ARTICLE
We won the Customer Excellence Award at the SoGlos Business Awards 2026
SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards 2026
Last year, we came home from the SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards with Best Place to Work and a Highly Commended in Customer Excellence. This year, we went one better.On Thursday 5 November, at Cheltenham Town Hall, we were named winners of the Customer Excellence Award 2026. And we're absolutely chuffed about it. This one means a lot to us, because it’s about what we care about most: the people we design holidays for!
The team, all smiles after scooping the Customer Excellence Award at the SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards 2026
The Customer Excellence Award goes to businesses that put the customer first in everything they do. For us that’s never been a slogan. It’s just how we work.Every holiday we design starts with a conversation. We listen, ask a lot of questions and get to know you: the early starts you’d rather avoid, the wildlife you’ve wanted to see since you were small, the kind of hotel where you relax the moment you walk in. Then one of our destination experts designs your trip around exactly that. They’ve been there themselves, and they’ve walked the routes, eaten in the restaurants and slept in the hotels.That care doesn’t stop once you’ve booked, either. We’re there before you go and while you’re away, and when you get back we want to hear every story.
SoGlos Awards 2026
It takes a whole team to win an award like this, a team who get as excited about your holiday as you do. So a huge thank you to everyone at Holiday Architects. Thank you too to every traveller who has trusted us with their time away, given us feedback and come back to tell us how it went. This award is as much yours as ours.A huge thank you to SoGlos for another brilliant evening, to System Force IT for sponsoring the category, and to the judges. Congratulations to Ceiling Tiles UK, who were highly commended, and to all the finalists in a very strong category! We were proud to be up there amongst you all.It was a big night all round. We were also finalists for Small Business of the Year, and our very own (incredible!) Catherine Williams was a finalist for Employee of the Year, which makes us incredibly proud.If you’d like to find out what it’s like to travel with us, we’d love to hear from you. Tell us where you’re dreaming of going and we’ll take it from there.
From left to right: The team representing HA on the night; Harrier, Cat and Radders (with Andy following on behind!)
Judges are one thing, but the feedback that means the most to us comes from the people we’ve planned holidays for. After every trip we love hearing how it went: the guide who made the day, the hotel that was just right, the moment that went wrong and was sorted before it could spoil anything. Here are a couple of stories that remind us why we do this. You can read more of our Trustpilot reviews here.
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[content] => We travelled on our very first South Africa & safari experience with Kirsty in September this year and my goodness, what a trip! Speaking to Kirsty you can really tell she knows this part of the world inside and out, and she made the trip planning all so seamless and exciting. She was full of advice before we left, and all of this was absolutely spot on for our holiday - it meant all we had to do was enjoy the holiday of a lifetime without having to worry about any annoying elements of trip planning. Thank you so much to Kirsty and Holiday Architects - we will be back!
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We travelled on our very first South Africa & safari experience with Kirsty in September this year and my goodness, what a trip! Speaking to Kirsty you can really tell she knows this part of the world inside and out, and she made the trip planning all so seamless and exciting. She was full of advice before we left, and all of this was absolutely spot on for our holiday - it meant all we had to do was enjoy the holiday of a lifetime without having to worry about any annoying elements of trip planning. Thank you so much to Kirsty and Holiday Architects - we will be back!
Mikey GTrustpilot
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[content] => Once again Holiday Architects created us a fabulous itinerary. This time it was Peru. The range and diversity of the schedule meant we really made the most of the time we had there. We loved all their suggested activities and it was the right balance between being physically active and then some downtime to look around on our own or simply relax. If you’re thinking of booking an adventure do go with Holiday Architects, they really do care and work hard to make it the best trip possible
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Once again Holiday Architects created us a fabulous itinerary. This time it was Peru. The range and diversity of the schedule meant we really made the most of the time we had there. We loved all their suggested activities and it was the right balance between being physically active and then some downtime to look around on our own or simply relax. If you’re thinking of booking an adventure do go with Holiday Architects, they really do care and work hard to make it the best trip possible
Carolyn LiddiardTrustpilot
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Some more photos from a brilliant evening
Last year, at the SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards 2025
We’re absolutely thrilled to share that Holiday Architects had a brilliant night at the SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards 2025 last week. Held on Thursday 6 November 2025 at Cheltenham Town Hall, the event brought a huge number of the county’s most dynamic businesses across a range of categories together in one impressive room.This year, we were lucky enough to be finalists in THREE categories: Best Place to Work, Customer Excellence and Team of the Year.Our Emma, Ian and Andy were there representing Team HA on the night, with the rest of us glued to our phones for updates, with all fingers and toes firmly crossed... drumroll please...
SoGlos Gloucestershire Business Awards
We are so honoured to have been named Winner of the Best Place to Work award!Scooping this award is the perfect reflection of how building genuine connections, not just with trips and destinations, but among our team, is central to everything we do.It celebrates how we support, challenge, and truly enjoy working together. This is such a huge part of why the holidays we design are so loved by our clients, we genuinely love and enjoy every second of creating them.
Our Emma, Ian and Andy glammed up and accepting the 'Best Place to Work in Gloucestershire' gong!
"Being the best place to work in Gloucestershire doesn’t happen by accident - it’s a result of the effort everyone puts into making HA’s culture as strong as possible. I think it’s all the more impressive that the team has built this team spirit in a largely remote working environment: it means making an extra effort to look out for each other and to support each other, and to commit to using our monthly Connection Days to really strengthen our relationships. It’s very easy to hide in a remote workplace but no-one does that here, and the pride the team have in what we’ve built and the desire to keep improving it, is so inspiring. So this really is a team win, and it's built on the importance each one of us places on making this the best group of colleagues and workmates you could wish for."Andy Hunt, HA founder
Not only did we walk away with the Best Place to Work gong, we were Highly Commended and placed Second in the Customer Excellence Award category.It goes without saying that the relationship we build with our customers beyond hugely important; it's always a priority, so this recognition means a lot. Always listening closely and really understanding what's important, before designing a truly unique adventure that fits like a glove, that will always be how we work.We're so proud of our Trustpilot reviews that reflect this, and this added accolade from the brilliant SoGlos means the world.
Highly Commended for Customer Excellence
This kind of recognition isn’t just a trophy to add to the old cabinet (though they absolutely will have pride of place). It reinforces that we're doing things right. From the first chat we have with our clients, all the way through the designing of all those unforgettable holidays and beyond, we love every minute of it.Winning Best Place to Work tells us we’re doing well by our own team. Being recognised for Customer Excellence tells us our clients feel that, too.
Emma and Ian heading up to collect our award
A great big thank you to everyone who supports us: our team, our clients, and our travel partners in the countries we love.And a huge thanks to SoGlos for organising such a brilliant night and spotlighting the spirit of Gloucestershire’s business community. A massive well done to all the other finalists and winners, what a fantastic room of people to be a part of.We’re excited to take the momentum from the awards into the next season of travel, ready and raring to design more one-off journeys, build more authentic connections – both with our clients and across the world – and enjoy every minute of it together as a team.Here’s to what’s next!Read more about this year's event and see the full list of finalists and winners here.
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Some more photos from a brilliant evening
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