Utell Hotels & Resorts has doubled the size of its Sao Paulo call center operation to optimize service to Utell and Unirez voice customers in the Americas, as well as Nikko, Boscolo and Steigenberger Hotels.

The addition of 35 employees to the office will extend an already strong history in the Americas for Utell, which has been in the Brazilian market for more than 25 years, and has been supporting major Latin American countries in Spanish for seven years.

Utell, the representation service of Pegasus Solutions, which is dedicated to helping hotels compete successfully on a global level, has expanded its Sao Paulo call center to better serve North American callers on an extended daily basis in English, Spanish and Portuguese. With ever-tightening competition in the global travel industry, Alan Jeffers, senior vice president of operations and COO of hotel representation services for Pegasus, said the expansion is designed to provide superior service to bookers, and to increase productivity for Utell hotels worldwide.

“To remain competitive, especially in challenging economic times, hoteliers need to appeal to the broadest range of audiences possible by widening the distribution of their product through multiple channels,” said Jeffers. “Our Sao Paulo office allows our customers to be served by members of Utell’s highly experienced, educated and well traveled call center staff in their preferred language, seven days a week.”

An international support team oversaw the Sao Paulo call center expansion, which was completed in December. In addition to the staff expansion, the Sao Paulo call center received upgrades to high-end technology and a robust platform, including the Avaya phone system and network infrastructure linked to Pegasus’ host in Scottsdale, Ariz. Utell also has international call centers in Madrid, Tokyo and Singapore.