Staffing your travel business is often a trip of its own.

“Is my team the right size? What are all my employees’ exact responsibilities? How do I find new people to hire?” These are just a few of the questions leaders should ask themselves when they’re thinking about staffing. Each group travel business is different, which means it’s a unique process for everyone, from making sure there’s enough work to go around to sizing up or sizing down. 

Here are some tips and tricks that will make staffing your travel organization a more valuable part of the business and allow every employee to thrive in their positions.

Analyze the life cycle of your business

Is your travel business just beginning, or is it consistently growing? Either way, taking a close look at where your business is in its life cycle can help you determine when to hire. When starting out, the “solopreneur” style of business is often the way to go. You are more likely to successfully handle the ins and outs of tourism alone if your business is small. But as you continue to add trips and passengers, continuing to do all the work yourself may not be the best decision. Hiring some freelance help can be a good place to start because these workers earn a flat per-contract rate instead of being a recurring payroll expense. Tour directors and bookkeepers are often great freelance additions to growing travel companies, helping you spend more of your time on growth and less time on trip management and accounting.

Consider contractors vs. staff

Although freelancing is a smart option when staffing your business, you will eventually need to hire part-time or full-time employees as your organization grows. Besides the obvious question of whether you can pay a staff member, consider factors such as the amount of work you have to assign and your busiest season. Because many travel businesses are seasonal, you may have a reasonable amount of work for an employee to do for half of the year, but not much for them to do the other half. Sometimes, you may need to take an educated leap of faith and hire someone before your revenue fully supports it, trusting that their contributions will help generate new profits. 

Hire for people skills

Most of the skills required in tourism are teachable, but people skills aren’t — and those are usually the most valuable skills in your business. Having strong interpersonal skills helps employees excel in both customer service and collaboration with other team members. And while it goes without saying that your trip leaders must be great with people, your customers will likely interact with other staff members in the pre-purchase and pre-departure phase, so it’s important that people working in those departments have great soft skills, too. That’s why hiring people who are trustworthy, positive and easy to talk to can make your travel business more successful. Staffing your business with people who have good character and are enjoyable to be around will never be a mistake, even if you have to teach them some other aspects of the job.

Listen to your gut — and your team

Sometimes, a report or a spreadsheet won’t tell you when your staff needs to grow. You should instead listen to your instincts and pay attention to your employees. Situations where team members are experiencing burnout or rushing to get everything done can be an indication that you should think about growing your staff soon. If everyone seems stressed and busy all the time, it might be time to hire. Mental health struggles and self-doubt can cause serious problems for your travel business. It’s important to be realistic about your team’s bandwidth and whether your workload is causing problems in your life outside of work. Looking out for your team’s well-being — and your own — is one of the first steps in knowing when you need to hire.

Prioritize networking

You may run into situations in your travel business where you know you need to hire someone, but you’re not sure where to find the people you need. Tourism is a network-based business, so there is a high chance you already know plenty of people you could potentially add to your team. Start by looking back at people you have interacted with on trips or those you have previously hired as a freelancer. If you can’t find what you need there, many local universities have hospitality programs with students or recent graduates looking for opportunities in the industry. You can also look to your own social circle. There’s a strong chance you already know someone who might thrive in the tourism industry.