About Helpful Holidays

An award-winning business founded 36 years ago, we're based at the heart of the West Country, in Chagford within the Dartmoor National Park.

We know the West Country and the holiday cottages we let very well and our excellent team of 35, who help arrange over 16,000 holidays a year, provide a friendly, personal service where customers come first. More than 60% of our bookings are from previous customers, their friends, relatives and work colleagues, and 99.6% of customers who responded to our questionnaires this year said they would recommend us to friends. Our job is simple - to do all we can to make sure you have happy holidays. We do so by being very honest and straightforward. By publishing clear photos and accurate descriptions and by having knowledgeable staff to advise you. By carefully and regularly inspecting cottages (see 'Star ratings') and upholding our industry-leading standards of quality. By never overpromising (if anything, we understate) and absolutely delivering on the expectations we raise. This approach has earned us a faithful and growing fan club.

Inspections

All the properties we let are inspected by us. Our inspections are unique, relying enormously heavily on the experience of the inspectors, members of our team who have seen hundreds of houses. They check everything we think might be relevant to your enjoyment of your holiday, from basic cleanliness to whether the colour of the curtains goes with the duvet covers. They check the inventory, bounce on beds, take in the view and check whether the loo fill (or squeaky floorboard) will wake you at night. They get a feel for a house and how it would be to live there. Sometimes it's about the quality or quantity of 'gadgets' and, yes, there are some tick boxes but mostly it's about ambience, tone and comfort, all looked at with a good dollop of common sense. Although they are invisible to our customers, inspections are possibly the most important thing we do. They allows us to offer you an unbiased, expert, sympathetic and trustworthy person who has looked at a house before your holiday, to whom you can chat and ask, "Do you think this is the right place for me? Will I be happy there?" and from whom you know you will get a straight answer.

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