Award-winning tailor-made travel specialists, Holiday Architects, has become the latest business to benefit from the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
The £250k loan, facilitated by SWIG Finance, will be used for working capital to ensure business continuity until they can begin trading again and travel restrictions begin to be lifted.
Andrew Hunt, Managing Director and Harry Ring General Manager
Holiday Architects is a customer centric organization which creates bespoke, culturally immersive, luxury holiday packages to far-flung destinations.
They have dedicated team of knowledgeable operators that work with their customers to create tailor-made holiday packages to suit their customers’ needs.
Since establishing the business in 2010, Holiday Architects have won an accolade of awards, they won Best Tour Operator award from Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards twice, and have been placed in the Top 10 every year since 2015. They were also awarded Bronze in the Best Luxury Holiday Company category at the 2020 British Travel Awards.
Furthermore, the business is regularly nominated as Best Place to Work in Gloucestershire – they won the award in 2018 and came runner up in 2019.
With travel and tourism industry arguably taking the biggest hit during the ongoing pandemic, it has been a challenging period for Holiday Architects. To ensure their survival, they have been forced to restructure the business, however, the CBILS funding means that they were able to safeguard 11 jobs.
Despite the harsh market conditions, Holiday Architects remain positive about their future. Managing Director Andrew Hunt commented “There has been some huge changes within the industry in the last 12 months. Now that vaccines have been developed, we can start to see a light at the end of the tunnel”.
Of the funding, Andrew said “The CBILS funding has offered us a lifeline. We chose to work with SWIG Finance because, unlike other lenders, at SWIG you can talk to a person. Our Business Manager, Jordan, took the time to understand our business, its current market position and our future plans. Ultimately, SWIG Finance were able to support our business by looking at the bigger picture – something which other lenders are not willing to do.”
SWIG Finance’s business manager, Jordan Berg, led the deal. He said “Being an avid traveller myself, supporting this business was extra special. Holiday Architects are fantastic at what they do and up until Covid-19 had been growing rapidly and bringing quality jobs to the Gloucestershire region. I have no doubt their future is bright and look forward to seeing them grow as the industry begins to re-open.”
About SWIG Finance
SWIG Finance is the South West’s leading Community Development Financial Institution. We are passionate about bringing social and economic benefits to people and places in the South West.
We do this by providing support and finance to Start Ups and growing SMEs that can create and secure employment opportunities.
As the South West’s leading delivery partner for Start Up Loans UK, we can provide Start Up Loans from £500 – £25,000. For more information visit https://www.swigfinance.co.uk/start-up-loans/
We also have loans from £10,000 to £250,000 available to South West SMEs who cannot access sufficient funding from their bank https://www.swigfinance.co.uk/funds-available/
For an informal discussion about your funding requirements, get in touch with our friendly and professional team to find out how we can help: info@swigfinance.co.uk / 01872 227 932.