My Career as a Travel Counselor

Welcome to my Career Page!

My name is Theresa Schoenbaum and I'm a Travel Counselor.  

Come take a look and learn more about me and my career.

If you'd like to contact me I can be reached by:

Email

LinkedIn

Stop by my Personal Page, as well if you'd like more information.

I'm currently looking for a new opportunity in the travel industry. I'm very interested in a Senior Travel Counselor position that will provide an opportunity to grow into management. After over 25 years in the business, I'm ready to take the next step and take on new responsibilities.

My Career

I've worked as a Travel Consultant for over 25 years and have enjoyed it all.  I love the challenge presented by a multi-phase, multi-destination trip for a VIP client with exacting tastes.  Or helping a family plan the perfect vacation designed to give their children an experience they'll remember for a lifetime.  

My work involves making people happy, which makes me happy.  I especially enjoy providing outstanding customer service.  It's so gratifying to me when someone is pleasantly surprised during their trip by an upgrade or special service I was able to arrange for them.  I look for opportunities to make my client's travel experience special whether it's for business or pleasure.

I've developed a strong expertise with various GDS systems including Sabre and the Carlson Wagonlit Travel internal systems.  

My Experience

Much of my career has been focused on making travel arrangements for high profile corporate accounts, executives and company VIPs.  It's a special type of client that requires a different approach than planning a family vacation.  There are unique challenges that require focused attention to detail and great amount of care.

I've found myself arranging for travel that would accommodate a very tall gentleman, dietary needs and provide special perks while ensuring the itinerary was the most cost and time efficient schedule humanly possible.  But I love the challenge and the sense of accomplishment I get knowing my client is happy and taken care of.

The best part about my job, though, are my clients.  So many of them have taken the time to send an email to my supervisors to recognize the extra effort I went to for them.  In many cases it's resulted in a client becoming a loyal regular customer. 

My Wonderful Clients

Here are some examples of the type of feedback I get from my clients.  I really appreciate that they thought enough of the service I provided to make sure I knew how happy they were.  

From St Jude Medical sent to my supervisor:

Denise,

I wanted to take a couple of minutes to let you know about the extra effort that Theresa gives me every time that I call to make reservations for the VPs that I work with. Today alone she saved the AF division approximately 6K by going the extra mile to investigate the use of certificates to get business class ticket for the price of coach fares for 2 VPs. This is not the first time that Theresa has gone above and beyond what she would need to do to make sure that the arrangements for the VPs is just what they want (sometimes not an easy task). I have had to deal with a lot of international travel lately and I know that when I call Theresa it will be taken care of and we will get the best schedule and price available to us. Clint Schneider, just one of the VPs I work for is 6'10" tall and I know there have been several times where she watches his ticket to wait for the proper seat assignment or upgrade.

I don't know if you have a program to offer special acknowledgement for employees, but I feel Theresa deserves recognition for the service she provides to me and other SJM employees. We don't say thank you enough.

-Deb E.

From Qualcomm corporate account clients:

Theresa

Thank you very much for arranging for the recent RT Business Class upgrades on BA as well as the opportunity to use the BA Terrace Lounge here in SAN and at LH. They were really very pleasant surprises and much appreciated. ft was nice to stand at the check-ln counter and hear the magic words-"Oh you have been upgraded! " f am sure you had to work four miracles because I know from personal experience that upgrades and lounge

privileges are very hard to come by these days. Your courtesy and effort made up for the really lousy weather in the Netherlands. It is always raining, just about to rain or just finished raining.

Again Thank you and I fook forward to doing business with you again.

-Michael C.

...When I began at Qualcomm 4 years ago I used Balboa Travel, but after continuous mistakes on their part I started using Maritz.  I'm happy to say that I haven't had any problems since using your company, but like I said before, I always make my travel arrangements with Theresa.  She is always friendly, knowledgeable and helpful and I never have to worry about mistakes....

-Dallas N.

I work for Qualcomm and frequently use Balboa travel to book travel

alrangements for several employees. I wanted to let you know what a fantastic job Theresa has done booking arrangements and taking care of all my travel needs. She is very quick to return phone calls and email which is much appreciated. She is very attentive and always goes-above and beyond to try and get us the best deals. Theresa takes a very positive approach to her job which makes it easy to communicate

with her. I am glad that Theresa is one ofthe agents taking care of Qualcomm.

-Jennifer

And my supervisor's response:

HiJennifer,

Thank you so much for this wonderful email about Theresa. She is a great team player and is a dedicated senior agent on the Qualcomm team at Balboa . I am so glad to hear that she does a great job with your travelers; she is a very special lady who amazes me with her always cheerful attitude. I have shared your email with the team and have also forwarded it to our upper management at Balboa. I really appreciate your taking the time to send me a note about Theresa, and will keep it on her file.

Thank you for your continued support of Balboa and for this wonderful note. You just made our day.

Best regards,

Harini

From a Maritz client:

Teresa told me that she has +/- 15 year's experience dealing wlth the job

she is currently handling. You can te1l from her long experience how much

she has l-earned to handfe customers. She's awesome. . .

Maritz & Theresa are the best travel team ever.

-Indra E.

From a client survey conducted by Maritz: 

Theresa,

The recent survey that Jenny Burns sent to her travelers asked them to recognize an agent that had provided outstanding service. I have attached a copy of the comments

that referred to you. These comments were taken exactly as they were entered on the survey - there are many spelling and grammatical errors, and some incomplete sentences, but the comments are exactly as they appeared. Please let me know if you have any questions - thank you.

Teresa - she is the only one I know if I get everything will be oK. She is experienced, follows through and knows what she is doing

Teresa Schoen - She has helped me in a most effective way in the past. I enjoy working with her.

Teresa Schoenbaum. I stick with her as she now know's the particularities of one of my main travelers.

Teresa, always goes the extra and very patient with our demands. 

Theresa - Always provides excellent advice and attempts to go the extra mile

Theresa Edwards. outstanding service. Extremely knowledgable and competent. Hands-on. I love to work with her.

Theresa has been very helpful. I usually request her.

I enjoy the work I do because I find fulfillment in helping people by providing excellent service.  The sense of accomplishment and pride it gives me is what keeps me in the travel industry.  

While I'm looking for new opportunities, I'm very excited about the possibilities the future holds.  If you're looking for a dedicated Travel Counselor that will provide a high standard of service, keep customers loyal and bring new clients to you, I think you've found her.  Contact me, I'd love to hear about the opportunities your company has to offer.

Education

Saddleback College, Mission Viejo, CA

Real Estate Curriculum