“From working at a Fortune 500 company to launching Popular Computing magazine at McGraw-Hill, the productivity of a company depends on the success and well-being of its employees.

At Topaz, I’ve worked to create an employee-first culture that supports and encourages a positive work environment. My focus has always been on the growth and the success of our associates and how that translates to exemplary guest service and outstanding hotel client satisfaction. Through my experience, I’ve come to understand the limitless value of investing in a coaching and mentoring approach to help employees develop their skills. We create meaningful ways to engage with staff and provide incentives to reward great work. We also invest in DiSC training for our Management and Technology teams to help them continue to enhance their emotional intelligence.

Now in my fourth decade growing and leading our company, I have many ways to measure our success. But perhaps the most important metrics for me personally are seeing the high levels of satisfaction of our clients, and how our team members feel like they are family.”

“What I love most about Topaz is working with our contact center and technology folks to develop and provide systems and services that help build lasting relationships between our hotels and their valued customers.

Technology, while making our lives more efficient, can also be extremely frustrating. We spend our time interacting with algorithms and chat-bots, when we just want to talk with a real person. That’s where Topaz comes in.

From the beginning, our roots have been in the contact center industry, a people-to-people business. It’s my belief that technology should not replace human interaction, but rather facilitate it—and that, in a nutshell, is the genesis of our cutting-edge C5 software.

We developed C5 technology to support the virtual reservation department we provide to our client hotels, as well as offering live-chat and click-to-talk products for their websites. We use this technology to bring us closer to our clients and client customers in order to provide our most important product, Genuine Hospitality.”

“I joined the Topaz team in 1997 as a Reservations Sales Associate and was immediately impressed by the company culture and the opportunities provided for growth and further education. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to work in Customer Service, Supervision, Training, Operations, Client Relations and Management.

As the internal and external liaison to our client teams, I’m well-versed in the various aspects and services of the company, and I now take a lead role in new client acquisition and onboarding. I have extensive system expertise, as well as being the main contact for existing clients, maintaining and ensuring prosperous partnerships.

Having been here for over 25 years, it is incredibly rewarding to see what we have accomplished as a team and how that fuels our enthusiasm for current and future projects.”

“I’ve played an instrumental role in providing software solutions, moving Topaz to the Cloud, upgrading and architecting our systems, and ultimately keeping Topaz at the forefront of a rapidly changing technology landscape.

One thing that I particularly love about working here, aside from all the great people, is the opportunity it provides for me to continue building my career and learning new things. I’m a natural puzzle and problem solver, which means I’m very passionate about the work I do. I believe wholeheartedly that my integrity and my attention to detail have fueled my growth from software development into my current position—providing technical leadership among my peers.

I always carry a big picture mindset, and as much as I’ve learned from my past experiences, I’m excited and optimistic about what the future has in store.”

“I caught the hospitality bug living in Europe in my 20s and working at a quaint Austrian Inn. Upon returning to the US, I found a job in Room Reservations for a large San Francisco hotel, and it was there that I discovered the importance of forging genuine connections with callers to successfully convert their inquiries into bookings. After five amazing years and a handful of Customer Service and Top Sales awards, I decided it was time to advance my career to the next stage.

I began my journey at Topaz as an Assistant Reservations Manager and was ultimately promoted to Director of Quality Assurance. A big part of my job is to assure that every guest is given exceptional customer service and that our staff continues to be truly exceptional at making genuine connections with each caller (as is evidenced by our ongoing number of positive guest reviews and accolades).

Thinking back to my very first hotel experience in Austria to where I am today, I am so thankful that I caught that hospitality bug and never let it go.”

“I started working at Topaz Services when I was a college student. I did not have a hospitality background, yet there was something that Jill and Eric saw in me and they decided to bring me onboard as a Reservations Sales Associate.

Over the years I learned so much about the industry and what it takes to be able to service our hospitality clients and our guests. I love bringing that knowledge forward to support our Reservation Sales Associates and our Leadership Team in their own development. It is so rewarding to be able to see our team members grow from a RSA into various other roles that we have at Topaz just as I did.

I am so grateful that I can contribute, in my way, to solving problems each day for our staff, our guests and our hotel clients. My own small contribution to a better world.”

“I began my career with Topaz in 2013 as a Reservation Sales Associate. I quickly found that I enjoy interacting with guests and I love being the voice that welcomes callers. I find it exciting and rewarding to acquire new skills and learn new things that apply to both my professional and my personal life. Speaking with guests and being able to help make their day even just a little better is something I greatly value.

Currently, I am the Senior Training Supervisor in charge of helping to manage the call floor day-to-day operations. I enjoy assisting RSAs with their reservation inquiries and communicating directly with hotel staff. I also facilitate new hire training classes as well as incremental training sessions when hotel skill sets and booking systems are added to agent profiles.

Perhaps what I respect most about Topaz is the way we treat each other like family. Every opportunity is a learning experience, and each of our successes are praised. That mindset and the positive atmosphere it creates directly translates to our staff forming real bonds and relationships with our clients.”

“I started with Topaz in 2013 as a Reservation Sales Associate. As someone who has spent my life working in retail, sales, and the restaurant end of the hospitality industry, I have always prided myself in giving great customer service. While working in the call center, I was excited to have such a supportive Supervisory and Management team that recognized the qualities I had learned over the years and helped me adapt them to voice services. 

After a couple of years taking reservation calls, I was brought in to the Tech Team to help test our C5 Booking System. It was during this time I realized how much focus Topaz has on providing our agents with efficient and easy to use tools to assist our callers. 

When I began to work full time in the Tech department, I made it a goal of mine to do as much as I could to help agents in their day to day with their equipment. With all of our staff remote, I also wanted to provide tools that would help keep us all connected whether it was a virtual meeting room or a virtual breakroom.

Anytime a change or improvement comes up, my first thought is how it will impact our agents’ ability to service our callers. It was that dedication that led me to my current position of Contact Center Administrator.”

“I came to Topaz Services five years ago from the retail world where I worked for many years as a manager. While I started as a Reservations Sales Associate, I now work on the Sales and Marketing side of things as well as directly with our clients, something I love!

I have really enjoyed learning about the hospitality industry and about all of the hotels we service. Topaz has so many resources that made that learning curve easy. Through our information pages and C5, the ability to find information for a caller quickly has made it easy to form a connection and help create a positive experience. I also like working with our hotel partners to make sure that their information stays current.

I had not worked in a remote environment before, but through our use of online communication, we all share bits of our lives- from our pets and recipes, to our families and holiday traditions. When someone has success, it is celebrated by all, and when times are difficult, everyone is there to offer support. It is truly a unique and special group of people that have created an amazing culture of caring that not many businesses have. I truly believe that warmth and affection trickles down into every call we take, making Topaz a rare unicorn in terms of a call center.”