Octopustravel.com celebrates success in prestigious travel industry awards

The travel specialist, that has its regional headquarters in Dubai's Media City, finished runner-up in the online section of the prestigious annual Telegraph Travel Awards.

Amer Al Halabi, Regional Business Development Manager, Middle East and North Africa, said: "It is an honour to be placed second in the Best Online Travel Company category. It clearly demonstrates that we have a great product which our customers believe offers tremendous value for money and the highest levels of service."

Now in their seventh year, the Telegraph Travel Awards are firmly established as the most important independent study of British travel habits. Other regional travel industry organizations recognized in the awards were Dubai International Airport, voted third best airport, and Emirates, voted second best scheduled airline.

Telegraph Travel Editor Graham Boynton, said: "The Telegraph Travel Awards are based on the genuine opinions and experiences of the UK's most affluent travellers and holidaymakers. Our awards have been established to reward the very best service across the UK and international travel industry."

OctopusTravel.com offers an extensive range of travel products which include 20,000 hotels, 2,000 apartments and villas, private transfers and 1,700 sightseeing excursions. The site can be accessed in 25 languages, including Arabic and English.

An ABTA bonded company, OctopusTravel.com was launched in June 2000. Since then the business has grown rapidly and, in addition to Dubai, it now has websites and offices operating in London, New York, Sydney, Osaka, Taipei, Hong Kong, Seoul, Athens, Madrid and Rome with more planned before the end of the year.

"Our site offers tremendous advantages. It is an easy-to-use one-stop shop for people who want to check hotels, tours and sightseeing trips. And although we do have fixed sightseeing itineraries, OctopusTravel.com is the only online travel company to offer customers the choice of selecting their own itineraries," said Al Halabi.

"Whether it is a hotel, private transfer or a detailed city or country guide, advising on everything from local taxi prices and admission fees to health and safety tips and useful words and phrases, OctopusTravel.com has it all."

OctopusTravel.com has created successful partnerships with Royal Jordanian, Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways, menaJet, Air France, American Express, bmi, EasyJet, Eurostar, Lufthansa, North West Airlines, United Airlines, Virgin Blue and Air Miles. It also works with several major European banks through its relationship with Cendant and with non-travel partners such as AOL, Wanadoo, MSN and Lycos. In addition, thousands of travel agents around the world use a dedicated OctopusTravel.com agents site in their retail environment.