Tots to Travel wins Customer Kings Award

• Thursday, 11 March 2010

Family friendly travel company recognised for excellent customer service

11th March 2010 – Tots to Travel (www.totstotravel.co.uk) has been crowned as one of the eight winners in the 2010 Cisco Customer Kings awards, held in conjunction with Real Business magazine. The awards recognise UK companies that provide the best customer engagement and service.

Tots to Travel, an online holiday company specialising in family-friendly accommodation, sends teams of inspectors (all mums) to visit every property listed on its website to ensure they are safe and properly equipped for families with young children.

The company provides in-depth information on every property, with any potential safety issues like a low window or steep flight of stairs highlighted, so that parents can make an informed decision about whether it is right for them.

The properties have an extensive array of child-friendly kit available, from plastic crockery to dress up boxes and electric plug socket covers, while parents can enjoy the benefits of on-site baby-sitting, home cooked meals and spa treatments. The company even offers packing lists, advice on how to travel with children and creates personalised short lists of properties based on a customer’s exact needs.

“We are ecstatic to have won this award. Our objective in setting up Tots to Travel was to enable parents to have the holiday they need, without all the usual stress that goes along with it,” explains Wendy Shand, founder of Tots to Travel and mum of three. “We’ve tried to blend the best of the internet with good old fashioned customer service. Critically, we truly understand our customers and give them the kind of service we’d like to receive as parents.”

Every customer is asked to review their holiday when they return. 91% of Tots families rated their holiday as 'absolutely fabulous' or 'great' in 2009.

Real Business’ Charles Orton-Jones comments, “Tots To travel is a perfect example of a company that places its customers at the heart of its business; every action, decision and service is completely tailored to their customer’s needs making them an extremely worthy Customer King. They have taken a serious problem for parents across the country and offered a unique service to take the headache out of travelling with small children – it’s simple and very effective.”

For more information on all of the winning and highly commended companies from this year’s Customer Kings competition, please download the Real Business magazine supplement from http://www.cisco.com/cisco/web/UK/news/pdfs/RB131_CiscoCustK...

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About Tots to Travel:
Tots to Travel (www.totstotravel.co.uk) is the parent company of Tots to France, Tots to Italy and Tots to the UK. The company specialises in providing accommodation to meet the very specific needs of families with babies and young children. All properties are fully equipped with a range of child-related equipment and safety features. The company also provides English-speaking babysitters and home cooked meals. All properties are personally visited and vetted by staff trained in accordance with Child Accident Prevention Trust (CAPT) standards.

The company was set up by Wendy Shand, mum of three, in April 2006 as a holiday lettings agency with a range of family friendly properties throughout France. The concept proved enormously successful, with the company now offering over 100 French properties. Building on this success, the award-winning formula was replicated in Italy with the launch of Tots to Italy in January 2008, now featuring more than 25 vetted properties. Tots to the UK launched in February 2009 while Tots to Iberia (covering Portugal, Spain, the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands) is about to launch. The company also has plans to enter Asia soon.

Wendy Shand won the Mother@work Best Mumpreneur Award 2007, the Enterprisenation Home Business of the Year Award 2007 and the BT Essence of the Entrepreneur Award 2007. The company was also a regional finalist in the HSBC Start Up Stars awards 2008, a finalist in the StartUps Awards 2008 and a runner up in the Everywomen Awards 2008.

Press contact:
Melissa Talago
Peekaboo Communications
Melissa@peekaboocoms.co.uk
01635 248496

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