u/kicker-gerunds5

I hope this helps someone here grab this opportunity. The role is a travel "specialist" at Velocity Black. Capital One acquired the company in 2024. Your best chance is probably to apply directly through Velocity Black's site, although I'm pretty sure the job is also listed on Capital One's careers page and possibly LinkedIn too.

The base salary is $76k USD, but after 4 years I had reached $94k. With bonuses, I made $112k last year. The benefits were also very good. They covered $610 a month of my health insurance, and I paid $30 a month out of pocket, including dental and vision.

The company has about 145 people, and there are 9 people on the travel team. The culture was honestly one of the best parts of the job. No work after hours, people are professional but also friendly, and meetings only happen when they're necessary, usually 1 or 2 per week. The manager of the 9-person travel team is excellent and didn't constantly monitor people.

I learned the whole job while working there without any travel background, but since I started there, the bar has gotten higher, and now you'll probably need some experience in travel, hospitality, concierge, or luxury customer service. The clients are wealthy to ultra-wealthy, and there are also a few well-known names in there. In general, you're part researcher and part customer service rep. Clients send messages asking for travel-related recommendations like hotels, restaurants, flights, villas, private transfers, yachts, and so on. Then you do research, compare options, and send them a polished message with details/photos/availability and anything else that helps. After you've been doing it for a while, you won't be starting from scratch every time because you'll remember the good properties and vendors in different cities.

They usually give you 3-5 hours per task, so there can be a lot of downtime. In the quiet months, I might have around 1-3 hours of actual work during a 9-hour shift. In the busy season, which is about 5 months split between summer and winter, I was usually working the full shift and sometimes dealing with stressful situations. The reason they give that much time is that the recommendations have to be genuinely good for the type of clientele they serve.

The only things you need are the MacBook and iPhone they send you. On the phone, I usually made 1-6 calls a day, most of them around 2-25 minutes per call. Not usually with clients, more with hotels, tour operators, restaurants, transportation companies, and similar vendors.

Unfortunately, they only hire people based in the US, and you can't relocate outside the US while working there. Your chances will probably be better if you're on the West Coast, in Alaska, or in Hawaii because that's the shift/time zone they're replacing. They want someone quickly because the upcoming rush is close.

I genuinely loved my team, and I hope this helps them find someone good. It's a solid job; I'm just moving on to another opportunity.

I've been at this job for almost three years. I deliver my work on time, take on extra projects whenever someone leaves - and that happens more than it should - and cover the gaps without making a fuss. I'm drained, but I kept showing up and carrying on because I cared. Or I thought I cared.

My manager came into the call acting cheerful. Then he said: "Your work is good and consistent, but I'd like to see a little more positive energy from you."

I mean, excuse me? I've been running on cold brew and panic for weeks, and in the end it turns out my attitude is what needs fixing.

I told him: "Honestly, I feel really burnt out from the extra work that keeps piling up."

He laughed. He laughed. Then he said: "We're all under pressure right now. You just have to keep going and get through it. Try to see it as a learning opportunity."

That was the moment I felt something in me crack a little. I wasn't sobbing or anything, but my eyes teared up, and for some reason that made the whole situation even more humiliating. Then he leaned in and said: "Hey, don't take it personally. It's just constructive feedback."

I wanted to disappear from my chair. How am I supposed to answer to feedback that basically means I'm not smiling enough while doing the work of several people?

I left the meeting feeling smaller than I have in a long time. And the worst part is that I found myself apologizing to him for getting upset.

I don't know. Maybe I'm making too big a deal out of it. Or maybe all this workplace empathy talk only exists until someone's burnout becomes inconvenient and awkward.

Has anyone else had a review that felt less like feedback and more like an emotional sucker punch from the side?