Booking.com Opening Customer Service Call Centre in Toronto

TORONTO – JANUARY 26, 2017 – Today, Booking.com, the global leader in connecting travellers with the widest choice of incredible places to stay, announced it will be adding hundreds of new jobs when it opens a customer service call centre in Toronto in April 2017.

Booking.com’s Toronto call centre will be the company’s fourth in North America and sixteenth globally. The Toronto customer service team will support Booking.com’s award-winning 24/7 service to guests and accommodation partners through a variety of channels, including incoming calls, e-mails and messaging.

“We are thrilled to be opening our new facility in downtown Toronto where we can attract highly skilled talent from one of the most multicultural cities in the world,” said Robert Ahearn, Regional Director Customer Service, Americas at Booking.com. “This year, we aim to hire more than 200 individuals for various operational management roles, as well as front-line customer service executive positions to work with our customers around the world, providing service in a variety of languages, including English, French, Arabic, Mandarin, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian.”

The 53,355-square-foot customer service facility at 70 University Avenue covers almost three floors and is the first of its kind in Canada for the world leader in providing accommodation online. The office theme, created by Gensler, a global architecture, design, and planning firm is "The Downtown/Out of Town".

“To create a truly original space, our Toronto design team developed the ‘Downtown/Out of Town’ concept which mixes downtown Toronto-centric surroundings with elements of popular nearby destinations in the GTA and Ontario. Interior design elements are reminiscent of our iconic streetcar lines, including linear lighting to reference overhead cables and concrete floors stained to detail patterns of tracks as if on a Toronto street. Workspace areas are inspired by cottage country, using natural and reclaimed materials reminiscent of a cabin in the woods,” explains Annie Bergeron, Design Director at Gensler. “Each floor has a Canadiana-inspired cabin using reclaimed wood planks with modern Muskoka chairs. Employees can relax and take a break on the front porch or front lawn, with grass-looking carpet tile.”

The new facility will feature attractive amenities such as a kitchen with large prep space, cafe/canteen with a mini market, games room, bicycle storage and employee lounge areas with a variety of seating options. "This is not your typical call centre environment. It will appeal to people seeking to work with an industry leader that supports an inclusive work environment for every employee. Our goal is to employ 600 people at this location in four to five years," Ahearn added.

Individuals interested in learning more about working at Booking.com or applying for various operational management roles, training and quality, as well as front-line customer service executive positions should visit Workingatbooking.com.

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CONTACT DETAILS:

For further information, contact the Canadian Booking.com Press Office:

Annie Hennessey | annie@punchcanada.com | O: 647.837.1263

About Booking.com:

Booking.com is the world leader in booking hotel and other accommodations online. It guarantees the best prices for any type of property - from small independents to five-star luxury. Guests can access the Booking.com website anytime, anywhere from their desktops, mobile phones and tablet devices, and they don't pay booking fees - ever. The Booking.com website is available in 43 languages, offers over one million hotels and accommodations including more than 570,000 vacation rental properties and covers over 104,000 destinations in 225 countries and territories worldwide. It features over 107M reviews written by guests after their stay, and attracts online visitors from both leisure and business markets around the globe. With over 19 years of experience and a team of over 13,000 dedicated employees in 187 offices worldwide, Booking.com operates its own in-house customer service team, which is available 24/7 to assist guests in their native languages and ensure an exceptional customer experience.

Established in 1996, Booking.com B.V. owns and operates Booking.com™, and is part of The Priceline Group (NASDAQ: PCLN). Follow us on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest, like us on Facebook, or learn more at http://www.booking.com.

About Gensler

Gensler is a global architecture, design, and planning firm with 46 locations and more than 5,000 professionals networked across Asia, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and the Americas. Founded in 1965, the firm serves more than 3,500 active clients in virtually every industry. Gensler designers strive to make the places people live, work and play more inspiring, more resilient and more impactful.