Interview scorecard template

Personalized Travel Planner interview scorecard

Evaluate Personalized Travel Planner candidates across 4 weighted areas: craft of the service, client care, standards and hygiene, and commercial awareness. Craft of the service leads at 35%, so probe how they build itineraries: GDS or Sabre use, Travefy or TravelJoy tooling, multi-leg routing, visa timing, DMC and hotel contacts they book. Use the rubric to compare role-specific evidence consistently.

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TL;DR
For craft of the service, look for evidence the candidate walks through a real 14 day multi-country itinerary, naming carriers, ground handlers, fare rules and the supplier they called personally. For client care, look for evidence the candidate describes specific clients by travel style, cites repeat and referral rates, and recounts rebooking a stranded family within hours. Apply the written 1–5 anchors to every answer, record the evidence behind each rating, and use the factor weights to reach a consistent overall assessment.
Complete evaluation framework

What to assess and how to score it

Review the evidence signals before interviewing. Then use the anchored descriptions—not instinct alone—to choose the score that best matches each answer.

01
Evaluation factor

Craft of the service

35% weight

Probe how they build itineraries: GDS or Sabre use, Travefy or TravelJoy tooling, multi-leg routing, visa timing, DMC and hotel contacts they book directly.

Evidence to listen for

  • Command of the treatments, techniques, or service standards the role requires
  • Holds current qualifications where regulated
  • Can explain contraindications, limits, or when to decline
  • Keeps skills current rather than coasting on training

Five-point scoring guide

1
Poor

Unsafe or unqualified; cannot explain their own technique.

2
Needs Improvement

Basic competence; gaps in contraindications or standards.

3
Satisfactory

Competent across the standard menu; less confident beyond it.

4
Very Good

Skilled and current; clear on limits and when to decline.

5
Excellent

Walks through a real 14 day multi-country itinerary, naming carriers, ground handlers, fare rules and the supplier they called personally.

02
Evaluation factor

Client care

30% weight

Assess how they read a client brief: budget honesty, pace preferences, dietary or mobility needs, and how they handled a trip disrupted mid-journey at 2am.

Evidence to listen for

  • Reads what a client actually wants versus what they asked for
  • Handles a complaint without defensiveness or capitulation
  • Maintains discretion and appropriate boundaries
  • Clients ask for them by name

Five-point scoring guide

1
Poor

Dismissive of clients; boundaries or discretion are a concern.

2
Needs Improvement

Task-focused; complaints escalate rather than resolve.

3
Satisfactory

Good with straightforward clients; less sure with difficult ones.

4
Very Good

Strong client rapport with repeat requests and calm complaint handling.

5
Excellent

Describes specific clients by travel style, cites repeat and referral rates, and recounts rebooking a stranded family within hours.

03
Evaluation factor

Standards and hygiene

20% weight

Check booking accuracy discipline: passport and visa validity checks, ATOL or IATA obligations, insurance disclosure, deposit deadlines, and how they avoid name-mismatch ticketing errors.

Evidence to listen for

  • Treats sanitation, preparation, and turnaround as non-negotiable
  • Keeps the space to standard when nobody is checking
  • Knows the regulations that apply and follows them
  • Reports a problem rather than working around it

Five-point scoring guide

1
Poor

Casual about hygiene or preparation standards.

2
Needs Improvement

Meets standards when supervised only.

3
Satisfactory

Reliable standards; occasional lapses under time pressure.

4
Very Good

Standards hold under pressure and without supervision.

5
Excellent

Names their pre-departure checklist, error rate, and a near miss caught before ticketing, plus the compliance rules they work under.

04
Evaluation factor

Commercial awareness

15% weight

Test grasp of margins: commission versus planning fee models, supplier override deals, preferred consortium benefits like Virtuoso, and average trip value they carry.

Evidence to listen for

  • Understands how the business makes money from their time
  • Recommends and rebooks without pressuring
  • Manages a schedule and turnaround to keep utilisation up
  • Handles retail or upsell honestly

Five-point scoring guide

1
Poor

No commercial awareness, or pushes sales at the client's expense.

2
Needs Improvement

Passive on rebooking and recommendations.

3
Satisfactory

Reasonable rebooking; scheduling sometimes loose.

4
Very Good

Strong rebooking and utilisation without pressuring clients.

5
Excellent

Quotes average booking value, fee structure they defend to clients, and consortium or supplier commissions they actively negotiated upward.

Evidence-led prompts

Interview questions for a Personalized Travel Planner

Use these prompts to surface evidence for the weighted factors above and compare candidates against the same role-specific criteria.

  1. 01

    What experience do you have planning bespoke trips for paying clients?

  2. 02

    Which destinations do you know well enough to plan without research?

  3. 03

    What kinds of trips have you planned, and which suit you best?

  4. 04

    How do you choose accommodation for a client rather than for your own taste?

  5. 05

    How do you plan transport and connections across a multi-stop itinerary?

See the complete Personalized Travel Planner question set
Put this rubric to work

Score every candidate against the same standard

Add these weighted factors to Hirevire and let AI evaluate recorded answers against your rubric.

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