Travel Designers, Balham

The store is adorned with quirky features such as a large silver Buddha’s head and a drinks trolley from an aeroplane. Store manager, Nicholas Harding-McKay, assures us that the trolley is always stocked up and ready to go. Travel Designers isn’t afraid to show off its credentials either: above Nicholas’s desk is a plethora of awards trophies.

The four-strong team is tech-savvy when it comes to marketing. They have been hard at work pushing the business online, building a 4,462 strong following on Facebook and recently relaunching their website. Clients and tour operators are encouraged to write reviews in the blog section to better inform potential clients of destinations and attractions. Harding-McKay explains that fresh content is shared at least once a week. Travel Designers also pushes its own e-zine, seeing engagement from an impressive database of 230,000.

The team likes to get out into the real world too, always looking for new opportunities to engage new customers, even promoting active holidays at Weight Watchers. Staff attend events and familiarisation trips as often they can, always with an eye on being able to better inform the customer.

Their efforts see around 40 people visit the store each and an 18% year-on-year increase in sales this year.

Going beyond the call of duty is the norm for Travel Designers, the team even once looking after a client’s dog with strict instructions to give it only Evian water to drink. Last year the team worked with Certitude to raise £3,500 for a local children’s hospice. Harding-McKay also recalls driving a distraught client who was afraid of flying to the airport, offering moral support all the way.

• traveldesigners.co.uk