the past and innovating for the future. Change is necessary to be able to meet future goals and objectives. I find it a fun challenge to figure out how to grow the business by introducing new processes and methods to make us more efficient and successful, while still keeping legacy things that have worked in the past. Not everyone embraces new methods and to a certain extent, that’s ok. Bit there’s a difference in fighting change because there’s legitimate concerns that it will break the system versus fighting change because you are open the the possibility of improvement. I find that the change TCS is going thorugh, while challenging to everyone’s way of doing things, is well thought out and will have a positive impact on the business.
In general, I find the TCS atmosphere supportive and flexible. The people are friendly and caring and it’s more of a friends and family environment than most other companies I’ve worked for in the past.
Cons
As with any small company, there are limited opportunities for growth. I have seen some growing about TCS not being somewhere you can easily get promoted in. Again, when you have 80-some-odd people, there are only some many layers you can have. The ability to go from specialist, to coordinator, to manager, to senior managers, to director, to senior director to VP just doesn’t exist when you’re in a 10-12 person department (if that). It’s more like specialist to manager to director and is clearly dependent on whether the person above you or not is leaving. That’s just the reality of a small company. That said, TCS is open and encourages movement within. You can move from guest services to product development to sales with creative ease, giving you the ability to try different hats and reenergize yourself in a new role.
Pay and benefits are what you would expect for: 1) a small company; and 2) a company within the travel industry that’s not Expedia. TCS is not a company that’s making hundreds of millions of dollars in profit. The results is a pay and benefits package that is clearly below average to average for the Seattle market. Is it enough to compel me to leave TCS, no? I find the satisfaction I get from my job and the environment I work in to help make up for the gap I could easily get elsewhere.
Some people view not being able to go on a partial TCS trip as a con. Some positions rightfully are able to go on a partial. Those that need to have a deep level of familiarity with the product or who are essential to the operations of an actual trip. That said, the reality is, not everyone can go. I think most people don’t recognize the sheer cost involved in a typical TCS trip. We’re not talking about thousands of dollars, we’re talking about multiple tens of thousands of dollars. Additionally, there are a limited number of open seats available and a finite number of seats in any given year. I recognize and accept that I will may never experience the product/service we are selling and I’m ok with that.
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Recommends
Positive Outlook
I have been working at TCS World Travel full-time
Pros
Small company vibe with good growth opportunities
Great culture, fun place to work, dog friendly and fun office events
Strong leadership
Fun working in travel and luxury service
Great locationCons
Not a ton of lunch options nearby
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Helpful (2)
Doesn’t Recommend
Neutral Outlook
I worked at TCS World Travel full-time for more than 3 years
Pros
It’s dog friendly and they have happy hours – lots of alcohol
Cons
The executive team is a clique and only the “cool” kids get advancement opportunities. You have to be a favorite. The president has zero leadership capabilities and has very little vision. NEGOTIATE BIG because once you’re hired your salary will not change much.
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Recommends
Positive Outlook
I have been working at TCS World Travel full-time for more than 3 years
Pros
TCS is a fantastic place to work. Great location right on the water, dog-friendly, and amazing people. On top of all that, you get to to work in travel! The company does lots of fun things and really cares about the employees.
Cons
Being a small company, sometimes people wear a lot of hats and can be really busy. They’re hiring more people so hopefully that will get better. Everyone works together and helps each other out though.
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Helpful (2)
Doesn’t Recommend
Negative Outlook
I worked at TCS World Travel full-time for more than a year
Pros
Because of the constant attempt to overhaul the internal organization, there was always plenty of work to keep me busy.
Travel opportunities
Happy hour
Cons
Communication was poor – People frequently neglected to read emails thoroughly and rarely took responsibility for mistakes.
Pay was low, and benefits were bare bones
Remote positions were eliminated entirely
Management was unavailable for direction
Onboarding/Training was nonexistent – my training was a day, then I was thrown into a position and left to make mistakes without correction or guidance.
People who needed to familiarize themselves with the product most were not given the opportunity to travel. For example, the receptionist has little need to go on a trip, but someone in the sales department absolutely would.
Overtime needs to be approved in advance but rarely was for me, so I chose to work 12+ hour a day, many hours off the clock, in order to catch up after the two predecessors were fired and left everything in shambles. The only alternative was to leave as soon as my shift was over, and not care that I was leaving so much work left unfinished.
Every department is interconnected, so it’s challenging when others leave at the stroke of five with much left to do, but who cares when there’s free booze?
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Recommends
Positive Outlook
I have been working at TCS World Travel full-time for more than a year
Pros
The people are great. With a smaller company you are able to build closer relationships. Management makes an effort to do nice things for employees; from BBQ’s on the deck overlooking the water to ice cream bar socials, weekly drink carts, parties and fun spirit week activities. People have to work hard and some do have long hours but most are happy to do it so they can get overtime pay. Certain roles have a lot of opportunities for travel domestically and internationally. Employees love the product and the guest interaction and build personal relationships with these guests.
Cons
There was a down period where the company was struggling to find its footing again after a tough year financially but that has since passed and things are only going up.
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Recommends
Positive Outlook
I have been working at TCS World Travel full-time
Pros
•Fantastic, interesting product
•A non-corporate environment where employees are treated like actual people, not mindless automatons
•Freedom to try new things and do more than your job description
•Some possibility for travel (but this is a limited privilege, so don’t expect that you’ll get to travel in non-guest-facing positions)
•Upper management does a good job of being transparent about financials
•Fun place to work—great parties, cooperative atmosphere and a can-do mentality across the company
•There are very few travel-related jobs that aren’t corporate, so TCS World Travel is truly a unicorn in the fieldCons
•If you need structure or are not good at teaching yourself skills, this is not the place for you—there is no official onboarding process and the learning curve is steep
•Salary is comparatively low for Seattle and there is a lot of internal discrepancy
•This company has a hard time letting go of substandard employees. Managers tend to ignore poor performance even when it’s dragging the department down.
•Institutional legacy is used as a crutch—you’ll hear a lot of “we’ve always done it this way…”
•Benefits are pretty mediocre (a laughable 2-percent match on a 401K and NO ONE can afford to insure their family under our current medical plans)Continue reading
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Recommends
Positive Outlook
I have been working at TCS World Travel full-time for more than a year
Pros
openness, company culture, ability for self-starters to gain more responsibility, fun people, dog-friendly, relaxed
Cons
needs more formalized on-boarding procedure…lots of info is just passed down over time
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Recommends
Positive Outlook
I have been working at TCS World Travel full-time for more than a year
Pros
Below are the core reasons I love working at TCS:
(1) We are the global leader in private jet expeditions with huge growth potential
(2) Our clients LOVE us
(3) Culture is work hard/play hard with focus on doing what’s right for our clients
(4) There is little to no office politics which is refreshing
(5) Sweet office with incredible views of the water and sculpture park
(6) Work/life balance is much better than other companies/industries I’ve worked inCons
The business can be impacted by things that are outside of our control (e.g. geo political events in the world, stock market performance, etc.).
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Recommends
Positive Outlook
I have been working at TCS World Travel full-time for more than 10 years
Pros
TCS has an amazing product that is totally unique in the travel industry. The environment is collaborative, creative and fun. I have always felt supported and challenged and like I’ve been able to contribute and have an impact on the business. The travel industry is always changing – so it keeps things exciting and fresh. Super nice people to work with.
Cons
Because the travel industry is always changing – you have to flexible and willing to adjust and change. That’s not always easy. It’s a fast paced work environment which is very focused on service and details – so you have to like that type of work. While I do get to travel, I wish we could travel more. As the price of our trips is so high, friends and family discounts don’t really help. Would be nice to have greater travel benefits.
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