Bill and Christine Sheppard are “absolutely thrilled” with the success of World Travellers at Best Travel’s success in the UnisonFibre Hastings City Business Awards.
After winning the EIT Excellence in Professional Services Award, the travel cooperative went on to claim the Newstalk ZB and Hawke’s Bay Today Supreme Winner Award.
EIT Marketing Director Brenda Chapman says it’s the third successive year in which the winner of the EIT category has also been the overall winner. Last year’s double award winner was The House of Travel, Hastings and, in 2011, optometrists Shattky Donaldson and Eagle.
World Travellers’ managing director, Bill says the cooperative has gone from just two members – Hawke’s Bay and Rotorua – when it launched in 2010 to now encompassing 23 outlets throughout New Zealand.
Bill says the business model has turned the travel industry around. By using its combined buying power, the cooperative is able to secure good deals for travellers and that in turn has boosted the number of repeat clients.
Focused on marketing and strategy, Bill says making the decision to work on the business rather than in the business was paying off with the financial year shaping up as the best yet.
Wife Christine, worldwide travel designer and manager of Best Travel, says the double win in the awards was “a great buzz for the whole team”.
Enthusiastic travellers themselves, the couple’s latest trip will take in Italy, Greece, Turkey and Bill’s native Scotland where they will be joining his mother to celebrate her 85th birthday.