Helpful Holidays wins Silver at British Travel Awards...

We were delighted to hear last night that we’ve scooped second place and a Silver Award at the prestigious British Travel Awards.

The British Travel Awards are acknowledged as the most definitive and largest monitor of public opinion on the performance of travel and tourism providers. Shortlisted companies are nominated by travel industry professionals, but it is the leisure holidaymakers whose votes finally determine the winners. Over 700,000 votes were cast this year with the results scrutinized and audited by Deloitte LLP.

Our award is in the Best UK Cottage/Self Catering Booking Company (UK properties) category, and we were competing against strong national competition.

British Travel Awards’ Chief Executive, Lorraine Barnes Burton, said, “The British Travel Awards is the largest awards programme in the UK, created to reward travel companies, with the winning accolade being the benchmark for excellence when it comes to finding out who really is the best in the business of travel for the UK consumer. This year the competition was fierce and Helpful Holidays is to be congratulated on its achievement.”

We’re honoured to have been nominated for this prestigious award and immensely grateful to all those who took the trouble to vote for us. Helpful Holidays has always stood for reliable, un-hyped and outstanding service to its customers. This award recognises that in the best possible way – via the votes of those we serve and those who know us.

Delighted with the unexpected accolade, our General Manager, Moray Bowater added, “Ultimately, trust is the currency that really counts and we're happy that earning that of our customers through our straightforward and frank approach has been the touchstone of our business since we started 30 years ago.

“We believe that success and profit are the by-products of delivering outstanding service. The credit for doing the difficult job of always trying to deliver service beyond our customers’ expectations goes to every one of our team - advocates for our holidaymakers and confidants for our homeowners”.

It was a good night all round, as Cornwall won the ‘Best UK Holiday Region”, followed by Devon with a Silver award, St Ives won the “Best UK Seaside Town” and Eden Project won “Best UK Leisure Attraction”.

Here are some of the other awards we’ve won in recent years…

• Federation of Small Business (FSB) Devon Business Awards 2009 – Service Excellence Award – Winner
• National Customer Service Awards Team of the Year Business to Consumer 2009 – National Finalist
• National Business Awards Cable & Wireless Award for Customer Focus 2007 – Regional Finalist
• 2006 Service Excellence Awards (Management Today & Unisys) – National Finalist
• South West Tourism Awards 2005 Outstanding Customer Service Award Winner – James Webb
• The Parcelforce Worldwide Small Business Awards 2005 – Regional Finalist
• E-Commerce Awards 2005 Best use of broadband – Regional Finalist

To view our portfolio of over 600 places to stay sleeping two to 48 guests in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset, visit http://www.helpfulholidays.com/ or call 01647 433593 for a free brochure or to chat with one of our team.