Flanked by the Expedia and ECSC executive
team, Matthew Eicchorst cuts the ribbon during the grand opening ceremony.
Matthew Eicchorst escorting guests on a tour of their 2 storey facilities.
Airy spaces, innovative design and West Coast
theme is extended to the employee lunch room.
The event was well attended
by Cruise BDMs including (l –r): Wade Menard, Princess Cruises; Shauna Carter, AMA Waterways; Cathy Denroche, Oceania Cruises & Eva Horne, Tauck.
.
Expedia held a grand opening of their new location in
downtown Vancouver last week and invited friends,
suppliers and franchise partners to join in the
celebration. The afternoon included a tour of their facilities, a ribbon
cutting ceremony and a cocktail reception.
Taking up 2 floors and
28,000+ sq. ft., the newly designed space
houses Expedia CruiseShipCenters headquarters,
as well as Expedia Lodging Partner Services and Expedia Worldwide Engineering.
The designers have made the work space a delight, with an open concept layout,
contemporary furnishings and West Coast inspired colours.
ECSC President Matthew
Eichhorst says he is very excited about the
new space and direction of the company. CruiseShipCenters
was founded in 1987 and was sold to Expedia in 2007, with the goal of rapid
expansion. And that it did. To date, there are 200 franchises in operations -
150 in Canada and 50 in the U.S. At a yearly
growth rate of 20%, the company aims to have 500 franchises by 2020.
Many of the franchisees, whom I have had the pleasure of
working with in my past life, have found great success with ECSC, some have
been owners for 20+ years and some own several locations. They say business is continuously booming,
despite the recent events in Europe and fortunately
many have not felt any impact on their bookings.
I also got the same response from the suppliers I have
spoken to.
From day 1, CSC has built
solid relationships with all cruise line partners and it continues under the
ECSC brand. This is very evident in the huge number of cruise line BDMs who
turned up for the event. With ECSC's huge network of franchises and its
anticipated growth, both parties are looking forward to a bright future.
Ming Tappin is a cruise veteran with over 20 years’ experience in
the industry and has sailed on 36 cruises and counting. Based in Vancouver,
Ming is Owner of
www.yourcruisecoach.com.
