Elegant Resorts is a luxury travel retailer based in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

, UK. The company was founded in 1988 in Chester by Geoff Moss and Barbara Catchpole. The company was sold to Al Tayyar, a global travel group, in 2014 for a reported £14.3 million. Al Tayyar is now known as the Seera Group.

Background

Elegant Resorts is located in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

and founded in 1988. The company was acquired by

Thomas Cook Group Thomas Cook Group plc was a global travel group, headquartered in the United Kingdom and listed on the London Stock Exchange from its formation on 19 June 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG — successor to Thomas Cook & Son — and ...

in April, 2008 for an undisclosed sum. In February 2014, it was sold for £14.3 million to Al Tayyar, a global travel group based in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. Al Tayyar is now known as the Seera Group. In 2018, Lisa Fitzell was named as Managing Director for Elegant Resorts. She joined the business with 30 years’ experience in the travel industry, most recently as group managing director of Diethelm Travel’s Asian businesses based in Bangkok. Lisa Fitzell announced that she would be stepping down from her role as Managing Director of Elegant Resorts in February 2025 after 8 years at the helm of the business. She has been replaced by Gordon McCreadie who had previously served as General Manager for the group.

Recognition

In 2010, Elegant Resorts was recognised by

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

as the Favourite Luxury Tour Operator in their Travel Reader Awards. In 2011, the company won the Best Small Tour Operator in the UK as part of The Ultratravel 100.

Space Travel

Elegant Resorts was selected by

Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate, which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and opera ...

in 2007 to sell its space experience, which led to the company becoming the Accredited Space agent for the UK.

References

{{Reflist, 3 Travel and holiday companies of the United Kingdom Transport companies established in 1988 Companies based in Chester