Top 50 - East of England - Deben Travel, Woodbridge

Deben Travel is a store that consistently impresses – both in terms of its customer service and its commitment to the environment. And after celebrating its 10th anniversary last year, two years after being crowned the UK and Ireland’s No.1 Agency in the TTG Top 50 Awards 2020, the team continues to go from strength to strength.

The agency boasts a 4.8/5 star rating on Facebook, while 30% of bookings last year were new customers as a result of client recommendations. The store even has its own holiday-themed fragrance to excite customers as they enter. The team regularly contact hotels to arrange surprise gifts for clients’ special birthdays, while owner Lee Hunt used his own holiday in Austria to check out a hotel to ensure it would be suitable for a client with mobility issues.

Training needs are assessed frequently and gaps in knowledge regularly identified, with the team undergoing numerous dedicated training sessions over the past 12 months.

Meanwhile, Lee is a well-known face – and voice – around town, having secured a regular travel show on the local Felixstowe Radio station.

This travel agency strives to play its part in terms of sustainability too: after joining many much bigger travel firms to sign the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism last year, the team has since been busy measuring its carbon footprint. As a result of this journey the agency has made a number of changes, including presenting customers with tickets in wallets made of sustainable material. 

Deben Travel has also partnered with a local company to create reusable polystyrene window boards, and by the end of 2023 the store will have planted an estimated 5,000 trees around a local school, to help contribute towards the carbon emissions of the customers they send abroad. 

debentravel.co.uk