Flight Centre Group has moved into a new state-of-the-art HQ in Toronto's trendy West Queen West neighbourhood. To mark the occasion, the travel company hosted a grand opening on 6FEB to inaugurate the new space and, understandably, show it off a little.
Top row, L-R: Chris Lynes, Senior VP – Corporate Brands; and John Beauvais,
President, Canada & Corporate Travel. Bottom row, L-R: Emma Jup, Executive VP
of Product & Distribution, who announced her retirement for JUN; and Gavin Miller, VP Leisure.
Spanning 32,000 square feet across four floors, it's a visually striking and modern working space with an open concept design, plenty of natural light and travel-inspired artwork for the 240 "Flighties" that work there.
"We love this neighbourhood. We love being by the OCAD [University] and the Art Gallery of Ontario. We really wanted to make it special and we knew the exact elements that we wanted," John Beauvais, President, Canada & Corporate Travel, told Open Jaw at the event.
"This really demonstrates the evolution of the company and where we're headed as an organization. We wanted it to be current and modern, but still travel-themed."
Jup and Beauvais cutting the ribbon at Flight Centre Travel Group’s grand opening of its HQ.
The HQ takes up floors four to seven – connected by an open staircase -- atop a 100-year-old heritage building. Flight Centre's recently-acquired Umapped, a Toronto-based travel tech start-up, is located on floor three.
The grand opening was hosted on the seventh floor, a multi-use space (punctuated by a large, leafy plant wall) used as a kitchen and lunch area for employees, an events space, lounging area and social hub.
A variety of Flight Centre departments -- from administration, finance and IT, to sales and marketing, HR, and corporate traveller offerings – call the space home.
Charlene Leiss, President at Flight Centre Travel Group, The Americas,
speaking at the grand opening.
But it's not all business. There's also a meditation room, a small gym, even a rooftop deck with glorious views of Toronto.
In many ways, Beauvais says the office reflects the Flight Centre corporate culture.
"We want anyone who comes in to see that we're a company with a great history and heritage, but with a really modern direction. That's what we wanted to come across in the design," he said.
L-R: WestJet’s Sevi Anagnostis and Jane Clementino with Globus family of
brands’ Stephanie Bishop.
Opportunities for collaboration and socializing among employees was another "must-have" for the new HQ. The building features one-to-one desk to non-desk seating, so every employee can change up their work environment if they wish to do so.
"We're really excited," said Beauvais. "We think this demonstrates our commitment to our people, to give them a great workspace, our commitment to Canada as a marketplace, to our industry in general and to our ambitions and our optimism for the future."
L-R: Erin with Flight Centre, Marc with Air Canada, Stephanie with Flight Centre
and Katherine with Laurier du Vallon.
Flight Centre’s HQ features a foosball table and bar area on the 7th floor.
Anna Kroupina Journalist
Anna is OJ's newest member and she joins the team as a writer/reporter. She co-writes the daily news and covers events. Although she's new to the industry, pursuing a career path in travel/tourism has been a goal since her first family road trip to the Florida Keys sparked a desire to discover the world and this exhilarating, fast-paced industry
