Get connected with AuPairWorld

aupairworld_ak_cohrsWe’ve interviewed Ann-Kristin Cohrs, Managing Director at AuPairWorld – one of the world’s leading au pair internet agencies and one of WYSE Travel Confederation Elite members. Ann-Kristin explains how their website brings au pairs and host families together.

Tell us your story. How did your business get started? It all started with a search for personal purposes. In 1997/1998, company founder Uwe Regenbogen was looking for his first au pair for his own family. When he used a traditional au pair agency, he was disappointed by their service and had the idea of carrying out his search through the Internet to have more choice and to get in direct contact with au pair candidates. By using Internet resources, he quickly found his first au pair and had the idea of creating his own au pair website, AuPairWorld, to bring au pairs and host families from all around the world together.

Nowadays, AuPairWorld has two affiliated companies which are both located in Kassel, Germany, and have a combined staff of approximately 30 employees.

What are your unique selling points? What makes you different? AuPairWorld offers both host families and au pairs the chance to find each other as easily and quickly as possible and above all without any intermediary involved. For us it is important to guarentee our customers high security and quality standards, to operate with transparency and fairness and of course to promote and support an idealistic approach to au pairing in all its efforts. AuPairWorld is online based, but nevertheless personal contact to our customers is a key element for us: A qualified multilingual team takes care of running the website and providing customer support in five languages.

What are some of your success stories? Ever since its founding, more than 2.5 million au pairs and host families have registered on AuPairWorld – we are more than happy about that great success.  Loyal to its motto “We connect –we care”, the AuPairWorld Team ensures that user profiles undergo detailed quality checks and are kept up-to-date to ensure many more people will have great au pair experiences.

What are your future plans? AuPairWorld aims to do all it can to open up the unique win-win benefits of the au pair experience to more and more people around the world and to combine online and offline services to make the au pair experience a success.

Which trendsand challenges do you see in the youth travel sector?  An upcoming trend for us is definitely the combination of online and offline services, while we always keep in mind to offer our customers the best possible experience and to enrich the whole experience of being an au pair.

And then, especially nowadays, we are facing the big challenge and question of security. So one part of our job and responsibility is to make sure that travelling is and always will be an option for young people.

What was your motivation to join WYSE Tavel Confederation? Through its membership in the WYSE Travel Confederation, AuPairWorld is aiming to expand and diversify its professional network in the youth and educational travel sector and to be able to make au pairing an even more attractive option for young people and families. In addition, the basic idea of au pairing as a form of cultural exchange should be promoted, further developed and also secured in cooperation with WYSE as a strong partner with global reach.

Any top tips for people starting out in the youth travel sector? I think it is important to stay in contact and to catch up with the industry – in my opinion the best way to get new inspiration and to think out of the box. The world changes fast and you need to be willing to learn quickly in order to react to new challenges. Be flexible and of course love travelling and what you do because then you are authentic and can be the perfect ambassador for your idea, service or product.

For more information about AuPairWorld visit www.aupairworld.com.

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