Budget Group Selects Wichita Falls for New Reservation Center
18 August 1999
Budget Group Selects Wichita Falls for New Reservation Center
Call Center Expected to Bring 325 New Jobs to Area
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Aug. 17 -- Budget Group, Inc.
announced today its selection of Wichita Falls, Texas, as the site for the
company's new 200-seat inbound reservation call center. Budget Group, Inc. is
a global network of vehicle rental and sales companies which operates Budget
Rent a Car Corporation, the world's third largest car and truck rental system,
and Ryder TRS, Inc., the nation's second largest consumer truck rental
company. This announcement follows a comprehensive national site selection
search that began in January for a city that met Budget Group's labor market
and property requirements.
Budget Group will invest nearly $5 million in facilities, furnishings and
technology at the planned reservation call center in Wichita Falls. This new
center will be one of Budget Group's "enterprise virtual call centers"
deploying integrated voice response units, automatic call distributors and
network load balancing.
"We're extremely pleased by the positive reception we've received from
Wichita Falls city leaders, including the City Council, #4A Board, and Board
of Commerce and Industry. Wichita Falls is at the top of our list of sites
due to the city's availability of full and part-time labor, the strong work
ethic of its residents and the resources offered by agencies such as the Texas
Workforce Commission and Vernon Regional Junior College (VRJC)," stated Mary
Murcott, vice president, Reservation Services for Budget Group.
Budget is looking at a number of properties in the area and hopes to make
a decision soon regarding the exact location of the new call center.
Development of the center will begin once suitable property can be found. The
company anticipates opening the call center in Wichita Falls by February 2000.
Establishing the new call center is necessary to meet the continued growth
of Budget Group's car and truck rental business. Call volume is expected to
continue to grow due to increased car and truck rental advertising and
enhanced programs with new and existing travel partners. Today, the company
operates reservation centers throughout the world, including major reservation
call centers in Carrollton, Texas; Tampa and Toronto.
The company expects to employ approximately 325 people at the planned
Wichita Falls center by the summer of 2000. In addition to 25 planned
management and support personnel, the center expects to employ 300 reservation
agents to handle its vehicle rental calls. It is anticipated that about
70 percent of these positions will be full-time, with the remainder being
part-time. The company could potentially expand its proposed Wichita Falls
operations by up to 50 percent, possibly employing an additional 150 people
over time.
Budget Group has already begun its search for an executive to run the new
center. Later this year, Budget will hold a job fair to introduce the company
to potential workers within the community and take applications for call
center positions. As Budget begins to staff for its new center, the Texas
Work Force Commission will assist the company with applicant qualifications
screening, and the VRJC will offer a specialized pre-employment course for
qualified applicants. This 8-hour course will cover areas such as customer
service and telephone skills.
Murcott concluded, "We are looking forward to finalizing plans for the new
center and beginning call processing in the center early next year."
Budget Group, Inc. is a global network of vehicle rental and sales
companies operating in three principal segments: Car Rental, Truck Rental and
Car Sales. In Car Rental, Budget Group, through subsidiary companies and
their franchisees, operates Budget Rent a Car Corporation and Premier Car
Rental. The company also operates VPSI, the U.S. leader in commuter van
pooling services. In Truck Rental, Budget Group operates Ryder TRS and Budget
Truck Rental and Cruise America, the largest recreational vehicle rental and
sales company in North America. In Car Sales, Budget Group operates Budget
Car Sales, one of the leading independent retailers of late model vehicles in
the U.S.