This award is designed to recognise and reward providers of services such as meals, sea crossings, event tickets and accommodation. We were looking for those suppliers who have made outstanding efforts to accommodate, attract, and welcome coaches, their drivers and their passengers.

This year, the award was divided into four categories, covering:

• Hotels and Catering
• Theatre and Venue Ticketing
• Tour Wholesaling
• Sea Transport/Water Crossing

This page covers the first of these, looking at Tour Wholesaling

Winner: Greatdays Travel Group, Altrincham, Cheshire

Greatdays is one of the UK's leading tour wholesalers to the coaching industry. The company is based in Cheshire, employees 41 staff and was founded in 1985 by present chairman John Beaumont (a former MD and owner of Shearings Holidays).

This year Greatdays will handle over 2,500 group reservations in the UK and central Europe for its clients. The company aims to produce great value wholesale deals with quality hotels and auxiliary services. This, coupled with its proven ability to develop new and creative tour programmes puts Greatdays firmly at the forefront of tour wholesaling in the UK.

The judges noted that Greatdays' extensive buying power and trusted selection of key suppliers enables them to offer competitive group rates to the UK coaching industry with a no-surcharge guarantee option on all bookings. Particularly noteworthy is that, for all tour destinations Greatdays is able to supply blue badge guides or experienced tour managers to enhance day trips or the whole tour. The hotel duty manager is instructed to go on board the coach on arrival to welcome the group and guides meet groups at their hotel and start the day trip from the hotel lobby, a great all-round service.

Runner Up: Action Tours, Shifnal, Shropshire

Shropshire based Action Tours has firmly established itself as the leading wholesaler for group travel to the island of Ireland. In recent years it has proved an invaluable supplier of tours to destinations across the UK and in particular to the Isle of Man, which has seen significant demand from coach groups; it also offers an enticing European programme. Punching well above their weight in a very competitive industry, the company continues to provide inventive, affordable and rewarding holiday packages that can be tailor-made to suit the customer’s aims.

The judges were impressed that company provides an ‘Out of Hours’ Service (available 24 hours, seven days a week throughout the year) which has been a lifesaver for a number of customers and where Action Tours have gone the extra mile to come to someone’s rescue when circumstances have conspired against them: cancelled ferries, snowbound coaches, flooded hotels, even a pheasant through the windscreen! Strong and established relationships with suppliers have enabled them to rebuild and repair tours to get customers back on track..

Highly Commended: Albatross Tours, Larkfield, Kent

The Albatross Travel Group is a trade only wholesale travel organisation, promoting its tours exclusively to the travel industry. The company specialises in group travel and all their packages are aimed at that market.

Based, in Kent, the company was first established in 1985 and now handles the leisure travel arrangements for well over 3,000 groups a year.

Who could be nominated?

This category was open to:

• tour wholesaling companies offering products for coach operators

… and by whom

Readers of Coach and Bus Week magazine who are coach operators were asked to nominate providers of services they have admired during the last 12 months.

They were asked to explain why they think the nominated service provider deserves this award – this will cover such matters as:

• the ease of booking
• the flexibility and quality of customer service during the enquiry and booking stages
• the welcome provided on the ground to
  • the coach
  • the passengers
  • the driver