UK expansion for booking.com

Tuesday, 27 Feb, 2015 0

Booking.com is opening an office in Bristol next month as it expands into the southwest region.

The online accommodation booking website already has offices in London, Cambridge, Dublin, and Manchester.

Jason Grist, UK area manager, said the Bristol office has been added following ‘enormous growth’ in demand from accommodation owners in Devon, Cornwall, Cardiff, Bath and Bristol.

He said in Devon and Cornwall in particular, most of the growth has been from cottages and small B&Bs who appreciate having a local contact.

Meanwhile, Booking.com is also busy recruiting staff for a 24/7 customer service centre in London’s Canary Wharf.

The multi-language support centre already has 150 trained staff and aims to have a total of 500 recruited and fully trained by July.

Grist said booking.com deliberately chooses key city centre locations for its customer call centres, rather than cheaper remote locations, because it is a ‘young, dynamic’ company and it wants to ‘keep staff motivated’.

Since 2011, booking.com has grown the number of UK properties available on its site from around 10,000 to around 27,000 today.

Globally, it features 600,000 properties, including hotels (around 30%) plus B&Bs, guest houses, holiday rentals, serviced apartments, chalets and other types of accommodation.

It could not give details of how much of its business is booked by UK customers.

Bev

Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.

Babble is a leading technology business that is reimagining how we do work. Founded in 2001, the company works with...

At Visit California, our mission is to develop and maintain marketing programs – in partnership with the state’s travel industry...

IHG Hotels & Resorts: Redefining Hospitality Excellence IHG Hotels & Resorts is a globally renowned hospitality company that stands at...

At Wilderness Safaris we believe in creating life-changing journeys and have been doing so for over 39 years. Our purpose...

SOUTH AUSTRALIA. FOR THOSE WHO WANT A LITTLE MORE. South Australia. It’s a beautiful place. A place for the restless,...

This is Jersey. An island shaped by the sea where some of the most astonishing tides in the world circle...

Arival advances the business of creating amazing in-destination experiences. We provide events, insights, and community for creators and sellers of...

Blue Diamond Resorts consistently goes above and beyond guest expectations by delivering groundbreaking vacation experiences through our exceptional collection of...

Traveltek is the world-leading provider of online solutions for the travel trade, from consumer-facing websites to call centre applications. We...

Some describe it as a natural playground. Some say, it’s simply unique as it offers a great array of travel...

The Polish Tourism Organisation (Polska Organizacja Turystyczna – POT) is one of several dozen national tourism organisations operating in the...

Intrepid Travel is a world leader in sustainable experience-rich travel that has been taking travellers to discover the world’s most amazing places...

SAINT LUCIA IS NO ORDINARY ISLAND Equal parts beauty and mystique, Saint Lucia captivates anyone who sets foot on her...

Why choose Titan Travel? There are some great travel companies out there – so why Titan? Well, we’re one of...

Our leadership is bold. Our agility thrives on open innovation and we embrace the new, whether it’s diversity, trends, challenges....

With long periods of Thailand’s History, according to evidences and studies, Sukhothai was the first kingdom of Thailand. At that time, an early Thai...