Holidays

Picture a job where you can develop commercial skills and apply them to a business that helps protect nature, beauty and history across England and Wales. That’s what you’ll do when you join our Holidays team, helping to manage cottages, bunkhouses, bothies and campsites.

We play an essential part in ensuring that everyone can experience the landscapes, working estates and landmarks we care for. Every time a guest stays with us, they’re helping to protect places and support the Trust’s work in looking after the nation’s coastline, historic sites, countryside and green spaces.

Creating truly memorable experiences for our guests generates over 7 million pounds of profit a year. We reinvest every penny back into our important conservation and restoration work to preserve the nation’s places for everyone, for ever.

From picturesque cottages and manor houses to peaceful campsites and woodland hideaways, you may be surprised to discover the unusual areas we care for. No matter where our guests decide to stay, everyone is treated with the utmost care.

We pride ourselves on offering an easy, comfortable holiday experience, and it shows. In 2021, we won the Which? Travel Brand of the Year for our friendly customer service, value for money, innovation, and variety. Plus, we were awarded Campsite of the Year by the readers of The Great Outdoors magazine at the National Geographic Traveller Reader Awards.

We’d love for you to be part of our dedicated team. Whether you join us as a Holidays Operations Assistant, a Team Leader or an Operations Manager, you’ll share our enthusiasm to deliver an excellent service, with high quality guest care, whilst connecting people to the places they stay in. In return, we’ll give you the chance to be creative with the support of an established team and the space to feel empowered to build a brilliant career at the National Trust.

Video

Join our Holidays team and help make magical memories for our visitors

Watch the video to hear from Mike, Woo, Georgia and Victoria about what makes working in this team so special. Find out how they’ve felt supported to grow and succeed, with the inclusive and collaborative culture you find at the Trust.

Typical roles

We have a wide range of opportunities in Holidays across the country and throughout our regional and central offices. From Holidays Operation Assistants to Team Leaders and Area Managers, our work is exciting, fulfilling and covers both indoors (cottages) and outdoors (campsites) operations.

Holidays Operation Assistant

You’ll have an eye for detail as you market our Holidays assets to the highest of standards and provide the excellent service our guests expect. Whether you are supporting the indoors or outdoors business, you’ll be passionate about making sure guests truly enjoy themselves and take pride in your attention to detail.

Holidays Operation Team Leader

Inspiring a team with your passion for high standards of presentation and care, you’ll support your team of Holidays Operation Assistants to meet their objectives and ensure guests have an enjoyable experience. You’ll be organised and flexible enough to deal with operational issues across your site(s) and in your team as they arise.

Holidays Manager (Indoors)

You’ll use your experience providing exceptional guest care to manage the successful operation of a portfolio of Holidays cottages, bothies and bunkhouses, whilst helping develop our wider Holidays offer across a number of properties.

Holidays Operation Manager (Outdoors)

You’ll apply your experience of team management and exceptional guest care to successfully run one of our outdoor sites. It’ll be your job to ensure our high standards and compliance requirements are met throughout, whether that’s at one of the remote tent campsites or a more complex site with an Active Outdoors offer, campervans, tents and pods. You’ll be an inspirational leader and a strong role model in National Trust values and behaviours for your team.

The things we do for you

We want you to learn, discover and develop your career. And we’ll do everything we can to offer you the training, support and development that you need to achieve your goals. This could, for example, include helping you to study for a professional qualification appropriate to your career, trying something new or moving into a different business area. We’ll work with you to plan your development in a way that’s right for your needs.

Investing in you

Induction. Your learning in the Trust starts with your induction. Whatever role you're here to do we'll explain what to expect, show you where to go and make sure you understand your new environment before you get going.

Personal career progression development programme. One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to development. Tailored to you our ‘Grow Your Own Career’ approach is in place to help you identify where you see your career heading, and the best ways to get there.

Learning resources. We all learn in different ways and respond to different styles. It’s what works for you, whether that’s on-the-job training, flexible e-learning or one-to-one support. And in an organisation of our size and diversity, there’s plenty of room to develop and places to go.

Future Engage and Deliver leadership programme. If you’re in a management role we’ll support you to become a better leader through our ‘Future Engage and Deliver’ leadership programme. The programme is designed to make sure you’re well-equipped with the skills and confidence to lead your teams to deliver our plans.

Professional subscriptions. If you need to hold a qualification for your role, from either a legal or professional point of view, we’ll cover the cost of your membership fee. We’ll need to see that it’s part of your continuous professional development, though.

Employee volunteering. Volunteers are the lifeblood of the National Trust and many other charities. That's why we'll give you every opportunity to get involved with some volunteering outside the Trust. It's also a brilliant way to try new things, learn new skills and meet new people. So we'll give you up to five paid days per year to do your bit.

Secondments. Secondments are an excellent way for you to gain and practise new skills in real life situations, preparing you for a potential next career move. They usually last from three to 12 months – ideal for temporary or project roles.

Holidays people

Clare

Indoors Holidays Manager

The team culture at the National Trust is supportive, friendly, and diverse. It feels amazing knowing everything we do goes directly back into conserving historic places and nature, creating special memories for people and their families.
Kelly

Indoors Holidays Operations Assistant

I like the diversity that my role offers, with it being a mixture of both in and out of the office. We have beautiful surroundings. Luckily, we can spend our time outside in the woods or walking through the lakes spotting wildlife. There are not many jobs that you get to do that.
Antonio

Holidays Operation Manager (Outdoors)

The best part of working for the Trusts’ Outdoor Holidays Team is opening our visitor’s eyes to the amazing conservation work that the Trust does locally, thereby creating further appreciation of our nation’s places. There is a very real connection between Holidays and the Trust’s cause. Since working for the Trust, I have stepped into my dream role of Holidays Operation Manager and moved to Pembrokeshire, where I balance my career with surfing as much as possible!