BIRTH OF A COMPANY

CHAPTER 20. ACCESSIBLE TOURISM III

2008-12-20T12:38:00.001+01:00

Once anyone decides to build a new construction, first of all he has to get a valid building permit which has to be supervised by the Municipal Technical Services in order to be approved. This is the most difficult part of the whole process, because you will experience the unsuitable town-planning legislation, being affected by three different laws with different development. As regards accessibility, on one side, there is a general National legislation about construction and another specific one, recent to be in force, named Building Technical Code (CTE); on the other side, there is a profuse regional legislation due to competences assumed by the Autonomous Governments in each Spanish region. Furthermore, each particular city or village has its own particular laws that can be applied. All this laws’ mix-up becomes in an endless pilgrimage window to window trying to conciliate many resolutions that sometimes offer different duties for the same matter. As a result of this “law-shake”, one person who decides to create a new touristic resource is never sure at all about the accessibility he offers in his facilities. After all this approval process, there is another question to be considered: the way construction companies carry out their job and respect the original project. Very often, a good design can be ruined by a bad execution.

CHAPTER 19. ACCESSIBLE TOURISM II

2008-12-15T13:16:00.002+01:00

First of all, it’s important to distinguish every disability and learn the way to name each one correctly. We can’t refer to people with disabilities like “disabled person”, because they are not disabled, they have a disability. That’s why the correct term is “person with disability” or “person with a challenge” (visual challenge, hearing challenge, mobility challenge or reduced mobility …). This is a subtle difference, but it’s important to start to change the way people think about disability.
Recognizing that every kind of disability has its own specific characteristics which impede people to get full accessibility, there are however some common actions which can ensure a high level of accessibility for the highest percentage of this community. There is no doubt that the main difficulties are those related to architectural barriers and signposting both indoor and outdoor, however it’s relatively easy to adapt the way of building in order to allow an universal access which becomes in an improvement for everybody. Against many people think about, money is not the main problem. Building an accessible environment is not much more expensive than not to do it. Many times it's just a matter of willingness.

CHAPTER 18. PROFESSIONAL OR NOT

2008-12-11T13:24:00.001+01:00

Nowadays tourism has to face many problems, like the economical crisis, fuel prices, air fares, weather conditions, social riots and more. Most part of those events is not under control of the tourism worker. However, there is a question that bothers people more than any other one: employees who don’t work in a professional way. This appears to be a minor problem compared to others, but if you think that the only contact you’ll have with the company which provides you any service is through this inefficient employee, the matter becomes more important. You can see this kind of workers everywhere in tourism places and their behavior is really harmful for tourism industry. I’ve noticed this kind of people is found often in small family companies, like rural or snow houses and hotels. In some of these lodges, it’s usual they change your reservations depending on their needs, without any respect to the books they’ve made before. It happens sometimes that you book for two nights, you have the booking confirmed, and after the confirmation, you receive a call, trying to force you to book for one o two more extra nights without previous notice, and without any other reason than “because I’m the manager and if you don’t like it, I don’t care, that’s just the way it is”. Of course they have the right to establish the minimum amount of nights they want to be booked, but always in advance, not after the booking is confirmed. Worst of all, there is no effective way to complain about those abuses but to look for another place and don’t play the game with this kind of business men.

CHAPTER 17. ACCESSIBLE TOURISM I

2008-12-05T10:00:00.001+01:00

Past week, I participated in a course about Accessible Tourism, sponsored by Turgalicia and taught by Predif, an organization with no profit motive in mind, dedicated to promote the quality of life to people with disability. To a person like me, who didn’t know the problems that people with any disability have to face every day, was a way to become aware about the difficulties they find daily in their life. We did a simple test: I tried to walk around a square garden with a black mask, and even with a person by my side guiding me, it was incredibly difficult and the feeling of insecurity was brutal. That’s why I think it’s necessary to throw away all the prejudices and get conscience about how accessibility is the best solution for all of us. Even if you don’t agree with this statement, just think: at any time in your life you can be injured in an accident, you can be sick, you will walk pushing a baby-trolley and, that’s for sure, you’ll grow old. In every one of these situations, you are temporarily a person with disability, and you will appreciate accessible buildings, sidewalks, doors, stairs, parking places, toilets, transports, etc… Furthermore all this measures are directly related and conditioning tourism.
Accessibility involves many different sides, in many levels. There is a legal framework, there are different needs depending on the kind of disability, sometimes hard to conciliate, and finally, there are individuals, each one of them with its own special needs. I think this is an important remark. A person with disability is not a kind of person, is an individual, and as an individual must be considered.

CHAPTER 16. WORKING AS A TRAVEL AGENT

2008-11-21T13:42:00.001+01:00

Travel agent job is really interesting. You get information daily about destinations, offers, last minute opportunities and sometimes you can get almost free or very cheap trips. It’s very important to know how to manage customers, and to transmit them all this information. Sometimes, customers have no idea about what they want to do or where they want to go. All they say is something like “I want to make a trip…” and it seems they are expecting you to give them the tickets. At this point, you think, “of course, that’s because we are here, but telling me where do you want to go should help…” but you can’t use such a direct and ironical sentence. Actually, if they knew where to go, they would ask for it at first time. You have to chat with them trying to guess their preferences, in order to reduce the number of possible destinations. At last, almost everybody wants the same: Caribbean coast, Spanish Islands, Tunisia or medium and far east. Fashion is a main factor of selection at the moment. This year, Tunisia and medium east have been the most demanded. One more year, Canary and Balearic Islands stand on the top of the preferred destinations. Caribbean is more expensive and people don´t like to go far from home in the middle of a crisis as the one we are living in. Other destinies, like New York, have become very expensive along these months, because the increase of fuel at the beginning of the year and the rising of the dollar rated to euro at the end. London, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Prague are always good places to visit, but we have a big problem in Galicia: almost ninety per cent of the international links have to connect with Madrid or Barcelona. Right now, Vigo only has an international flight to Paris. Furthermore, Air France and Air Europa have broken their agreement to join their operations up recently, and ticket prices have risen a lot (almost double than the price before the break). It means that the only way to leave Vigo is via Porto, or linking with Madrid or Barcelona, which increases the price of the trip in, sometimes, a 30%. A new fashion is growing up strongly: to spend a weekend at a spa, with lots of leisure time and the possibility of enjoying a peaceful environment, as well as you take care of your health and/or beauty. Many of these houses are situated in small villages, far from cities, giving you a full relaxing experience, allowing you to walk through forests and visiting picturesque places.
Summing-up, every customer needs something different, and to guess what it is, is one of the main abilities asked to a travel agent. It can make the difference between close a contract or not.

CHAPTER 15. SUMMER'S OVER

2008-10-27T19:40:00.001+01:00

The summer is over and here we are, back to school… Many things have happened along these months. The most important, related to this blog, is that the office is already open since July 15th, two months later than I expected, because all the paperwork at the Xunta Tourism Office was extremely slow. That means that we have lost all the summer season, and that is an important burden to the rise of the company. But as things passed can’t be changed, it’s better to look to the future and try to do our best. Sure this is not a good time to start with a company, because the big crisis we are involved in, but there are always opportunities, even in the worst moments, and we are working hard to find them.

CHAPTER 14. ONE WEEK LATER

2008-05-12T20:43:00.001+02:00

I’m back from Malaga after having finished the training course to learn how to manage a travel agency. We have learn a lot about the way a travel agency works, as well we have received marketing and motivational classes. It has been a very interesting and intense week. I have had the chance to meet other people who is in the same process than me, and I have find some friendly job mates. I have to say that we have spend a lot of time enjoying “Malaga’s nights”. If someone of you have ever been at the Pimpi’s tabern, you should know what I’m referring to.
But the week is over, and it’s time to come back to work in Vigo. This morning I have been visiting the office at the shopping centre. The painters were working inside, and the electrical supplies are almost finished. I think maybe next friday or monday the office will be completly finished.
The paperwork is also progressing. It is possible that all the documents will be at the Xunta register next monday or tuesday. Anyway, it is going to be difficult to open in June 9th, because paperwork takes at least four weeks.

CHAPTER 13. UNEXPECTED OVERTURN

2008-04-28T19:58:00.003+02:00

Last week, in chapter 12, everything related to staff selection process seemed to be solved, but last Friday, things changed in a radical way: two of the people I had selected, turned back their mind and decided they didn’t want the job, and I still need one more person to work. That means I have to start again with the process and the interviews. I have selected six new applicants, and next Wednesday will be the second chance. I hope there will be no more delays this time.
About the deed, it seems this is going to be the week when I get it back from the Business Register, but I don’t want to get my hopes so up because there is a long holiday since Thursday till Monday.
The last open matter, the refurbishment estimate for the premises, also seems to be ready for this week, maybe on Tuesday, as the contractor told me this afternoon, despite I tend to think it won’t be before Wednesday.

CHAPTER 12. MOVING FORWARD

2008-04-23T19:22:00.002+02:00

About the last friday applicants, I have just taken my decision. I have made my choice based on the human resources department’s reports and my own evaluation, and I have selected two people. One of them has experience as a tourism agent (she’s doing that job at present) and the other one is a tourism graduate looking for her first job. I think I have taken the right choice, but that is something nobody could know before the agency starts to work.
About the premises, yesterday (tuesday) I have been there with the building contractor to mesure the office and tell him the way I want the decoration, and tomorrow morning I will be there again with the electrician, to decide the number and location of the light spots, as well as the plugs for the rest of the stuff, phone and internet connections.
Finally, I have to go to Málaga University next month, May 4th, to take a short course about travel agencie’s management, and I already have purchased my AVE ticket from Madrid to Málaga.

Things are moving forward, despite I'm still waiting for the deed's registration at Business Register.

CHAPTER 11. I GOT THE KEY

2008-04-16T20:15:00.002+02:00

Yesterday, I went to a meeting at the Shopping Centre head office in order to inspect the condition of the premises and its supplies (electricity, air conditioning) and to get the key. That means I have been given the office, and now it’s time to renovate and decorate it as a travel agency. It will be necessary to polish the floor, paint the walls and change and redistribute some light spots, before to place the furniture and the rest of items (computers, plasma TV, pictures). Next monday I will meet the building contractor to ask him for an estimate, and if we agree the price, I hope the works will be started in less than two weeks.

At the same time, next friday morning, I will interview the final applicants shortlist in a row, and I hope to find two people I would like for the job.

Once this two tasks will be finished, in adition with the company registration (the deed is still in the Business Register, and it probably will be there for two more weeks), it will be time to start the paperwork at the Xunta. June 9th still stands as opening date target.

CHAPTER 10. TIME-OUT WEEK

2008-04-08T19:47:00.003+02:00

This is a transition week. Once registration process and contracts are signed up and taking their course, it’s a good opportunity to dedicate time enough to close the staff recruitement. After considering the amount of CV received, I have done, with the help of the Main Office in Malaga, the very first selection. Now, there are about fifteen applicants selected and next week they have to pass a personal interview, in order to choose the best person for the job. All of them fulfil the requirements relating to degrees and job experience, and the decision is going to be difficult. I think it’s very important, when you have to work selling something directly to people, to have a positive attitude, to be enthusiastic, outgoing, respectful and to be able to smile a lot. This is important in every job, but it’s even more important when you work in a travel agency, because you are selling something expensive wich people can’t touch or see, and the final picture that customers are going to retain is the one they had received from the people who sold them the travel.

CHAPTER 9. CONSIDERING APPLICANTS

2008-04-01T12:39:00.002+02:00

The selection process is getting started this week. The job offert apeared last sunday in Faro de Vigo newspaper and I’m receiving a lot of CV each day. That means the decision is going to be difficult. I will consider all the CV received till next saturday, and start with the first sifting next week. If someone takes more than a week to answer to a job offer, I think he or she must not be really interested in the job. I also have to say that I’m a bit surprised, because I put the job offer at the Tourism notice board in the UNED faculty in Pontevedra last wednesday (march 26th), and I have got just only one CV. I’d prefer to offer the opportunity to work in a job related to tourism to somebody who should be currently studying tourism. However it seems there are no people interested in that kind of job, wich is strange considering the fact that for 3rd grade students I think it’s also a chance to get some credits as a part of the final graduation project.

CHAPTER 8. OPENING DATE TARGET

2008-03-24T19:32:00.001+01:00

Back from Easter holidays, and back to work. Acording to the Shopping Center contract conditions, the limit date to opening is June 30th , but I expect to be open before that date. It depends basically in how much time could need the Xunta Tourism Department to approve the file and finish all the paperwork. Theoretically, they say that the whole process usualy takes 45 days, so thinking in a two months gap would be realistic. Getting all the documents ready and registered at the Xunta Office in April’s first week, and taking into account that there are two long weekends in May, the first estimated target date should be June 10th.

Notice that at the bottom of this page there is a link, “Subscribe to: Posts”, wich allows you to receive in your “Favoritos-Fuentes” Internet Explorer folder the new posts in the blog, usually once a week. It’s useful because if you are interested in this project, you don’t need to guess when a new post should be placed, you will always get the the latest version.

CHAPTER 7. IT'S OFFICIAL

2008-03-14T16:32:00.000+01:00

Finally, the contract has been signed up. A littler later than I expected, but it’s just done. In a few days, it will start the next phase. It includes final negociation and signing of the contract with the tour operator, and collecting all the documents needed to get the tourism agency license.
One of the main things I have to face next is the agency staff selection process. After the Easter holidays, I will put an advertisement in local paper (Faro de Vigo) asking for applicants.
As an excepcion, and I also think as an advantage to people who read this blog and should be interested in apply for the job, here is an advance:

The agency will be placed in Vigo (Plaza Elíptica Shopping Centre), and in order to cover all the timetable, I will need two people:

PROFILE ONE

Tourism Graduate
Experience in travel agency (one year should be enough)
Full time contract – 40 hours a week (at first, for one year; after that, it should be permanent)

PROFILE TWO

Tourism student
Part time contract - 20 hours a week (same conditions)

Notice that the agency will be placed in a shopping centre, so usually the working week is from monday to saturday. In adition, there are 8 sunday’s opening by year wich will be paid as an extra.

If someone is interested, please, send a mail with your CV, as complete as possible, to:

ontripviaxes@gmail.com

In the e-mail field “Asunto”, indicate “Ref.: BJ”. I will answer all the applicants.

CHAPTER 6. OFFICE, ALMOST DONE

2008-03-05T12:40:00.001+01:00

Today I’ve reached an agreement about the renting contract with the shopping centre’s manager. The contract, as all shopping centre contracts I’ve always seen and signed, is really strict for small companies, and deep inside, you have the impression of doing a deal with the devil. Anyway, the contract’s sign next week would mean the end of phase one. I’ll get the office evacuated by the actual tenant in April 15th, and the opening deadline to my office will be June 1st, despite is possible I’ll be opened at the end of May, after the exams. Time enough to arrange the office according to my standard and brand image of the group.
Then phase two, the process to enter the company in the Business Register office, will be ready to begin. In order to do it, I’ve already asked at the Treasury Deppartment for the temporary N.I.F., I’ve deposited the 60.101,21€ required to found a travel agency in the bank, and probably on friday next week I’m going at the notary public to give him the bank certificate and sign the constitution deed. I think the whole procedure should take a month.
Once I’ll get the Register’s certificate, and the rest of documents would been collected, It will start phase three: to process the travel agency commercial activity licence at the Xunta de Galicia. At the same time, I’ll start the employees selection process, to save time. I have to hire two people, one of them full time and another part time. Even though I will talk about it in another “chapter” later.

CHAPTER 5. UNEXPECTED DELAY

2008-02-28T13:05:00.001+01:00

It seemed everything was clear to sign the contract, but in the last moment, the owner tried to modify some of the clauses and I refused to allow that. So, the pact is broken, and I’m on the search again. However, I think I’ve been lucky with this change, because I’ve found another office inside a shopping mall, the Plaza Elíptica Shopping Centre, and despite the prices are a little more expensive, the office is much better placed, with a bigger amount of people walking around and lots of complementary services, as security crew, cleaning staff, parking, restaurants, bars, coffee places, shops and cinemas. Furthermore, I’ve been searching in the internet news about the centre and there is also a negociation with the FNAC to install a 3.000 metres shop inside it, so the perspectives are quite good. Tomorrow morning, I’m going to have a meeting with the manager to stablish the contract’s clauses, and we will start to prepare all the documents needed to sign in a few days.

CHAPTER 4. LITTLE BY LITTLE

2008-02-22T20:25:00.007+01:00

Four weeks later, finally I’ve reached an agreement, not a contract yet, to let an office. Of course, I haven’t been looking for the office along these whole weeks. It was exams time, and I had to study. Furthermore, after the exams, I took a five days trip to London, a town I always wanted to go. I have to say, despite it’s not the object of this blog, that it is an incredible town, with a lot of places to visit and lots of things to do. I enjoyed my time very much, and I also took some good pictures, my favourite hobby. You can watch some of them linking through "My Travel Pictures" section, on the right column of this page. I hope I could go back in October for another few days.
Back to our subject, the office I’ve found is well placed, with a reasonable amount of middle-upper class people living around, close to a comercial mall and cinemas, very central and with an affordable parking in front of it. It’s square shaped, 5 meters shop window, and the best of all, it’s almost ready to use, wich means I don’t have to spend money in repairs. Next Wednesday or Thursday, I hope we´ll sign the hire contract.

CHAPTER 3. KEEP ON SEARCHING

2008-02-22T18:42:00.008+01:00

January 15, 2008

Second week looking for an office. Now it’s time to organize the search. I’ve divided the Vigo map in five areas where I’d like to put the office, and I’m triying to scan one area each day, looking for empty offices and visiting all the estate agencies in the area. Yesterday, in zone one, I have had nine interviews with different state agents, and there was nothing interesting to consider. Today is a typical awful, rainy and strong windy day in Vigo, and I just have visited only two estate agencies. I have been offered a posible office, but I’m not very confident about, because the street is too hidden. Tomorrow I’m going to take a look at it, and of course, I’ll keep on searching in area two.

CHAPTER 2. FIRST STEPS

2008-02-22T18:36:00.007+01:00

January 12, 2008

Second step. Once the name of the company is registered, and the company’s deed is ready to start the legal procedures, in orden to be fully operative, it’s neccessary to find a place to install the headoffice. Usually, an average travel agency needs a business office between 40 and 60 square metres , enought to place three or four work desks, with a wide window to place the advertising displays with trip’s offers, and more recently, to install a big 42-50 inches plasma screen, were people can watch movies about destinations and last minute offers. It’s important to select a good location, in a street with an enought amount of people passing trhough, walking as well as by car or bus. I’m just in the middle of this process, and I can say it’s not easy to find the right place. I’ve seen this week at least 5 offices, and none of them was good enought according to my requirements. Next week I’ve arranged right now, 3 more visits. I hope to find the right place before the end of january.

CHAPTER 1. WHY DO I DO THIS?

2008-02-22T18:29:00.009+01:00

December 21, 2007

In the begining of 2007, I decided to perform a deep change my life. It was a very well thought decision: I was thinking about it for two years. Those changes I thought about, concerned to my personal life as well as my professional one. I was working in my own videogames and computer’s company for 13 year’s, since late 1993. It was my first company, and it has meant a very good period in my life. However, I don’t like videogames yet, and I’m very tired of working in big shopping mall’s. In June, I’ve made my choice. I sold my old company, with a good profit, and after a few sabbatical months, I’m ready to start over. I would like to found my own travel agency. I like to travel, I like to visit other countries and cultures. I like tourism. These are also the main reasons because I’ve started to study this course. Now, I’m in the begining of the process to create another company. Today, I’ve got the company’s name, Ontrip S.L, registered at the Mercantile Register, as well as the web page name, www.ontrip.es (the page is still under construction, it doesn’t work yet). That’s why I could say that today is the birth date of my new company. I hope in three or five months my travel agency will be open.