Here's how you can maintain work-life balance as a travel professional with irregular hours.

I've noticed over 29 years of being in the tourism industry, that safari lodge staff have the biggest health challenges, and personal challenges. Owners have a similar challenge. How do we balance hospitality/profits with self care of staff ? More and more lodges are being encouraged to move to shorter shift cycles, and other creative staff care initiatives. Those that give their staff an ability to return to their families more often, see a greater staff retention. Tourism that Cares is passionate about supporting safari lodges in this more balanced approach, even if it is more expensive, and adds to your wage bill. In the end ensuring a client has a great experience is only really worth celebrating, if it does not "burn out" their staff.

What I profoundly use is the?Eisenhower Matrix. It is especially useful because, in requiring you to prioritize tasks by urgency and importance, it helps you figure out what you can delegate (or even not do at all) so that you can instead focus on the things that truly deserve your time and effort. Remember, every time you decide to do X, it means you are?not?doing Y or Z. High-performing people often struggle because?they try to do too much. As a friend of mine likes to say, “In order to do great things you have to?not?do some good things."

Working in travel industry requires flexibility, be it in operations, planning trips and organizing the backoffice work. There is no standard rule or methodology that can be applied as cultural variances coexist and are the differential elements that drive customer experience in any culture when it comes to travel. To put it simple, organize operational tasks [short term tasks that produce higher ROI] on priority, tasks that require some revisions, thorough assessments and revisions may be prioritized secondary and finally, long term goals that may span over the week shall fall upon the ternary priority and so on. This balance would enhance customer experience, gradually reduce backlog and help in better prioritization

As a Mobile Travel agent working odd hours to suit clients is a must, however setting specific times of availability and time to complete your workload is vital to success. Being vigilant in these two things sets a professional standard but flexibility is also key to success.

Maintaining work-life balance as a virtual assistant supporting a travel professional with irregular hours involves clear communication, creating a flexible schedule that adapts to their travel needs, prioritizing tasks efficiently, utilizing technology for seamless collaboration, setting boundaries to protect personal time, encouraging self-care practices like regular breaks and exercise, staying adaptable to changing schedules, delegating tasks to lighten workload pressures, scheduling regular check-ins to review progress, and promoting the importance of taking time off for recharge and well-being.

To maintain work-life balance as a travel professional with irregular hours, establishing clear boundaries is crucial. Communicate your availability to colleagues and clients, and firmly uphold your off-duty hours. This sets realistic expectations, ensuring you can disconnect and recharge without guilt. Research from the Harvard Business Review shows that setting boundaries significantly enhances productivity and job satisfaction, underscoring its importance in achieving a sustainable work-life balance. Prioritizing personal time doesn't compromise professionalism; it enhances overall well-being and performance.

Operations cannot be bound by strict limitations as for instance, customer might be checking in at midnight - and face an issue upon check in. Shift management exists to provide round the clock support. These tasks cannot be time restricted. Furthermore, resource management, prioritization, key business driver and strategic approach are the key elements with idea combination to be used in order to efficiently provide seamless customer experience, earn loyalty and build better ecosystem in travel industry

OTAs, CRMs, APIs, integrated service provision and use of technology has definitely changed the way travel industry has evolved in the past 5 years. More inclusion of AI and ML is further being used to enhance customer experience, understand itineraries expectations, curated trip designs and so on.

Do you remember the good old days of reading books? During waiting times and on flights, books help me stay focused, calm and develop my imagination. I'm back for a stronger life balance

I was fortunate in that I absolutely loved my travel related job. I could not wait for my next adventure. So the tough part of my work life balance was balancing life. What I mean by that is balancing the other commitments in my life like my wife, children, family and friends. I made absolutely sure I was committed to their well being every time I was home. I paid attention to their needs, like, household responsibilities for my wife and being involved in my children’s many interest. I was a coach of all their sports, even if I never played the sport, I spent time learning so I could be with them every time I was home. I missed many birthdays and anniversaries with my travel job but made sure to celebrate when I was home. Missed nothing.