WHEN Alison Hartwell and her husband, Keith, decided to buy an existing holiday lettings business, they knew they were up to the challenge.

Not long before, in 1999, they had sold the popular Balmoral Hotel which they had run with its restaurant for 15 years, so they knew what staying customers wanted and expected.

The holiday venue business they bought had more than 70 properties on its books, but they were largely two-star apartments and houses, plus caravans and holiday chalets. There was also a manual reservations system.

After visiting every property, Alison took the brave step of jettisoning most of them, leaving a core of 30, three-star and above quality units.

Then she began to incorporate quality homes, including stylish bungalows, barn conversions and town houses.

Now, ten years later, Alison has added the 105th property to her impressive portfolio at Harrogate Holidays and she is pitching for both the Small Business Of The Year title as well as the Women In Enterprise accolade in The Press Business Awards 2011.

Many of the bookings she takes on her online reservation system are from people who live within an hour and a half’s travel of Harrogate, but there are also many foreign customers visiting Harrogate’s International Conference Centre, lured by the website, the Harrogate Holidays’ Facebook pages and Twitter site.

Facilities at the properties include wireless internet connection, welcome hampers, housekeeping services, hot tubs and beauty packages.