TRAVEL agent Paul Smith is not the kind to rest on his laurels.

Having won the Business Personality Of The Year title in The Press Business Awards 2008, he is now determined to add two more gongs to his collection.

He wants his firm, Quartz Travel, in Heworth Road, York, to be both Small Business Of The Year and Retailer Of The Year in 2011.

In the seven years since Paul established Quartz Travel, it has gone from strength to strength. Over the last year it has increased turnover by 17 per cent which by any standards, even aside from the flatlining economy, is a tremendous achievement.

Paul attributes this to finely detailed finesse when it comes to customer service, an emphasis which has seen his small, independent Quartz Travel continuing to trade as many big travel names, including tour operators, airlines and agents, went bust.

Going the extra mile meant his firm helped a few independent travellers trapped by the recent Scandinavian ash cloud get home.

Getting that level of customer service has meant a big investment in training for his six full-time staff, on product knowledge, investigatory travel and through personal development reviews.

Another major investment has been the establishment at the shop of a Club Lounge, opened earlier this month by the Lord Mayor of York, Coun David Horton.

The lounge offers clients privacy as they are handed their tickets, currency and itineraries, and clients and staff can assemble complicated, bespoke itineraries there with the help of wall-mounted flat screen monitors featuring details of chosen destinations.

Clever changes have helped to minimise the recession’s impact. While Quartz Travel once had its own fleet of vehicles and employed drivers to take clients to and from airports, this aspect of the business is now franchised to the drivers.

This has encouraged them to become entrepreneurs, while remaining contracted to Quartz Travel.