At a glitzy ceremony in Birmingham, on 27th April 2023, representatives from the Travel Village Group attended the TTG Top 50 Awards ceremony with hopeful anticipation of picking up an award on the night.
The Group was shortlisted (an achievement in itself!) for no less than 4 categories, as being one of the Top 5 in the country for that category:
Best Cruise Agency – Southampton Cruise Centre
Best Homeworking Agency – The Holiday Village
Best Online Agency – Travel Village Group
Best Travel Agency: North West Region – The Travel Village
The TTG Top 50 Awards is an annual event that recognises and celebrates the most successful and innovative travel companies in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The awards cover a wide range of categories, including tour operators, cruise lines, airlines, hotels, and technology providers. Winners are selected based on their performance and achievements over the previous 12 months, as well as their reputation and contributions to the travel industry. All shortlisted agencies undergo a rigorous interview and assessment, with a judging panel comprised of a member of staff from TTG Media, and a representative from the tour operator that sponsors the award. The TTG Top 50 Awards are highly respected within the industry and winning one is considered a great achievement. The event is also an opportunity for industry professionals to network and share best practices.
We’re very proud to say that we won! In fact, we won two of our categories, which is simply amazing. We’re now officially recognised as one of the TTG Top 50 Travel Agencies 2023: an annual power-list of the nation’s best agents by industry bible, Travel Trade Gazette.
Southampton Cruise Centre is the UK & Ireland’s Number 1 Cruise Agency, and the Travel Village is officially the Best Travel Agency in the North West of England!
TTG editorial director Pippa Jacks said:
Now in its eighth year, our TTG Top 50 Travel Agencies initiative sees us tour the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland to find those travel agents who have worked smartest, provided the best customer service, and done most to contribute to a fairer travel industry, in the last year.
We were delighted to see the high street travel agency sector performing so strongly, with almost every finalist reporting a record year of sales in the last 12 months – reaping the rewards of the extraordinary service they offered to clients during the challenges of recent years. There is no doubting that the high street travel agent is here to stay – and that holidaymakers are valuing their expertise more than ever.
About Travel Village’s win, judges said:
A new store manager [Carolyn Markey] who brought 30 years’ experience to the business has seen this Blackpool agency propelled from good to great since last summer. With impressive sales growth, exemplary customer service, and a successful focus on driving river cruise, this is a high street agent that is going from strength to strength.
About Southampton Cruise Centre’s win, judges said:
The team at Southampton Cruise Centre impressed with new technology and service processes which put the customer at the heart of everything the team does, as well as its deep-rooted passion for looking after its staff and a focus on looking after the planet. A raft of new developments and impressive growth added up to a pivotal year for this family-run business, which is part of the Travel Village Group. A very worthy winner indeed.
Group CEO, Phil Nuttall, had this to say:
To have a business named as the best cruise retailer in the British Isles is a huge honour, and certainly not an accolade that we take for granted.
Southampton Cruise Centre has really come of age over this last year and the decision to make this our flagship “Ocean Cruise” brand [as the Cruise Village moved to become a 5* & 6* luxury and expedition cruising brand] was clearly the right one.
The support from Lewis & Jess [Clayton] to make this website what it is and Mop [Jess Nuttall], Lilli Medlicott, Lily Hall & Jenny Higgins’ social know-how has elevated the marketing to another level. Thank you Richard for all your hard work and dedication in driving the commercials and supporting the sales team. This is as much your award as anyone’s.
Our sales team has been incredible and now with Lisa’s team’s support, we will help you to have the best year ever and continue to invest to drive you more sales and higher margins.The Travel Village team… WOW! Haven’t you had the best year ever? What a team! Between you, you have a real opportunity to enhance the values and visibility of this business both in our local community and a wider audience.
Our social responsibilities will be as important as our sales and the behaviour of the business in Blackpool and the Fylde will be talked about extremely positively.To all our incredible people in Finance, Support, Claire in Customer Service and our Care Team – you continue to deliver the most incredible service to our guests and your colleagues. You are the backbone of the business and as we continue to work closer with each other we will continue to grow closer to each other.
That is why we retain our customers and our people. Thank you so much, you are amazing.Special thanks to John our Group MD for your relentless pursuit of greatness for our family business.
You have pushed us all over the last 12 months to enable us to realise what we can achieve as a business – TOGETHER.
Your passion and will to get the best out of people is so important and you have really grown into our family business.Finally, my wife. Thank you so much for your operational support and instinct for what is right. Everyone has benefited from this but none more than me. Thank you x
Stand proud of what you have achieved this financial year. Let’s go and smash 2023/24!