Chengdu, China, May 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- On the first day back to work after the May Day holiday, the question "Where did you go on vacation?" has once again become a popular catchphrase. However, many budget-conscious travel enthusiasts who usually hop from one destination to another during holidays have unexpectedly stayed at home posting online: "I spent the three-day holiday at home sorting through photos and struggling to write my travel blog. Finally, I signed up on the last day—pick me, pick me!" "I'm currently traveling after quitting my job. This perfectly matches the feeling of 'The world is so big, I want to see it,' but my wallet is too small to go anywhere. HowToTrip actually has a free travel recruitment program—it's tailor-made for me..."
HowToTrip Europe Travel Experience Officers Hotly Recruited
HowToTrip launched its Europe Travel Experience Officer recruitment program last month, where selected "Experience Officers" will enjoy free in-depth tours of 8 European routes led by HowToTrip’s private tour groups. The popular travel community "Lonely Planet" serves as one of the registration platforms. On May 10, the application period for the first phase of 10 Experience Officers for the UK and Italy routes will close. So far, nearly 4,000 people have registered via Lonely Planet alone.
Michael, head of HowToTrip’s Europe division, stated that the enthusiasm for the first phase of applications far exceeded expectations. The strong response to experiential services has also given HowToTrip confidence in upgrading and innovating its overseas travel products. He also mentioned that the HowToTrip Europe Travel Experience Officer recruitment program will continue until August, giving travel enthusiasts who missed the first phase the chance to apply for France, Germany, and Spain routes. He revealed that all Europe Travel Experience Officers will travel in HowToTrip’s "private groups," enjoying high-quality and exclusive services.
Creative Reasons for Applying
"The first phase was open for registration for only about 10 days. We didn’t expect such a large number of applicants, nor did we anticipate that over half of them would have prior experience in independent overseas travel," said Michael,adding that the goal of recruiting Europe Travel "Experience Officers" is to break down the barriers between OTAs and consumers. By establishing communication channels through an internet+ model of experiential services, the aim is to directly gather consumer feedback to refine and upgrade travel products. Therefore, HowToTrip has set no barriers to entry—all anyone needs to do is submit travel photos and share their travel blogs to apply. The goal is to recruit "Experience Officers" who best represent the general public’s experiences on the widest possible scale.
A look at the registration platform reveals that the backgrounds, ages, and travel experiences of the first-phase applicants vary greatly. In addition to a large proportion of university students, office workers, and self-employed individuals, there are also many retirees and real-life quitting-job travel enthusiasts. Applicant Crystal is a former flight attendant and ground staff member who just quit her job, and her reason for doing so aligns perfectly with the recent trend of "The world is so big, I want to see it." In her self-introduction, Crystal explained that the idea of quitting to travel had been around for a while, but the courage to make the decision came suddenly—she no longer wanted to live a routine life and wanted to explore the world while she’s young. She has already obtained her visa, booked her flights, and plans to embark on a solo trip to Europe for over a month in May. She applied for HowToTrip’s Experience Officer recruitment because HowToTrip’s itinerary is more exciting than the one she had originally planned and includes unique experiences like staying in a "castle," which is hard to come by in independent travel. She didn’t want to miss out.
Surprisingly, in addition to those hoping to "visit" the UK and Italy for the first time through the Experience Officer recruitment, many applicants have already traveled to the UK, Italy, and Europe once or even multiple times. The travel experiences of applicants vary, and their reasons for applying are equally diverse: "I’m a huge fan of Jane Austen’s *Pride and Prejudice* and want to visit Pemberley in the itinerary," "I want to check out Château de Chantilly, where Jay Chou got married," "I’ve only traveled within Asia before—I want to break out of Asia," "HowToTrip’s itinerary looks luxurious; this free experience opportunity is rare," "Since it’s a free trip, I can save money to shop and eat," and so on. The endlessly creative reasons for applying left HowToTrip staff laughing and admitting it was hard to choose.
"Private Groups" Solve the Pain Points of "In-Between Travelers"
According to official HowToTrip information, 2015 marks the first season of the Europe Travel Experience Officer recruitment program. In addition to the first phase of UK and Italy routes, which are about to close for registration, the program also includes 8 in-depth travel routes in France, Germany, and Spain. The itineraries range from a minimum of 7 days to a maximum of 13 days. All 8 routes are newly designed Europe-themed travel routes created by HowToTrip based on years of experience in overseas local travel operations.
Notably, all Experience Officers’ itineraries will be conducted as HowToTrip “private groups.” It is understood that “private groups” are an innovative travel product from HowToTrip, with group sizes of around 5–7 people—offering a relatively private travel format. Typically, these are trips taken with family or friends, and participants in private groups don’t need to accommodate or compromise for the needs and habits of strangers in the group. "Since the launch of the Europe Private Group product, we’ve received positive market feedback. With the arrival of the peak European travel season, inquiries about private groups have been getting increasingly popular," introduced Michael, head of HowToTrip’s Europe division.
The “private group” is an innovative travel product launched by HowToTripafter leveraging its years of experience in in-depth destination travel and
conducting large-scale surveys among its existing 300,000 members last year. The “private group” primarily targets the so-called "in-between travelers"—a group that accounts for about 30% of all travelers according to data.
Michael explained that HowToTrip defines "in-between travelers" as those who have prior outbound travel experience, seek value for money, and also hope to explore less conventional routes; or those who already have the ability to travel independently or semi-independently but are unwilling to spend too much effort planning itineraries, making bookings, and preparing. "In fact, most 'in-between travelers' are seasoned enthusiasts in specific areas—such as shopping, movies, music, or food. Previous travel services haven’t perfectly matched their needs. They find that while independent travel offers freedom, it requires too much advance preparation; traditional group tours are cost-effective but exhausting; joining random group tours with strangers often leads to various issues, leaving a bad impression after just one try; and customized tours can meet individual needs but are too expensive," Michael said frankly. He added that HowToTrip created the “private group” product precisely to address the pain points of these "in-between travelers," using themes like food, shopping, music, film, or sports as entry points to create unique yet affordable overseas travel experiences. Michael revealed that this Experience Officer recruitment is also HowToTrip’s first large-scale test of the private group product.
Leading Overseas Travel Experience Innovation
"The industry is amazed that HowToTrip is offering free experiences for high-value products like European travel. In reality, recruiting so many Europe Travel Experience Officers is not only a significant financial investment, but this move also demonstrates HowToTrip’s determination to upgrade and innovate its product model. It aims to refresh the product image and service experience of overseas travel in consumers’ minds through an internet+ overseas travel model," analyzed a senior media professional in the travel industry. This recruitment program shows that HowToTrip, as one of the leading brands in the overseas travel niche, is striving to lead the industry in making positive, timely changes.
She believes that what’s even more noteworthy is that HowToTrip chose European travel products for this recruitment program, which also reveals its ambition to become the top brand in overseas destination travel. "At the end of 2013, Ctrip invested in HowToTrip. Leveraging HowToTrip’s nearly 10 years of expertise in overseas travel, Ctrip improved its own overseas travel resources. It also revealed that it would assist HowToTrip in expanding its business beyond its current focus on the Americas, Europe, and Australia & New Zealand, aiming to become the top brand in overseas destination travel. HowToTrip is already the top OTA brand for Central America travel in China, and now increasing its focus on European travel products likely signals that the move to become number one has already begun."