Debonair flew us safely to Munich, where the setting for the 12th Observer Travel Awards was the Kempinski Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten.
This year, the awards had even more weight due to the fact that Guardian readers were also asked to complete the questionnaires.
Some 17,000 readers replied to the survey. To those of us who care about our customers, these are the awards that matter.
I know Sunvil could never win in the ‘Best Travel Company’ category because our product is not focused enough. But we have never fallen outside the top-10 since the awards started. This year we came seventh.
For me, these awards serve as a barometer of our performance. When the Observer first started surveying its readers we only carried around 5,000 passengers. Last year we had around 24,000 passengers, but have not slipped at all in the ratings.
This is a sure sign to me that we have managed to maintain quality in spite of a huge increase in carryings. We must be doing something right.
In this business it’s consistency that counts and companies like Laskarina (which won for the fourth time in a row), VFB Holidays, Explore Worldwide, Simply Travel and Exodus are always in the top-10. These companies have grown steadily, yet their performance has not deteriorated.
Airtours, Inspirations, First Choice and Sunworld bring up the rear. There is an enormous difference in satisfaction levels of 35% to 39% between the bottom four and Laskarina.
Even if you think that these awards, meted out by the newspapers of the ‘chattering classes’ are not representative of tour operating as a whole, that sort of difference in satisfaction level is inexcusable.
Two of those poorly performing companies are Sunworld and Inspirations, now trading under the name of JMC. They’ve a long way to go before they can even catch Thomson, let alone deliver the quality which their executives are optimistically promising. Anyone can achieve high standards if these standards are set at too low a level.
What new ideas JMC will bring to the market I just don’t know. What it is striving for at the moment is what AITO and its members have been working on for years. It all may be new to JMC but it’s old hat to us.
But they can be thanked for the waiving of the pre-booking fee for seats. I’ll bet the others are livid, as that was a good money earner for Thomson, Airtours and First Choice. We really need to ban the practice altogether. I’m sure this will happen soon.
Althams were voted the best travel agent, P&O North Sea Ferries the best ferry company, Inghams the best ski company, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic the best leisure airline and best business airline respectively and Eurostar the best train operator.
Jordan was the favourite long-haul country, Norway the favourite European country and best city went to Sydney (long haul) and Edinburgh in the UK. Best UK hotel went to Malmaison and Worldwide to Sheraton.
Those of us who knew Bob Moore of Esprit Holidays were especially proud that he received Desmond Balmer’s special award for services to the industry.