Indicating that the company is making a long-term commitment in western Michigan, Booking.com signed a 10-year lease to continue its global contact center in Wyoming, Mich. Booking.com currently employs 1,200 workers at the facility.
“Our long-term lease solidifies our commitment to the West Michigan market as an important employee base to perform global operations,” said Cindy Elenbaas, customer service regional director for Booking.com in a news release. “Experiencing over 300 percent growth at our very first contact center location showcases the economic growth happening here in West Michigan.”
Booking.com moved into the area in 2008. Now the company occupies 97,167 square feet. The building owners recently completed an $800,000 modernization project for the company as well. Employees have access to a fitness center, a 24-hour cafeteria, a game room and gathering spaces for meetings and training sessions. The building reportedly maintains 24/7 service and is supported by redundant data services and on-site backup generators.
Employees typically join Booking.com through a temporary employment agency and become full-time employees several months later, according to a company spokesperson. Pay begins at $10.50 an hour with extra for weekend shifts and 50-cent per hour bonuses for every non-English language. Booking.com employees can speak to customers in 14 languages.
Based in Amsterdam, Booking.com is a unit of Priceline.com that focuses on hotel reservations. According to the company, the site attracts more than 30 million unique visitors a month. The Wyoming facility is one of Booking.com’s largest call centers.
West Michigan has been an attractive area for contact centers, with Teleperformance, Farmers Insurance, NOVO1 and Priceline also establishing offices in the region. The large college student population creates a solid labor pool for call centers, and the area also has a large population of foreign language speakers.
According to a 2012 Right Place report on contact centers, the median wage for call center operators is $12.69 an hour in West Michigan.