Boise call center gets going after slow start in ’99 – Travel agency is now among the nation’s largest

Carlson Leisure Travel Services, one of the Treasure Valley’s fastest-growing employers, did not get off to a promising start when it arrived in Boise in 1999.

Joe Estrella
The Idaho Statesman

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040921/NEWS02/409210315/1029

It lost its largest credit card customer, MBNA Corp., shortly after opening a 25-person, 6,200-square-foot customer contact center at Black Eagle Business Center, 9300 W. Overland Road.

But years later, however, the Carlson http://www.carlson.com call center now has 300 employees — an 1,100 percent increase for what is now one of the nation’s largest travel agencies.

"We got off to a sluggish start," admits Steven Loucks, senior director of public relations. "But, fortunately, we continued to invest in this call center, and eventually that company that had left brought its business back to us."

Employees at the Boise call center field an estimated 500,000 calls a year from credit card customers seeking to book travel arrangements using their reward points.

Carlson recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the rededication of the call center, now expanded to 25,000 square feet.

"Not only did we determine that Idaho was ideally suited to our needs when we first came to Boise five years ago, but we’ve also made a long-term commitment to providing Idahoans with careers in an exciting and fun industry," said Kim King, general manager of the Boise facility.

The Boise facility is one of two Carlson call centers (the other is in St. Louis) that combine to serve 6.5 million credit card loyalty programs. The company’s client list includes MBNA, Capital One and Discover.

Travel Weekly, the industry’s leading publication, took note of Carlson’s emergence in its annual Power List of the top U.S. travel agencies. It ranked Carlson Leisure Group 19th, up 10 notches from 2003, based on annual revenues of $389 million. That’s up from $277 million the previous year.

Loucks said the lion’s share of Carlson’s 2003 sales volume came from the Boise customer contact center. Revenues this year are projected at $400 million.

The company managed to maintain its growth despite a national recession that slowed business travel, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks that caused leisure travelers to stay at home.

One way was by allowing consumers to book their credit card rewards travel via the Internet, said spokeswoman Beck Waller.

"We’re the only customer fulfillment company that has that online tool. And that’s been critical for us," she said.

Shirl Boyce, vice president with the Boise Economic Development Council, said he believes the more than two dozen calls centers in the Treasure Valley don’t get enough credit for helping keep the area’s economy afloat during the last economic downturn.

"These call centers have provided and continue to be a significant contributor to the Boise-Nampa economy," Boyce said. "And they’ve gotten a bad rap as being low-paying, when, in fact, some of those jobs start out at more than $30,000 a year."