A family-owned villa holiday firm is celebrating after scooping a host of top prizes at the British Travel Awards.
Burton-on-Trent based Solmar Villas won six awards, including three gold, at a glittering ceremony at Battersea Evolution in London.
Solmar chief executive Julie Blake said: “I am over the moon with these awards – they are voted for by customers, which is the best accolade we can ask for.
“We pride ourselves on the quality of our villas and on our service to holidaymakers, and it’s lovely that so many of them have taken the time to vote for us as a result.
“Against some of the biggest names in the travel industry, it’s overwhelming that we have done so well. Thank you to everyone who voted for us.”
Solmar Villas was shortlisted in six categories and won gold or silver in each one. The company took the top awards for summer sun, villa holidays and tailor-made holidays (medium category), and silver in the family holidays (medium), southern Europe/Canaries, and best travel website for accommodation booking categories.
The ceremony was hosted by television presenter Alison Hammond and guests enjoyed a special performance from Strictly’s Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice. An auction during the evening raised money for the NSPCC.
The awards success comes at a busy time for family-run Solmar, which is targeting significant growth over the next three years.
Villas on the Amalfi coast have been added this year to take the portfolio to 1,500 properties, and the aim is that new villas and new destinations will increase that to 2,500 next year.
A new commercial director and purchasing and product director have already been recruited, as well as new directors to steer sales and marketing, operations and finance as Solmar aims to position itself as the primary provider of villas with private pools.
With a new logo and rebrand also complete, Julie said the focus was now on investing for growth. In the coming weeks staff will move into bigger offices at the Centrum One Hundred business park which will double the company’s operating space.
She said: “Even before covid we had invested more than £600,000 in our bespoke reservation system and website.
“Now that we are getting back to normal, we are concentrating on getting the right people in place to drive future growth. We also want to recruit more sales, marketing and overseas teams to make sure we continue to deliver the sort of personal service our customers know us for. Our new office will enable us to expand our UK team and provide employees with a comfortable and professional space to work from.”
