BTA sponsor profile

APH Airport Parking and Hotels will, for the seventh year, be a sponsor of this year’s British Travel Awards.

Managing director Nick Caunter spoke to TravelMole, one of the media partner for the awards, about the business and why the company has decided to get involved.

Established in 1980, APH (Airport Parking and Hotels) is a family-owned and operated business specialising in providing airport parking and airport hotels to UK travellers. In addition to its own car parks at Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham airports, APH also provides airport parking at all other major UK airports as well as Southampton and Dover Ports.

APH also offers a wide range of airport hotels and lounges as well as other travel extras such as travel insurance, car hire, holiday transfers, travel cash and attraction tickets.

How did you become aware of the opportunity to sponsor the BTAs?
I was introduced to BTA CEO Lorraine Barnes Burton by our PR agency and I was immediately impressed by the massive consumer audience I could reach through the BTA voting mechanism and the media partner advertisements included in a BTA sponsorship package. Even seven years ago it had hundreds of thousands of registered voters receiving communications.

What do you hope to get out of the sponsorship?
As well as the consumer audience reach I was keen to network with travel industry colleagues through the awards night and other events held throughout the year. I’ve made many valuable industry contacts though our association with the BTAs and done successful business with some of them.

More than 1.25 million consumer votes were made last year via the BTA website where your company is featured on the home page. Are you happy with this level of brand awareness?
Delighted, and as it grows each year the awards take a more prominent role in the minds of the travelling public – the logo really is recognised and respected and the association and participation in the actual awards has heightened the APH profile with the consumer.

Tell us about the actual awards night. What do you like about it?
It’s a lively party from the moment you arrive and for us it’s a kind of end of year celebration for the APH team. Mind you, of course, it’s not all play, I’ve had to hold off my first glass of wine till I’ve been interviewed on camera at the awards’ reception and at that reception we also do some great networking with senior industry guests. We receive a table at the awards as part of our sponsorship package and like to invite some of our industry partners as guests. In fact the APH team and our guests are becoming famed for being among the last people on the dance floor each year!

Are you pleased with the return on investment the sponsorship has brought. Would you say it’s good value for money?
Yes, our sponsorship has delivered good value for money but we are never complacent and each year APH puts significant marketing resources into a summer-long campaign to get our customers to vote, not just for us, but across other relevant categories.