Booking.com Opens Fourth Asia Pacific Customer Service Center in the Heart of Bangkok
Bangkok, 11th January, 2017: Booking.com, the world leader in connecting travellers with the widest selection of amazing places to stay, has today announced the opening of a customer service center in the heart of Bangkok. The new 90-seat contact center will house bilingual staff supporting customers, as well as the company’s 1.1 million accommodation partners in English, Thai, and other Asian languages. With over 1.2 million bookings made every 24 hours through Booking.com, the contact center supports the company’s further strengthening of its presence and commitment in the Southeast Asian region.
With customer satisfaction scores consistently close to 90%, strong emphasis on quality, 24/7 in-house customer service is a key element of Booking.com’s core values. Customer Service, available in 43 languages around the world, is the largest department within the company, making up around half of its 13,000 employees worldwide.
As demand has increased for more Thai language support for customers and partners alike, the decision was made to open a contact center in Bangkok, says Oliver Hua, Booking.com’s Managing Director for Asia Pacific. “At Booking.com, customer service is more than a department; it’s an inherent focus of the entire company. Keeping the customer at the center of everything we do is one of our core company values and by opening our fourth Asia Pacific based in-house customer service contact center we are well positioned to offer stronger support to our customers, as well as our partners, in the region.”
With 15 customer service centers around the world, including centers in the CBD areas of Singapore, Tokyo and Shanghai, Booking.com has a strong focus on first contact resolution for customers, meaning staff are trained and empowered to resolve customer issues during the first call or email.
Says FM Mok, Regional Director of Customer Service, Asia Pacific, “We empower our teams to understand the situation. We don’t use scripts and we don’t use check lists as we don’t want to restrict each conversation. Our employees are trained to listen to the customer or partner, ask the right questions, and understand what’s important to the customer and how best to solve the problem. We deliver the service that the customers of Booking.com deserve, which is world-class, quick-resolution and all in the language of their choice.”
The center, which is in the new Central Business District area of Bangkok has been designed to enhance the quality of employees’ work life, boost performance and stimulate creativity and collaboration. Like all Booking.com offices around the globe, employee performance, comfort and convenience has been considered in the design and location of the office. Customer Service staff are provided continuous learning and development opportunities and go through four consecutive weeks of training before they independently handle contact with customers and partners.
“Our primary aim is to personally connect with our customers and provide them with a smooth, transparent and enjoyable booking experience, and we know that happy and fulfilled employees are the most important asset we have to achieve this goal,” continued Mok.
The center officially opens on Tuesday 10th January, with a ribbon cutting ceremony attended by senior Booking.com leadership from the Asia Pacific region as well as the initial team of 24 customer service agents.