Bring on the coffee! The specialty tour operator and travel agency SouthAmerica.travel is moving into the Pioneer Square neighborhood of downtown Seattle, Washington this April 2012.

The new Seattle travel agency office will primarily be a sales and marketing office, located in the historic Prefontaine building in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Downtown Seattle.

The choice to plant roots in Seattle was a strategic one. Company headquarters were in Chehalis, located just south of Seattle. But business in Seattle is booming, and many factors contributed to having the company migrate northward.

“We chose Seattle because we love talking to our customers,” says Juergen Keller, CEO of South America.travel. “By sitting in Seattle, our Travel Consultants are in the perfect position to talk to travelers on the other side of the Pacific, with less to worry about in terms of time zones.” With the new office, Travel Consultants will be available to answer the phones and live chat 20 hours every day.

“We also love how the people of Seattle tend to be well-educated, and innovative,” Juergen continues. And it’s true - Seattle is the gathering places for many up-and-coming innovative businesses, including Amazon.com, SEOMoz, and Newsvine.

The new Seattle travel agency office has full-time sales staff fully-trained in the South American offices, have traveled extensively around South America, are fluent in English and other languages, and very well-educated. “It enhances customer service,” says Juergen, “when our Travel Consultants thoroughly know what they are talking about, and are available on live chat or by phones at all hours of the day.”

The company will maintain its other offices in South America and Germany, so that clients all over the world can speak with a Travel Consultants nearly any time of day.

SouthAmerica.travel also looks forward to being more involved and making its presence known in the Seattle travel agency community. “The Seattle travel industry is pretty active,” says Kaitlin McMichael, the Marketing Manager in Seattle. “There are several travel agencies in the area, from home-based agents to big names like Expedia. And there are regular social gatherings for travel industry folks to meet-and-greet.”

The newest addition to the Seattle travel agency scene, SouthAmerica.travel hopes to increase local reach and position itself as a leading and active member of the Seattle travel industry. “We want Seattle travel agencies and home-based agents to know that we can work with them,” says Kaitlin. SouthAmerica.travel offers some of the best travel agent commissions in the industry, and can work with any agency to hand-craft a custom South America vacation for its clients.