Collett’s Mountain Holidays are looking for outdoor enthusiasts with hill walking experience to act as Walk Advisors for our guests in the Italian Dolomites. We are looking for friendly, polite, enthusiastic, organized, focused & resourceful people for the summer of 2022.
Please note:
- For Italy, we can only employ EU Nationals or UK Nationals who have residency in Italy.
- However, we are also looking for a couple or a pair of friends in the Swiss Alps for the same
job – for these positions we can accept UK & EU Nationals.
If you are an outdoor enthusiast with a passion for walking in the mountains then this is a once-in-a-lifetime working opportunity in the spectacular Val Badia in the heart of the Italian Dolomites. Working with Collett’s in the mountains is a lifestyle, not just a job. It is essential that you are a people person as much as an outdoor person. At heart, this is very much a hospitality job, and your day-to-day input and dealings with your guests will be what transforms their holiday from a good one into an outstanding one. Looking after people on holiday comes with its challenges, of course, so you also need to be understanding, patient and very resourceful.
The job would consist of three main roles: Host, Local Expert & Resort Representative.
- Host: The 24/7, hospitality element of the job is key to you and your guests enjoying the whole experience. You would take a genuine interest in your guests, understand their needs and ambitions for their holiday, and give freely of your time and personality to get to know and help them. You need to be happy chatting to people for hours on end!
- Local Expert: You would get to know up to 30 local mountain day walks (which we have documented) to be able to describe them to your guests in great detail, so they can choose the routes most suitable for them. This entails walking the mountain routes with a teammate, memorizing the key points to describe, and being able to confidently talk about them to you your guests. For the first half of the season, this would take up 3 or 4 days of your week, building up your local knowledge as quickly as you can. For an outdoor enthusiast, this should be a pleasure and not a chore.
- Resort Representative: Helping and advising our guests day-to-day with all other areas of their holiday. Liaising with our office for Arrivals Reports, dealing with issues, solving problems, acting as a rep on airport transfers coaches once a week, helping with some domestic & admin jobs in our Chalet Hotels – such as making sandwiches for packed lunches, serving dinner, eating dinner with guests as a host every other night, serving at the bar during office hour. Helping with guest arrivals, online registration, taking PDQ payments when guests leave, helping to manage a bookings.com system during quieter periods of the season etc.
A Typical Day
The morning starts around 7 pm with you helping to make sandwiches for guests who have ordered a packed lunch for the day. You would then help yourself to your own breakfast from the buffet whilst being available to answer any questions your guests might need before they go out for the day. You might help take PDQ payments for a departing guest leaving that morning and help with some other admin jobs that might need doing.
In the evening we invite guests to the hotel bar for a drink before dinner, for what is known as ‘Office Hour’. In a very sociable atmosphere, you would help your guests to make their walking plans for the next day, using suggested routes and itineraries which Collett’s has put together to showcase the best walks in the area. You would also be helping guests who may want to book other alpine activities in the area, with information about costs and location, and actually making bookings on their behalf. These activities include paragliding, white water rafting, horse riding, via Ferrata or climbing with local guides, etc.
At Office Hour you will also field a host of other questions, requests, or problems that guests may have, such as: booking a restaurant, accommodation issues, problems with a hire car hire, information about local shops, pharmacies and doctor’s surgery opening times, etc. On occasion will accompany guests to the Doctors in the village if they have a health issue or injury, to give them as much support as you can in what can be a stressful situation.
After Office Hour you would help to serve dinner and clear plates between courses. Every other evening you would serve and also join your guests for dinner, as a dinner host, enjoying a three-course meal with them.
After dinner, you would help to clean and tidy the dining room and set up for breakfast, and then head back into the bar to socialise with guests, perhaps serving drinks from the honesty bar which we run.
Whilst your mornings and evenings are generally busy, for the first few weeks of the season, a good chunk of your day will be needed to recce the local mountain walks to build up your knowledge. These walks range from 3 to 7 hours, and whilst some start from the door, many more require you to catch a local bus there and back. These ‘walk recces’ therefore need to be planned in detail, and not left to the last minute. They are an essential part of your job, and you would need to be out walking at least four days a week, even using your day off to recce too. At the end of the day’s walk, a quick shower and change of clothes and you are back in the chalet looking after your guests at Office Hour again.
Airport Transfers
At least once a week you would also be required to act as a representative on a coach to and from the airports in Venice, dropping off and picking guests up to bring them back to the Dolomites. This is a massively important task, as you will be trying to turn a functional journey into the start of people’s holidays. On your return to the chalet hotel, you would help your guests to settle in, register them online with the tourist office, and pass on essential information about their stay, etc. These are long days, often departing on a coach around 6 am and picking up from Venice around 3 pm, with a potential return to the resort at 7 pm!
Wage and Package
- A competitive monthly wage in the region of €1200 euros/month on an Italian Contract.
- Shared accommodation and full board provided, in a shared room with one other person in a shared apartment for 4.
- One full day off a week.
- Training and orientation in the resort before you start.
Essential Requirements
- You would need to have the right to work in Italy. EU Nationality & Passport – EU Work
Visa – or – UK Nationality with Residency in Italy prior to 1 st January 2021. You would be
employed on an Italian contract. - Good Mountain Walking / Hiking Experience, confident navigating with an outdoor map,
decent level of fitness. - Proof of Double Covid Vaccinations with European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved
Vaccines – EU COVID Travel Pass. - Excellent level of spoken & written English required.
- You would need to be available from 10th June until late September 2022.
Skills, Experience & Personality
- Friendly & warm personality.
- Hard-working, focused and resourceful.
- Supportive and empathetic Team player.
- Driving experience with a full UK or EU licence would be a bonus, but not essential.
Not included
- Travel to and from the Dolomites at the start and end of the season.
- Travel Insurance for the season.
Are you the one we are looking for? Apply now!
