customer service representative

bilingual customer service associate

consultant

travel consultant

travel advisor

Aspire Lifestyles

You are taught to assimilate like the borg because resistance is futile, with a series of 6 weeks mind manipulation, multiple system overwhelming task training, that kill your brain cells with uniformity, and useless culture training. They train you to think like a minion to serve over privileged putz’s with large credit spend to make you their commercial consumerist slavemongers in a virtual consumerist world. They dangle a carrot of high than normal wage opportunity in front of you, but fail to mention that you have to work tons of overtime, shitfty hours and weekends, and offer a bonus structure that’s hard to max out. In reality, it’s truly a mirage of false positivity to accomplish so, then say you didn’t do well or made a mistake, that robs you of much hard work and causes a ton of stress, and then call it coaching, therefore that’s why your bonus could not be attained. Then try to dub it constructive feedback when it’s truly criticism cloaked in a shiny coat to make you feel like your negative traits are reflected as opportunities for growth. But really you’re going nowhere (fast), lost your ability to meet your metrics to max out your bonus, when you work through breaks and lunch to do so - and add insult to the injury of weaselling you out of deserved hard worked for cash with the offer of useless lateral moves, shiftty hour changes or shift changes which are usually  all you can make. 

As for the staff, some are truly genuine, compassionate and the nicest people you will meet. I am glad I got to know them. I learned quite a bit from the people I worked with. Most of all I learned the lesson of how not to stay at a job that truly was not deserving of the efforts I put into it, and seeing so many others around me do the same thing and feel defeated and stuck and unhappy - and seeing people feel the same way that I did, and I most of all am so happy I did not allow myself to settle.

Some others will be the most unprofessional people you have ever dealt with and some supposed team leaders or managers, who should be knowledgeable because they have worked there for over 10 years, don’t know how to even answer your question’s in a valid and truthful way. And months later will lie to you by using excuses that they were given incorrect information and retract said communications and defraud you of hard earned income...

⚠️ warning ⚠️ if you at all value your self worth, reconsider the notion of allowing yourself to lose valuable years at this place.

As a concierge you will assist multiple customers a day with frivolous requests. The customers are self-entitled. You have to act like you really truly care about what they're doing, you have to ask at least 2 "nice to know" questions or else you will fail your call review. A huge part of your bonus is based on your call reviews along with every little thing being timed down to the second.

Some customers do not want to engage in small talk, and even if you sense this vibe you still have to try to have small talk. The interviewer tells you that they want you to connect with each customer, and that there's no "rush" and that they have personally had lovely 30 minute calls with customers. However the reality is that your calls need to be about 12 minutes long MAX. 

Like I said, everything is timed to the second. Yet you need to be able to remember multiple disclosures, go over all necessary policies, connect with the customer, and confirm their contact information for each request. If the companies out of date and poorly designed systems fail and as a result you don't follow up with a customer on time, you will be at fault if that call is reviewed. 

You will receive negative surveys and negative feedback from customers for things that have nothing to do with you. Your direct manager will tell you nothing can be done about it, even though they understand you are not at fault. It's ridiculous because it still directly effects your stats even if it's not your fault. 

Pros are half decent pay, although the stress makes it almost not worth it. You will have a consistent schedule, but expect to work weekends and evenings. People with higher tenure and better stats will get the best shift bids, which brings me back to the unfairness of receiving negative feedback for things that are truly not your fault. You could be the hardest working person and just feel terrible about yourself every day. 

The benefits are decent, the work is somewhat interesting. Working from home is the only reason I have not quit yet.

Pros:
There were some great people involved as team leaders, who genuinely cared about the workers under their charge. 
Its a concierge service which provides a wide variety of client requests. This is nice for the changes of pace, and ensures their is minimal script to follow. 
Health benefits included therapy and dental. 
There were some monthly perks such as free meals.

Cons:
Your monthly bonuses could disappear based one of customer complaint, regardless of your actual involvement. Some back end staff, were able to have these complaints separated from their performance -but the strict criteria for removing blame typically prevented front end representatives from truly receiving performance based bonuses. 

The branch of the company I worked is heavily dependent upon their primary contractor, who is publicly taking steps to bring more of the concierge work in house, and purchased a system for online restaurant reservations, and made deals for exclusive event tickets through other partners. 
Due to this foreseeable drop in business, the site management and executives eliminated an entire department, which resulted in pay disparities. They scapegoated Covid as further changes occurred, even though were rumblings and questions dodged beginning in mid 2019.
Site management will lie through their teeth, shift goalposts, and take ages to implement anything. They made two rounds of layoffs (even laid off team leaders who had been the company for 10-15 years) with just enough notice to legally avoid paying most people severance. 
During Covid they also slashed hours, minimized bonuses, and froze raises, resulting in significant (over $10k for my case) income loss. This reduced wage instead of round one layoff, meant the second round cost a ton of staff a large reduction in their EI and Covid benefits. 

Extreme micro management, revolving door from the front end all the way up to the upper management level.  Processes constantly changing and you're expected to follow them 100% within 24hrs, no exceptions.  Systems that you do your work on don't even speak to each other and are like they're made by amateurs.  On occasion they decide to do employee beneficial events like a work bbq during work hours or a paid lunch of managements choosing, but it fluctuates constantly on whether or not they go through with them or even do them at all for a whole year since upper management people are always coming and going; it's amazing that they're still in business at all.  The building itself has constant bug and rodent issues, electricals breaking down from elevator access to entire computer systems company wide, even bathrooms take turns on being out of order for one reason or another.  For the amount of stress you deal with on a daily basis, the pay just isn't worth it.  The only thing that was enjoyable was the work itself most days, anyone who enjoys speaking to people and doing research would enjoy the work, but everything outside of that needs a massive overhaul,to the point that they've had many law suits over the years because of the mass amount of issues.

The mindset at this company is customer focused. Although it is a call centre environment, your priority is the customer's need. That need may to acquire tickets to a show, dinner at an exclusive restaurant or finding once in a lifetime experience around the world. You may get a sense that what the particular customer really wants is to have some contact with the outside world, and that is okay too. Spend the time with them and ensure their needs are met. 

The downside is that you are still working in a boiler room call centre environment where every word you say is recorded and can be reviewed. that brings a lot of pressure. It may be that you are not working from a script per se, but there are call requirements that test the most professional and attentive employee. Your call can be reviewed and the person, using hindsight, can identify a point you missed an opportunity to ....... whatever. 

The pace can be intense. There are peak market times where the demand outstrips the opportunity you are able to provide the customer, which is a very high-end client that is not used to hearing NO or Sorry.

This is a company that's ran completely by street smarts. None of the team-leaders or mid-level managers, starting from recruitment to HR to operation, have any academic qualifications to be able to manage employees that possess the intelligence and professionalism required to properly service the truly wonderful (And high end) clientele that they serve. 

Therefore the company has descended to become just a call center, numbers and quantity driven, at the cost of service and quality. They are lucky to have some left-over employees from their good old days, those people make the place tolerable for a while; but the toxic culture of the company prevents those people from climbing the ladder. The unqualified, and therefore insecure managers only promote those that they can control.

If you're just looking for a summer job or If you're a yes-man, this company will be the perfect fit for you; the actual clients on the phone, and the tenured agents on the floor will sometimes make you feel comfortable, but don't confuse that with job-security or being content.

I worked here for a few years. It was an OK place to work, when they anticipate a very busy day they usually provide lunch, sometimes fun office incentives. The job itself is pretty easy and can be fun, but sometimes you have to deal with people who look down at you. Need to have "thick skin" or not care. 

They have opportunities to move up but people don't ever get the chance, because team leaders decide to stay where they are, or if you want to move to another department, they'll give you an interview but they already know who they will make the offer to. Also, changing shifts is hard, there's always 

You have to be able to pick your battles with management. It seemed like management would pick a few people they didn't like and penalize them for insignificant things, whereas other employees who were wasting time and literally not good at their jobs never got penalized. You can send "coaching" for those people who don't do the job correctly, but it never gets corrected. 

I worked as a Concierge at Aspire Lifestyles and overall, the experience was mixed. The job allowed me to build strong customer service skills, and I learned how to handle a variety of client requests with professionalism. I appreciated the company's commitment to providing training and the supportive team environment. The systems used were efficient, which helped streamline daily tasks.

However, the work-life balance was challenging. The shifts could be long and varied, which made it difficult to plan personal time. Additionally, the high-pressure nature of the role, especially during peak times, could be overwhelming. It often felt like there was little room for error, and the fast-paced environment wasn’t for everyone.

If you're looking to gain experience in customer service and enjoy working in a fast-paced, high-pressure setting, Aspire Lifestyles could be a great fit. But be prepared for the challenges that come with the job.

There is a clear reason why they are offering so many incentives to work there. Nobody with any self respect works there for long. Management is constantly micro managing your tasks, and creating issues, where none previously exist. Take the job, because you will get hired, but keep looking. Benefits kick in after 30 days, which is a plus. They are so short for employees for a reason. On the surface they appear like a great company to work for. The one very good thing about the company is job security. Nobody gets fired, they are desperate for anyone who can answer a phone. Customers are entitled, and your bonuses are effected threw no fault of your own. And they want that. If they can avoid paying you, they will. But if you just need money to get by, this is the place for you. Tonnes of overtime available, free coffee and tea, clean work enviroment.

I enjoy working at Aspire. I have been with the company for over 5 years and have seen many changes; Some good, and some not so good. However, they do try to reach out to all of their employees to get feedback and suggestions on how they can make it a more enjoyable workplace. The clients are great ( some are more demanding then others) but its makes your day interested. Never a boring or repetitive day that is for sure. When, I first started, I was only planning on making it a temporary career while I went back to school, but i ended up enjoying the customers and the work so much, that I have kept this as my career. You learn so much here. It is stressful, and is not for everyone, but give it a shot if you like customer service, and have a passion for travel.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Customer service representative 28 salaries reported	$21.11 per hour
Bilingual customer service associate 22 salaries reported	$25.23 per hour
Consultant 3 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour
Travel consultant 1 salary reported	$26.00 per hour
Travel advisor 1 salary reported	$24.00 per hour

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