Margot Windenburg is the Senior Sales Manager (North America) for AAT Kings and has worked in tourism focusing on Australia and New Zealand for the better part of 20 years. She has held roles in the retail, wholesale and tour operator side of the travel industry and has traveled to the South Pacific 30+ times and has a great passion for the destination. Her favorite destination in Australia is sunny Tropical North Queensland and in New Zealand, the adventure capital of Queenstown.
What is your favorite travel memory?
I've always had an affinity for the challenges and enjoyment of traveling alone. At 17 years old, I graduated from high school and used my hard-earned babysitting money to purchase a train ticket. I traveled around the US for 6 weeks, solo. I always revert back to this trip and memory since it's the one that shaped my future and my career in travel and tourism. I then took my first trip to Australia alone at 21 and spent 3 weeks traveling the east coast.
The thing I love the most about traveling on my own is how it forces you to meet people you would never meet if you were traveling with another person. In my current role, I spend 50% of my time traveling, most of which is on my own. I can't tell you the number of interesting conversations I've had, and people I've met that I never would have otherwise. There is a growing trend for young women to travel on their own, I highly recommend it: it helps develop interpersonal skills, builds confidence, and creates unexpected memories.
How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?
I've always had a lot of respect and admiration for AAT Kings. Having worked in South Pacific tourism, they are one of the most well-respected brands in this region. The company is owned by a larger parent company, The Travel Corporation, a company that believes in sustainable tourism, equality for women in the workplace, and employee benefits including both educational and travel. I've been with the company for just over 2 years now; some of the changes and growth I've had personally has been in learning and implementing CSP (consultative selling process), and also in turn my confidence in giving presentations to large groups of people that are both engaging and educational.
If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?
I just recently returned from Australia, and something I had the opportunity to experience that I hadn't previously is our Uluru Field of Light Sunrise Tour. This half day tour takes you to see Bruce Munro's art installation alongside Uluru of 50,000 solar powered lights. There are pathways and places to explore throughout the Field of Light, I found it to be an incredibly unique and powerful way to experience sunrise in this amazing part of Australia.
What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?
The parent company of AAT Kings, The Travel Corporation, has a not-for-profit organization called The TreadRight Foundation, created as a joint initiative between The Travel Corporation’s (TTC) family of brands.
Travel is an incredible gift. It has the ability to open our eyes to the unique cultures and spellbinding beauty of the natural world. But with this gift comes a responsibility – to protect the world as we know it. TreadRight has a positive impact on the people and communities AAT Kings visits, to protecting wildlife, giving back and caring for the planet we call home.
This is something that makes AAT Kings unique and makes me proud to work for them.
What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?
I feel that a successful company is built on the employees that make it successful. Believing in the employees, supporting them and giving them the tools they need to make them succeed in their roles. In the travel industry, I believe there is a secondary factor to this as well, that the people who make up the company are also passionate about travel and the world around them.
