Reservations & Operations Manager

SUMMARY:
Boutique Luxury Inbound DMC specialising in bespoke travel throughout Southern and East Africa is looking for a highly experienced Reservations & Operations Manager, based at either its Cape Town or Heidelberg, Gauteng office.

Primarily serving the North American luxury travel market, the company requires an established leader to take full ownership of reservations and operational teams. Reporting directly to the owner, the successful candidate will lead five Journey Designers and oversee the Operations Lead, Concierge and Journey Administration team, TourPlan Rates & Product function.

POSITION INFO:
Duties: Reservations & Sales Management: Take ownership of enquiries from receipt through to booking confirmation or closure. Allocate enquiries, monitor workloads and ensure quotations meet required turnaround times. Personally review and approve all quotations and costings before submission to agents, checking accuracy, margins, product selection and completeness. Lead communication with travel advisor partners, ensuring proactive, professional and timely correspondence. Manage follow-ups, itinerary revisions and deadlines to maximise booking conversions. Guide Journey Designers in creating creative, well-routed and commercially sound luxury itineraries across Southern and East Africa. Team Leadership & Operations: Manage, mentor and develop five Journey Designers, driving productivity, accountability and performance. Manage the Operations Lead and oversee the Concierge and Journey Administration team. Ensure seamless handovers from reservations to operations and consistently high standards of guest service. Resolve reservations challenges, agent concerns, operational issues and staff matters independently, escalating where appropriate. Take ownership of daily departmental management, enabling the owner to focus on business growth. Rates, Product & Performance: Oversee the TourPlan Rates & Product function, ensuring accurate rates, competitive supplier pricing and appropriate product selection. Improve workflows and strengthen quality control throughout the reservations process. Monitor quotation turnaround times, costing errors, conversion rates and team performance. Requirements: Ideally 10-15+ years' experience within the luxury inbound DMC industry, including significant senior reservations management experience. Extensive firsthand destination and product knowledge across Southern and East Africa. Proven experience designing, costing and managing complex, high-end, multi-country African itineraries. Exceptional attention to detail and a strong understanding of costing, margins and profitability. Significant experience working directly with North American luxury travel advisors, ideally within Virtuoso, Serandipians or similar networks. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to manage key agent relationships and resolve challenges independently. Proven ability to manage reservations pipelines, maintain quotation turnaround times and improve conversions. Established experience leading, motivating and developing a high-performing reservations team. TourPlan experience would be a significant advantage. Working Arrangements: Office-based in Cape Town or Heidelberg, Gauteng. Some flexibility may be considered for the right candidate.