Last Thursday was one of those evenings we'll be talking about for a long time. A good number of the Holiday Architects team stepped away from our laptops and holiday planning, donned our glad rags and headed to the C2S Growth Consultancy Awards at Cheltenham Racecourse, while Andy was making his way to London for the Best Workplaces in Travel Awards. By the end of the night, we found ourselves celebrating four shiny accolades across two different ceremonies. The C2S Awards 2026 We were Highly Commended for Team of the Year at the C2S Growth Consultancy Awards, alongside some fantastic Gloucestershire businesses doing incredible things. We were also finalists in the Customer Excellence category. (Not too shabby when you make the final six from 500+ entries!) Team HA at the C2S Awards, Cheltenham Racecourse, 2026 The Best Workplaces in Travel Awards 2026 The Best Workplaces in Travel Awards celebrate the travel companies that are creating exceptional places to work – recognising businesses that invest in their people, build positive cultures and create environments where everyone can thrive. The awards are based on anonymous surveys sent to all team members, designed to dig into what they really feel about working here. And we were honoured to scoop the following… The Award for Happiness We won the Happiness Award, recognising organisations that have created a workplace where people genuinely enjoy coming to work, feel supported, and feel part of something bigger. As a business built on human connection, that's one we're especially proud of. The Award for Equity & Inclusion We also bagged the Equity & Inclusion Award, which celebrates companies that are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels welcomed, valued and able to be themselves. Highly Commended all round To also be Highly Commended in the Small Company category, recognising our workplace culture as a whole, really was the icing on the cake. Needless to say, there were a few celebratory messages flying around our team WhatsApp that evening. What could be better than winning an award for happiness?!... Andy with our awards at the Best Workplaces in Travel Scooping an award for being the happy souls we are. Andy about to head up to collect the gong Why these awards really matter As a travel company, people often assume the best part of our job is the destinations. And don't get us wrong – we absolutely love designing extraordinary holidays. But none of that happens without the people behind them. Every itinerary, every reassuring phone call, every recommendation, every last-minute problem solved while a client is travelling... it's all made possible by a team of people who genuinely care. And that's what makes these awards feel so special. They don't recognise a marketing campaign or a sales target. They recognise the culture we've spent years building; a place where people feel supported, trusted and included. HA is a place where everyone is encouraged to be themselves, share ideas and look after one another - and maintaining that will always be top of the priority list. Because, when our team enjoy coming to work, our clients feel the difference too. We are quite a happy bunch... Celebrating at the Cheltenham Racecourse A huge thank you We're incredibly grateful to everyone involved in both awards, and to the judges for recognising what we've worked so hard to build. Congratulations as well to all of the brilliant businesses and travel companies recognised alongside us. It was a privilege to celebrate with so many inspiring people. Most of all, thank you to our wonderful team. Holiday Architects has never been about one person. It's built on dozens of people bringing their knowledge, kindness, humour and passion to work every single day. We're lucky to work with people who care deeply about the countries they specialise in, the local partners they work with and, most importantly, the clients who trust us with something so precious. These awards belong to every single one of them. 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(And celebrating them is something we’ll always be naturals at…) But as you read this, we'll already be back doing what we love most… helping you discover the world, one tailor-made holiday at a time. And we wouldn't have it any other way. Cheers to what's next for Holiday Architects!