Helpful Holidays wins Silver at British Travel Awards for two consecutive years...

We've scooped second place and a Silver Award for the second year in a row against strong national competition at the British Travel Awards in the Best UK cottage/self catering booking company category.

 

The 2012 results were announced last night at a glittering ceremony at the Battersea Evolution in London where four long-serving members of our team (Rikki, Natalie, Sasha and James) collected the award.
 

The British Travel Awards are acknowledged as the most definitive and largest monitor of public opinion on the performance of travel and tourism providers. Travel companies and tourism organisations were invited to register for listing in the various categories; a shortlist was then drawn up by a panel of respected individuals from both in and outside of the travel industry, but it is the leisure holidaymakers whose votes finally determine the winners.
 

Delighted with the accolade, our General Manager, Moray Bowater, said, “We’re honoured to have won this prestigious award and immensely grateful to all those who took the trouble to vote for us. It’s a great credit to our team and our home owners, as well as a testament to the level of service and quality of properties offered by Helpful Holidays overall.

“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. 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 over 30 years ago”, concluded Moray.

 

Our Rikki, Sasha, Natalie and James

It was also a great night for Cornwall which won Best UK Holiday County or Region and Best UK Coastal Town or Resort for St Ives, as well as awards for Eden Project, Fal River Cornwall and Minack Theatre.

The British Travel Awards' Chief Executive, Lorraine Barnes Burton, said, “It’s the largest consumer voted awards programme in the UK, designed to reward the best companies in travel. The winning accolade is 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 award follows on from our earlier success in 2012 when we came top in the Which? Travel magazine members’ survey of holiday cottage and villa booking companies, achieving a very high score of 92% and getting five out of five stars in all but one category.

Visit our website to browse our holiday cottages in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset or give our telephone team a call on 01647 433593 for some human help to find just the right place for a happy holiday in 2013.

 

New cottage near St Ives

Right down at the far end of Cornwall is St Ives. It’s a very popular and very attractive old small fishing town that’s become popular with artists. The town is nearly surrounded (it’s almost an island) by superb beaches - some great for surfing, some sheltered. It has narrow, cobbled streets, alleyways, slate-hung cottages, lots of hanging flower baskets and the splendid Tate Gallery and Barbara Hepworth’s studio (lovely garden with her sculpture). There’s a beautiful harbour and a leisure centre with an indoor pool. It’s easy to get to because it’s on the railway and there’s a stop right behind Station Beach at Carbis Bay – quite something to take the train to the beach! Further out of town there are superb cliff/headland walks west to Zennor, and far beyond. 2 miles away is an excellent golf course and Penzance from where you can get the helicopter to the Isles of Scilly is 9 miles away. Land’s End (beautiful drive, beautiful view, shame about the ‘attraction’) is about 16.
This cute little bolthole is about 2 miles out of Carbis Bay. It’s ‘deep in spring flower-filled Cornish hedgerow lanes’ – sounds lovely. Prices start at £243 for a party of 4 for a week.