Help Us Win Gold at the ‘Travel Oscars’ and You Could Win Too!

We are thrilled to have been nominated for a prestigious British Travel Award for the third year running! As proud silver winners of the "Best UK Holiday Cottage/Self Catering Booking Company" category for two years in a row, we are going for gold in 2013.

To win, we need the support of all our customers but it’s not a one way street. By voting, voters are entered into a BTA prize draw with some great travel prizes, including holiday vouchers, sea and river cruises, cross-channel ferry tickets, car hire packages and more. The prize chest is being added to all the time.

It is, however, a very tough competition. We're one of several companies nominated for this category, some of which are national players marketing cottages across the country, so we need your votes now if we're to have a chance of winning. Please support us by clicking here to register your vote.

The British Travel Awards are widely considered the "Oscars" of the travel industry, so we'd love to do well, especially because it means the people who stay in the cottages and places we know and love, love them too. Please ask your friends and family to vote too - your votes could make all the difference. The closing date for voting is 30th September.

Here is how to vote. It takes just a couple of minutes (Please note there's no need to vote in every category, just those in which you're interested).

• Click here to open the voting area of the BTA website.

• Enter your details on the voting registration form and click "Submit".

• You'll arrive at the voting form headed "How to complete the form".

• Scroll down and click the heading, "Who are the best UK holiday companies and tourist attractions?"

• Select and click the "Best UK Holiday Cottage/Self Catering Booking Company" category from the drop-down menu.

• Select and click "Helpful Holidays" from the list of nominations.

• Scroll down the page to click on the "Submit" button to complete your vote.
Please note there's no need to vote in every category, just those in which you're interested.

Thank you for taking the time to vote for Helpful Holidays. Fingers crossed!

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.

 

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.

We've been nominated for a British Travel Award!

Fantastic news! Helpful Holidays has been nominated by the British Travel Awards in the Best UK cottage/self catering booking company (UK properties) category. We're delighted to be shortlisted amongst the very top national UK agencies.

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. The results will be announced at a glittering ceremony on Wednesday 2nd November at the Battersea Evolution in Battersea Park, London.

Welcoming the unexpected accolade, our General Manager, Moray Bowater, said, “This is a great credit to our team and home owners, as well as a testament to the level of service and quality of properties offered by Helpful Holidays overall. Our holidaymakers and home owners’ views are at the very heart of the awards programme and we’re seeking their support by asking them to cast their votes. If our service has met or exceeded their expectations, they can register and vote online; as a thank you for their time, they will be entered automatically into a prize draw with the chance of winning some great holidays and other rewards.”

The British Travel Awards are widely considered to be the ‘Oscars’ of the travel industry. BTA’s Chief Executive, Lorraine Barnes Burton, said, “It’s the largest awards programme in the UK, created to reward travel companies, and 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.”

We’re one of 13 companies nominated in this category, most of which are big, national players covering the whole of the UK. So we need your votes if we’re to win!

Please support us by clicking the voting button below. Please tell your friends and family to vote too, your votes could make all the difference.

 

You don't need to vote in all the categories, just those which interest you.

You'll find our category under the question

"Who are the best hotels and accommodation booking companies?".

The deadline is 30th September 2011.

Thank you!