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About Iglu.com

Iglu.com is an Internet-based travel agency specialising in the sale of snowboarding and ski holidays, cruises and Christmas holidays to Lapland.

Book with Confidence

Iglu is financially secure and is a member of both ABTA and ATOL. Over the last 10 years, Iglu's organic growth has been achieved mainly through repeat business and word of mouth recommendations.

The package holiday with flights, where we act as an agent for licensed tour operators are ATOL Protected by the Civil Aviation Authority and the relevant ATOL number will be displayed on your Booking Acknowledgement. ATOL Protection extends primarily to customers who book and pay in the United Kingdom.

Flight inclusive packages where Iglu is the principal are financially protected by our substantial Air Travel Organisers Licence ATOL no 2987. All other Iglu holidays, where we are the principal but do not include a flight, are protected under our Association of British Travel Agents bond no: W3870.

Iglu has been trading for 12 years and through careful financial management and trading within its means, it has ridden the volatility of the dot com cycle, 9/11 and various other extraneous shocks to the industry (ash cloud etc). It is a financially secure company and carries no debt on its balance sheet. Iglu has attracted venture backing from Sussex Place Ventures (the investment arm of London Business School), Barclays Ventures and Matrix Partners.

Ski Holidays, Cruising and more...

Iglu was founded by Richard Downs in 1998, during the final year of his MBA at London Business School ("LBS") — some classmates still remark that it is the ultimate unfinished school project!

London Business School liked the idea so much that for the first time in its history, it decided to financially back the idea of one of its students and 'seed funded' what was then the new start up Iglu.com. Iglu's pioneering retailing adventure had commenced.

The business was ultimately established to capitalise on Richard's belief that the internet would grow to become a better, more efficient method of distribution for specialist holidays such as package skiing holidays rather than the rather staid 'bricks and mortar' agencies who tended not to have the product range or ski knowledge that customers expected (or deserved).

From its launch at the ski show in October 1998, Iglu immediately attracted attention when Sky News profiled the new innovative company on its rolling news broadcast (on Iglu's first day of trading).

In addition to being one of the earliest adopters of the Internet in the travel industry, Iglu continues to set new precedents, such as the first retailer to introduce ski webcams on their website. And it pushed the boundaries of customer service, having revolutionised the selling of ski holidays in the UK, Igluski is now the largest independent retailer of ski holidays in the UK.

The continued success of Igluski led to search for other specialist holiday areas where Iglu could apply its online retailing experience, holiday industry knowledge and its passion for great customer service and in 2006, Iglu entered the UK cruise market.

The IgluCruise business has enjoyed remarkable growth and is one of the largest cruise agents in the UK.

Iglu is an independent agent offering customers access to 95% of UK ski and cruise inventory, enabling it to offer a "whole of market" suite of products alongside highly competitive prices and exclusive deals from major suppliers.

Customer Service & Product Expertise

Iglu's client service and levels of specialist knowledge and expertise are highly regarded within the travel industry. Iglu has developed its differentiated service-led offering by recruiting sales staff with unrivalled specialist product expertise, ensuring a focus on the quality of service delivered to customers and creating a deeply embedded client service culture in the company. This manifests itself in industry-leading levels of repeat bookings from previous customers. Take a look at what our customers have to say about us on the customer feedback page.

Through continual investment in systems, processes and people, Iglu looks forward to continually raising the bar in customer service in the UK to delight and enthral its customers

Awards and commendations

Along the way Iglu has picked up many awards and plaudits, most of which are Igluski awards. Here are some examples:

Great Snow in the Alps - Daily Mail 13/12/09
Disney Cruises - The Mirror 12/12/09
Ski offers - The Independent 10/12/09
What's new in Skiing - Guardian 7/11/09
Travel Deals - The Times 4/11/09
Ski clinic - Observer 4/10/09
Late cruise deals - The Times 23/9/09
Cruise travel tips - Guardian 20/9/09
Good news for skiers in 2009 - The Mail on Sunday 30/12/08

The Agent Acheivement Awards, 2007 - Iglu.com won the prestigious Agent Achievement Award for Large Online Agency of the Year. UK Cruise Awards, 2007 & 2006  - Iglucruise won the award for largest growth for London & South East Costa Cruise Awards 2007

The Independent, January 2005 Iglu.com was included in the ten best travel websites feature.

The Sunday Times: Fast Track 100 - Iglu.com were ranked number 25 in the eighth annual Fast Track 100 was published in The Sunday Times on 5 December 2004

The Sunday Times: Tech Track 100 - Iglu.com were listed in the fourth annual Tech Track 100 league table, which was published in The Sunday Times on 3 October 2004.

The Times, Jan 2004 – ‘Website of the week: In Meribel last week, I met two Mancunians who booked a half-price chalet on this site. Impressive. And indeed it is: offers include some excellent French chalet holidays, with flights from 299. The site is thriving and is one of the best late deal ski providers around.

Reach for the Skis - The Mirror 12/12/03

Sunday Times, Nov 2003 – ‘Best ski holiday website’

Neilson Ski, Nov 2003 – ‘Partners in Excellence award - Best Independent Agent’

Late Season Snow - Evening Standard 28/3/03
Pre Christmas Ski Trips - Evening Standard 27/11/02
Ski deals - The Sun 17/11/2001

Sunday Telegraph Web Achievement Awards, 2001 - Finalist, Mid Corporate Category

European Business Plan of the Year, June 1998 - Runner up

Bill Gates, Microsoft – ‘a great use of the web’

David Potter, Psion – ‘the website most likely to succeed’


Contact Iglu.com


All our sites:
Igluski.com | Igluvillas.com | Iglutropical.com | Disneyland Paris | Iglulapland.com | Igluhotels.com | Iglutravelinsurance.com | Igluairportparking.com