THE CON TRÂU TIMES Issue 5 - May 2011
Inspirational Travel 1
THE CON TRÂU TIMES
Inside This Issue 1.
Joining the Buffalo Family
2.
Staff of the Month
3.
New Product Introduction
4.
BTA “CRAZY” Photo Contest on www.hervietnam.com
5.
Booming Training Activities in BT Vietnam
6.
Diary of a New Buffalo
7.
Mai Chau Trekking : Unforgettable
8.
BRS Update
9.
Feedback on what our staff members have been doing
10.
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Tip of t he mont h Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.
Henry Ford
Joining Buffalo tours Nguyen Thi Thu Hien – Ticketing Executive – BT Hanoi Vu Lan Phuong – Operation Executive – BT Hanoi Dao Thi Tuyet –Purchasing Manager – BT Hanoi Ho Thi Thu Thuy – PR & Marketing Executive – BTA Sai Gon Nguyen Thi Hien Thanh – Airport Representative cum Operation Executive – BT SGN Welcome to the Buffalo Tours team! Please join us in congratulating our new staff members on their positions at Buffalo Tours. We look forward to working with them in the future!
Leaving Buffalo Tours Nguyen Thu Hien – Ticketing Executive – BT Hanoi Bui Duc Thang – Travel Consultant – BTA Sai Gon Thank you for your contributions to Buffalo Tours and we wish you success in the future!
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THE CON TRÂU TIMES
STAFF OF THE MONTH – APRIL 2011 1. Ms. Huynh thi Thu Men - Travel Consultant BTA Sai Gon Ms Men is a Travel Consultant at BTA Saigon, mainly based at Renaissance Tour Desk. This month she has taken advantage of her long experience and understanding of her clients’ demand to proactively look for new products. She has used her time off to explore and inspect new potential products, has made a presentation to the rest of the team, ending up with a new SIC tour ready for sale. Her great achievement is being able to look further than the daily work, and very proactively participating in the development of our business. For this, I truly think she deserves the award for Best Employee of the Month 2. Ms. LE Nhat Anh THu - Operation Executive - BT- SNG Saigon Operation would like to nominate Ms. Le Nhut Anh Thu for her outstanding performance. Thu has been running the visa unit herself successfully with the revenue of VND31 million for Mar-11, and at same time has been handling smoothly Operation tasks including Fox, Flight Center, some Agent Sales accounts
3. Ms. Nguyen Thi Le Hang - GR Team Leader Group Reservation in BT Hanoi would like to nominate Ms. Nguyen Le Hang for effectively managing our new key account - Travelsphere. They appreciated Hang with her response to all all their requests is fast and always positive and prompt. The breakdown of trip cost Hang provided to Travelsphere was so thorough apparently they have never seen anything this good before. Her work is always accurate. Apparently, Travelsphere has trialled a few new suppliers for other areas of the world recently but have never experienced a transition so successful, and Hang plays a crucial role in this. 4. MR. Do Van HOi - Tour LEA DER I would like to nominate Mr. Do Van Hoi, TL as the staff of the month award as a result of his excellent performance and achievement for the “leader of the month” from The Adventure Company.
Inspirational Travel 3
Pan Hou
THE CON TRÂU TIMES
Village
H
idden in the hills of the North, Ha Giang is the last province in Vietnam to open its doors to tourism. With its striking scenery this province offers some of the most beautiful landscapes in Vietnam. Situated in between huge forests and towering mountains, Pan Hou Village is ensconced in the natural beauty of the area. The area is also renowned for the rich culture of the ethnic minorities that make the region their home. On a 4 day trek in the area you can witness this breathtaking scenery and meet the ethnic minorities yourself. On your first day enjoy lunch in Pan Hou village before you set off through the mountains and rice fields to the small Dao village of Nam Hong. A 3 hour walk will take you through some of Vietnam’s finest scenery and you will finish the day in a village populated by the Man Ta Pan ethnic group. Spend the night discovering the villagers’ traditions and stay in a home stay. In the morning rise and walk to the village of Ban Peo. This trek will take you through
4 Inspirational Travel
the thick forests of the area and well and truly ‘off the beaten track’. Walk through the ‘Sky Gate’ and end your day in a village populated by the Long Tunic Dao people, yet another of the minorities’ in the area. Sleep in a Dao house on stilts surrounded by the mountains and forest. Day 3 of the trip takes you to the village of Ta Phin. As you trek through the area’s dense forests you will be shown the ‘Shan Tea trees’ that grow in the area. This 5-6 hour trek ends in Ta Phin, which is populated by the Man Ya Pan people. You will spend the night in a homestay. On your last day you will spend the day walking through the bamboo forests of the area as you head back to Pan Hou village, populated by the Tay ethnic group. Upon your return to the village enjoy a traditional bath and massage to help you relax after the trek. Spend the night at the Pan Hou village hotel, before returning to Hanoi in the morning. Writen by: Graham Read (Product Development Manager- Marketing Dept. - BT Hanoi)
THE CON TRÂU TIMES
BTA “
CRAZY” PHOTO CONTEST ON WWW.HERVIETNAM.COM
BTA started in May its collaboration with the website www.hervietnam.com. Our first main marketing action has been to launch a photo contest, with 3 prizes per week over a period of 6 weeks. The mechanics are simple: all participants receive a 5% discount on tour packages purchased from BTA (excluding Ticketing). Each week 3 participants win a 1,000,000VND voucher for BTA services. At the end of the contest we will offer the final 3 winners 3 trips: to Cambodia, to Thailand and to Hong Kong. Participants can enter the contest by sending their “craziest” travel pictures. The weekly winners are selected by other users, while the final winners will be chosen by BTA. The contest will end on 20 June, so advise your friends to participate! Writen by: Pascale Herry (Travel Agency Manager - BTA Sai Gon)
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Booming Training Activities in BT Vietnam THE CON TRÂU TIMES
T
raining Activities are essential in any organization and Buffalo Tours is no exception. Training is the process whereby people can enhance their knowledge and skills to aid them in the performance of their jobs. The training activities may include both “hard” skills such as, how to use BRS effectively or how to write a professional letter in English. The activities may also include “soft” skills which mainly focus on development of customer services skills, organizational skills
6 Inspirational Travel
and also management skills. Strategies for the training plan are a clear and focused mission of Buffalo Tours. We are trying to design and implement effective training as well as learning and development strategies. A carefully planned strategy, aligned with our business goals, is vital for motivating, developing and retaining our staff. It also helps to show support for individual staff growth as well as for the strengthening of our company.
THE CON TRĂ‚U TIMES
Time Management & Planning Skills Course on 14th May, 2011 - BT Hanoi
What
do Training Activities do? Design and implement effective training as well as focus on learning and development strategies
Why
do we need Training? To improve the quality of our services and to support the development of both our frontline and back office staff
Successful Selling Skills HN+ HCM July: Team Building and Summer Trip for both HN + HCM 3 days Customer Service Skills in HN + HCM High impact presentation skill in HN August: Start of the 3rd MMBA
How
Who will get benefit from the Training Activities?
does it work? Our commitment to our staff satisfaction is backed up by unique and professional courses
Where does it take place?
The entire document related in all Training Courses can be viewed via the following link: http://sharepoint.buffalotours.com/training/default.aspx
All Buffalo Tours Members In BT Hanoi and BT HCMC
When?
From May – August 2011 May: Product introduction Time Management and Organization Skills HN+HCM English Course: Business Writing English Course General Business English Course June: Hard Skills for Operations Department kick off BRS & IT Training
Please come and join - fun to learn, learn for fun! Writen by: Nguyen Thu Huong (HR Executive- HR Deptment - BT Hanoi)
MMBA the Final Module on Leadership on 21-22May, 2011
Inspirational Travel 7
THE CON TRÂU TIMES
o l a f f u b w e n a f o y Diar I
t was exactly one week after my first working day at Buffalo Tours (BT) that I joined the fantastic orientation course with six other newcomers. What lay ahead of me was three days of training about our company and products. Since I am quite new to everything here, I had the very feeling that the course finished just in the blink of my eyes. Here is just a snapshot of my amazing time. 25 Apr 9:30 am: Anh Kiên in his warm-hearted and energetic face welcomed us with a very short speech (though he just came back the office from his trip to Phan Xi Pang with some buffaloes). Each of us had a chance of introducing briefly about ourselves. I talked about my feelings of the very first morning when I spent most of my time helping my marketing peers rearrange stuffs at a new “căn cứ quân sự”. Oh yeah, I was lucky enough to work in a brand new room having a window view overlooking “phố cổ Mã Mây”. 10am: Chi Hạnh guided us through our company policies such as travel scheme, annual leave, OT calculation etc. That knowledge is definitely necessary for me. However, what excited me the most was actually the cozy lunch with key managers awaiting us at a nearby restaurant. 12pm: We set off for “Viet kitchen”, a beautifully decorated restaurant located in Hanoi city centre. I totally indulged myself with great food, great chats with new colleagues.
26 Apr 10: 30 am: Anh Graham, my “sếp” delivered a fantastic presen-
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tation about BT’s products. I was particularly keen on stories about his favourite food in Cambodia that I had never heard before. I would have even enjoyed his talk much more with some animated games embedded in his content. 1:30 pm: Here comes the most inspiring presenter: bạn Thủy VET. She injected her enthusiasm into every single slice of her talk. It was often said among Buffalo community that our JB and JD have been infamous for its poor appearance and old age. However, Thuy always learned how to showcase positive sides of a negative story. 27 Apr 9am: We were always short of training time. This was the case even with the very last lecture of Anh Bách. He was the guy who came up the earliest but probably left our class the latest. Though all presenters were genuinely passionate and enthusiastic, at some points during the course I fell asleep (maybe after a fulfilling lunch :d). However, I truly appreciate all of the things I gained after three days. I got to know more about my company’s culture and my Buffalo house. Here marks the beginning of a brand new journey. Hooray… Written by: – Minh Yen (Marketing Executive – Marketing Dept)
u a h C Mai
e l b a t t e g fn or
U : g n i k k Tre
THE CON TRÂU TIMES
A
s usual, the Mai Chau trek is considered as one of the hot activities in the orientation training week for our newcomers. Participants are always so excited to join the trip and the most valuable thing they get out of the trip, is the unforgettable experience! For me personally, this was one of the most fantastic experiences that I have had in my life. To be able to join, share and love Mai Chau with “10 hot girls” Ms. Huong BTA, Huong – HR, Quynh, Dung, Tien, Trang, - Language Team, Linh, Yen and Hao will also be memorable. Thank to the orientation training week, we all had the chance to deeply understand further about the products of our company as well as the company spirit. Overall, we had an amazing time and developed a great team work spirit, that I am sure will continue on when we are working together at Buffalo Tours.
Mai Châu:
Hành trình Không thể quên Chuyến đi Mai Châu 2 ngày quả là cơ hội tốt cho nhân viên mới làm quen với nhau và trở nên thân thiết hơn. Tất cả mọi người đều rất háo hức và hăm hở và không ai muốn bỏ lỡ cơ hội này. Sáng 7 tháng 5, rất đúng giờ, tất cả tập trung trước văn phòng công ty. Ai nấy đều rất háo hức, ánh mắt long lanh, chuyện trò vui vẻ. Cả đoàn toàn là nữ (10 quý cô – chị Hương BTA, chị Hương – HR, Dung, Quỳnh, Tiến, Trang, Trang (Pháp), Linh, Yến và Hảo) và 1 chàng ca-ve (cách gọi thân mật cho anh HDV) và 1 chàng “trai bao” (lái xe) bắt đầu “cưỡi ngựa” đến Mai Châu. (chúng tôi có ý kiến là không nên dùng cái xe này vì nó sóc quá). Suốt hành trình 140km, không lúc nào là tiếng
trò chuyện và tiếng cười ngớt trên xe mặc dù có mấy cô nàng mê ngủ đã khò khò từ lúc nào. Bỏ lại thành phố ồn ào sau lưng, chúng tôi thẳng tiến đến Mai Châu. Ai đã từng đi qua dốc Cun, dốc Mường Khến đều phải trầm trồ trước vẻ đẹp của thung lũng. Khoảnh khắc nắng đang rơi trên thung lũng, khung cảnh yên bình của bản làng quá đẹp đến nỗi không chân phiêu du nào có thể hững hờ đi qua mà không ghi lại khoảnh khắc tuyệt vời này. Từ trên đèo nhìn xuống, thung lũng hiên ra thật thơ mộng và thành bình. Nào là màu xanh ngắt của rừng, của những thửa ruộng đang thì con gái, của hồ nước tương phản bầu trời trong xanh
Inspirational Travel 9
THE CON TRÂU TIMES
với những đám mây trắng nhởn nhơ thật làm xiêu lòng người. Bất giác muốn ở lại đây luôn để ngắm cho thỏa con mắt.
như gia đình bác chủ nhà tên Sình ở Hang Kia, chúng tôi có những bức ảnh tuyệt vời mà tôi dám chắc rằng nhiều người sẽ ghen tị khi xem.
Cảnh đẹp, con người cũng đẹp, những nụ cười thân thiện đón tiếp chúng tôi từ đầu bản khiến cho những người khách lạ thấy ấm lòng, không phải là chuyến đi đến nơi xa, mà giống như bạn đang trở về quê hương của chính mình vậy. Với nhiều người, hình ảnh nhà sàn và những bộ trang phục thổ cẩm do chính các thôn nữ tự tay dệt nên thật lạ nhưng cũng thật đặc biệt. Chúng tôi đã không nghĩ hành trình này lại gian nan đến thế nhưng có đi mới biết: con người thật nhỏ bé trước thiên nhiên nhưng với sự nỗ lực và cố gắng, chúng ta sẽ chinh phục được những đỉnh cao, được thiên nhiên. Mỗi người đã tự khám phá ra sức mạnh tiềm ẩn trong chính con người mình. Nhìn lại cả hành trình, chúng tôi đã vượt qua 8km từ chợ Pà Cò đến bản Hang Kia trong chiều hôm trước, mặc dù đường đi khá thuận lợi nhưng cũng làm các cô gái hàng ngày tay gõ bàn phím, chân đi giầy cao gót toát mồ hôi, thở hổn hển. Sau 1 đêm nghỉ ngơi, hành trình ngày thứ 2 mới thật gian nan, 12km đường rừng, nhiều đoạn không rõ là đường mà chỉ là lối mòn mà người dân địa phương hay đi qua, có nhiều lúc chúng tôi đã nản lòng, đã ước gì đừng có tham gia, đã mong mỏi được về nhà với bố mẹ, hay chỉ đơn giản là được nằm trên chiếc giường đệm êm ái. Nhưng chúng tôi không hối hận vì đáp lại cho những nỗ lực và vất vả đó, chúng tôi đã gặp những con người thật tuyệt vời
Dù vất vả nhưng chúng tôi đã có 2 ngày thật quí giá và bổ ích để hiểu nhau hơn, để thêm yêu đất nước và đồng bào hơn. Chúng tôi sẽ nhớ mãi “Gà tập thể hình” hay “gà rock climbing”, răng chúng tôi cũng được 1 bữa vận động hết mình…, hình ảnh những em nhỏ vùng cao vui sướng khi được chia kẹo… Tự hứa với bản thân cần phải rèn luyện sức khỏe tốt hơn cho những hành trình tiếp theo vì cuộc đời là những chuyến đi, vì chúng tôi còn muốn quay trở lại mảnh đất xinh đẹp này, được chinh phục những cánh rừng, quả đồi này, được trải nghiệm và được có cơ hội để “truyền cảm hứng” cho nhau hơn nữa.
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Written by: a New Buffalo – Minh Hao ( Online Sales Dept. - BT Hanoi)
THE CON TRĂ‚U TIMES
WHAT OUR STAFF MEMBERS HAVE BEEN DOING
FEEDBACK ON
Dear Buffalo Tours Ltd Viet Nam, We have now safely returned from our 13 day/12 nights Adventure World Family Discover Tour to Viet Nam from 16-29 April 2011. We wish to warmly thank Buffalo Tours Ltd for a wonderful holiday, which exceeded our expectations and thanks to at Buffalo tours preceded smoothly without a hitch. We rapidly realised we could very much rely on Buffalo Tours staff and subcontractors not only to arrive to pick us from airports, for tours and other events, but to turn up on the time specified. Not for us waiting around hotel lobbies or airports. Buffalo Tours was always there on time. We also very much appreciated the tour set up. It worked well as we travelled around with our 13 year old son. There was the right level of activity and free time for our own arrangements. We loved the Water puppet show in Ha Noi. But best of all we loved the Mai Chau experience the best. We loved our bike ride through the rice paddies, and best of all was our hike in the higher mountains amongst the Hmong villages. This was a fantastic experience, as it was just ourselves and our guide. Not another tourist or anything related tourism except us. Just what we hope to experience in Viet Nam. We wished to learn about Viet Nam, and the tour and your staff allowed us to achieve this. Thank you. I further commend your choice of hotels for us. We appreciated the smaller more intimate hotels where we could interact with the staff, who in turn treat as part of their hotel family. The Hoi An hotel was our largest where this broke down a bit, but still had that personal touch. We also wish to commend your local guides (all locals to the specific areas). We particularly commend Peter Yang in Ha Noi, and especially Cuong in Mai Chau. They went further than they needed to tailor the trip to our preferences - more natural and local ways, rather than tourist shops. They made us feel special and listened to. Thank you. And last of all, we must specially thank the Ho Chi Minh City staff, particularly the head office. Our son had bought a watch in Hoi An. When our driver arrived to take us to the airport, our son left the watch on a hotel table in the reception area. The driver kindly returned to the hotel, but the watch was no longer there. However the hotel staff had found the watch and let Buffalo Tours know straight away. We understand the driver’s boss set out on a scooter to retrieve the watch from the hotel and met us part way to the airport. Exceptional service to which we are much indebted. Thank you. The worst thing of the tour for us was the mini bus rides. Crowded as at full capacity of 14 tourist passengers, luggage and lack of leg room, they made for uncomfortable 3-4 hour journeys to Ha Long Bay, and Mai Chau, not helped by the rough roads and heavy traffic. If the buses could be updated, that would be fantastic. Our best wishes to all at Buffalo Tours Ltd, and all the success in the future. Tim Croft and family
Inspirational Travel 11
THE CON TRÂU TIMES
/tips
update S BR
Here are some tips for BRS usage. Hope it will be useful for your daily working. Please see below
1. Online feedback system is ready! Now operations department can input clients’ feedback on BRS and the system will base on these information to generate tour report which showcases our level of service as well as clients’ satisfaction for every booking. For more information, please go to https://sites.google.com/site/brslog/ home
2. Want to know if you’ve achieved your sales target for this month? Go to BMI/ Profit & Loss and enter in the departure dates for that month (for instance: 1st Apr 2011 – 30th Apr 2011) . The related report will be pulled out in a sec! Writen by: Nguyen Thi Thanh Nga (Business Development Executive - BT Hanoi)
2 Tips for Making
To-Do Lists that Work F
or some people, to-do lists are life savers; they keep them organized and on task. For others, they’re useless pieces of paper to ignore as they grow longer and longer. Next time you sit down to write a to-do list (or decide to face up to an existing one), follow these two tips: 1. Break it down. To-dos are not the same as goals or projects. Only include specific tasks that move a project toward completion. If a to-do list item is too large to get done in one step, break it down further. 2. Include specifics. Help your future self out by including details that will make doing the task easier. Instead of “Get in touch with Julie,” try “Call Julie about next task force meeting at 555-5555.” Harvard Business Review
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Birthdays
&
THE CON TRÂU TIMES
Anniversaries Birthdays: Naruemon Songsan Trần Thị Hải Khim Phalla Lưu Trung Kiên Nguyễn Thị Mai Mattie Scholts Nguyễn Thị Trang Nora Lotze Trương Thị Hương Lan Nguyễn Lê Quỳnh Dao Trần Thi Bích Thủy Nguyễn Thu Hương Văn Trí Quân Nguyễn Thị Thanh Nga
2 June 5 June 9 June 13 June 13 June 15 June 16 June 19 June 20 June 21 June 4 June 25 June 25 June 29 June
Accountant Executive - BT Thailand Accountant Executive – BT Hanoi Reservation Executive - BT Cambodia Assistant Operation Manager BT Hanoi Airport Rep. Executive – BT Hanoi Operation Manager Assistant - BT Thailand German Sales Executive – BT Hanoi German Intern – BT Hanoi Accountant Executive - SGN Office Travel Consultant- BTA SGN VET - Team Leader – BT Hanoi HR Executive – BT Hanoi Tour Guide - SGN Office Business Development Executive – BT Hanoi
Anniversaries: Trần Nam Trung – Germany sales Team Leader - Completing 4 years of service Nguyễn Thị Trang – Germany Sales Executive - Completing 1 year of service Sandrine Depeux - Spanish sales Team Leader - Completing 3 years of service Natthapat Verawattanaporn- Chief Accountant – BT Thailand - Completing 2 years of service Nguyễn Văn Duẩn – Tour Leader HCM - Completing 3 years of service Nguyễn Bùi Đình Thuần – Tour Leader HCM - Completing 3 years of service Hoàng Văn Giang – Tour Leader HN - Completing 4 years of service Nguyễn Đức Hạnh - Tour Leader HN- Completing 4 years of service Nguyễn Văn Dinh – Tour Leader HN- Completing 4 years of service
Inspirational Travel 13