For Immediate Release – Ovation Travel Group, one of the largest independently owned travel management and luxury leisure travel companies headquartered in the US, announced it has moved its headquarters to Chrysler East (42nd Street and Third Avenue) in Midtown Manhattan to better accommodate the company’s continued growth, which is on track to increase substantially over the next ten years. The new offices at 666 Third Avenue – conceptualized and planned by New York’s award-winning Design Republic to be evocative of Ovation’s brand, people and culture – provide enjoyable and innovative spaces to conduct business and entertain its clients.
“As we wrapped up Ovation Travel Group’s 35th year in business, we celebrated that auspicious occasion with the best possible gift we could provide to our valued clients and exceptionally talented team of staff and Independent Advisors (IAs): a new, easily-accessible state-of-the-art headquarters in one of New York City’s most iconic office complexes,” stated Paul Metselaar, CEO and Chairman of Ovation Travel Group. “Migrating Ovation’s growing base of operations to the significantly larger Chrysler East in Midtown Manhattan also underscores our commitment to be closer to key clients, more centrally located for our employees, advisors and travel supplier partners, and within easy reach of major transportation options.”
After 20 years at its former location at 71 Fifth Avenue, Ovation began searching for a new home. “After stumbling upon Chrysler East, we figured there wouldn’t be a better place than to be in a historic area of New York City, and the fact that it is adjacent to the iconic Chrysler Building was very attractive to us,” noted Sunil Mahtani, Executive Vice President of Ovation Travel Group. “Here we’ve built out a space for our people, enabling them to be more efficient and do their work at the highest levels possible.”
Collaborating with Design Republic
“The task of planning the 40,000 square feet of raw space with exposed columns was figuring out what we would do with it. The key was to find the right design team to help us. After interviewing many architects, we finally decided on Design Republic. Their presentation was excellent, the team that presented was great and we just found that ‘connection’ with them because that’s what we represent as a company,” explained Mahtani, adding, “Ovation Travel Group is all about connections. It’s connections to our brand. It’s connections to our people. It’s connections to our culture. It’s connecting our clients to their clients. And it’s connecting our travelers to destinations and places they’ve never been to.”
“For Design Republic, it was imperative that the success of any design be founded in Ovation’s identity, who they are today and who they will be going forward,” explained Neil Tucker, AIA and Partner with Design Republic. “When exploring what that identity is, one theme became clear: connections. Connections to people, places, clients, colleagues and cultures. It was natural to our design process that we follow and celebrate these connections Ovation makes every day, along with interpretations of what we all love about the experience of a journey – in this case, a journey that aligns with the team’s workflow, promotes connection and celebrates collaboration.”
Ovation Travel Group Headquarters’ Innovative Design
Design Republic’s blueprint for Ovation’s new headquarters found its inspirations from the classic European city plan, with established neighborhoods of focused work arranged around an all-important communal town center, which flows from the headquarters’ east side reception through to an exterior terrace accessible from the southwest café. Clients, Independent Advisors (IAs), staff and visitors alike will arrive within Ovation’s elevator lobby, which provides subtle hints to the history of the Chrysler Building Annex, originally designed by Reinhard, Hofmeister & Walquist Architects and later modernized by renowned architect Phillip Johnson.
Upon arrival, visitors will walk out onto the original terrazzo floor, discovered during interior demolition and now restored, will view an exposed original steel column just beyond the twin glass reception doors and will see the original concrete encased beams and girders, which make up the structural deck above.
“These hints of the building’s history are balanced against crisp new lines, the warmth of wood and metal, bold color and the tastefully positioned Ovation Travel Group logo hovering over a white marble backdrop,” wrote Tucker in a letter to Ovation’s team. “A playful moment to be enjoyed will be a split-flap arrivals board – the same type of which graces so many train stations around the world – centered within reception and click-clacking customized greetings to valued guests and clients.”
Moving from reception through a “jetway” with custom artwork representing a global skyline and with intimate meeting nooks, the visitor will encounter training and vendor rooms and Ovation’s European-style café, with views towards the recognizable 42nd Street Chrysler Glass Pyramids below and the Chrysler Building itself rising to the north. The café will be a crossroads for all of Ovation; it’s leadership, staff, suppliers and clients alike.
“Based on the initial response from our leadership, employees and IAs, our collaboration with Design Republic really hit it out of the park,” added Metselaar. “Throughout our new headquarters, we have created a spacious environment that is at once both classic in design and modern with an industrial avant-garde feel. This balance is enabling us to bridge any conceivable gap between the needs of our longtime veteran advisors and staff with those who are just launching their careers in travel with us.”
Ovation’s luxury leisure travel division is inviting independent advisors to learn how to qualify for its program by visiting OvationTravel.com/Become-an-Independent.
