Olympic Call Center Runs Around the Clock

Published on 2017/12/31 | Source

Staff at a call center for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang pose at their office in Seoul.

A special call center for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang has been up and running since early December.

Operated by the Korea Tourism Organization and Gangwon Province, it is staffed with 60 operators who provide information on accommodation, transportation, restaurants and other tourism-related information in Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese around the clock.

The call center was set up after complaints about exorbitant hotel prices and hostelries refusing to accept bookings from individuals or small groups. It will be open until March 18, when the Winter Paralympics end.

Competition for the jobs was fierce. The operators will provide information about all areas of the Winter Olympics, the most common so far being about accommodation at 38.8 percent of the 1,015 calls received.

The call center also provides customized services where operators find and recommend a hotel that best suits requests. It also provides interpretation services for foreigners who want to talk directly with hotel staff.