Designer Travel, Ramsbottom

Designer Travel, Ramsbottom
North West’s Top Agency 2020

Standing prominently in a busy corner of the leafy market town of Ramsbottom, Designer Travel is a popular destination for locals, drawn through the door by the agency’s space and minimalism. Inside, the store is filled with flowers and the scent of candles, with a lounge area complete with a coffee machine, a TV playing Netflix and an activity box for kids.

With the agency having been established in 2008 by former Co-operative Travel directors Amanda Matthews and Karen Pocock, you’ll certainly be in safe hands at this store, thanks also to a newly appointed concierge who checks every last detail and arranges special touches.

While the agency undoubtedly has a luxurious feel, the team caters for all budgets, from good-value package holidays (assistant manager Nigel Gregory is a Jet2holidays and Tui specialist), to tailor-made long-haul itineraries. Designer Travel likes to keep in touch with its clients, welcoming every customer home from their holiday, and boasting an 80% repeat customer rate. The agency has a 4.9/5 rating on Facebook, and so engaged is its following that Designer Travel has created an off-site team dedicated to servicing Facebook enquiries. Clients can be sure of fun competitions on social media too, such as The Luxury Hotel Giveaway, which saw the agency give away two hotel stays a week for two months to clients who booked from 31 December to 1 March.

Agents will go above and beyond for their clients, including pushing for room upgrades and interconnected rooms for families, and ensuring those with specific needs get what they need in-resort. One regular customer, who is a wheelchair user, can bank on Designer Travel to ensure his hotel room is next to a lift, and that he has somewhere to charge his wheelchair.

Designer Travel cares about the community it serves, providing selection boxes and Easter eggs for kids in schools and at Blackburn hospital; sponsoring the local annual duck race; fundraising; and donating prizes to charities. When it comes to protecting the environment, the agency uses eco-friendly packaging and actively promotes operators that it deems use good practices.

designertravel.co.uk