Osprey Holidays is an independent family-run Tour Operator with a long history helping our clients with the highest-standard tailor-made short breaks and experiences to hundreds of the world's most exciting short and city break destinations.
- Voted among the best operators at the British Travel Awards in 2018, 2019, 2023 & 2024.
- ATOL and ABTA bonded, offering full financial protection.
- Well-travelled staff providing expert advice and personal recommendations on the destinations and hotels we offer.
- Comprehensive and easy-to-understand travel documentation.
- Superb value for money.
Find out more about our booking process here
Our Story
After leaving the RAF in the early 1950’s, having served as a pilot in WW2, Joseph Bennett started a travel agent in a shop in the coastal town of Musselburgh on the outskirts of Edinburgh. What was Bennett’s Travel, eventually grew to become a multi-branch operation throughout East and Central Scotland and a tour operating arm, Osprey Holidays, was added in October 1973.
In 1985, Bennett’s Travel was sold to AT Mays, then run by the Moffats, which in turn was sold to the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1998. The family retained Osprey Holidays, which was by then being run by Joseph’s sons, John and David Bennett.
Today the company is well-known throughout the UK as a tailor-made short break specialist and is now one of the oldest British tour operators still in the same family ownership. As well as city holidays, Osprey have featured a diverse holiday offering over the years including winter holidays to Reykjavik, farmhouse holidays to Denmark, cultural tours of India, the Far East and Africa, charters to Corfu and Faro and for many years their popular rugby weekends to Paris, Dublin and latterly Rome.
In addition to offering short breaks, Osprey Holidays also have two specialist ski brands:
- Ski Independence are tailor-made ski specialists founded in 1994 offering the very best ski holidays to a hand-picked selection of hotels and apartments in France, Switzerland, Italy, Canada and the USA
- PowderBeds.com was founded in 2010 and offers quick, safe and secure online booking of ski apartments and hotels in France and Switzerland
Now based in Edinburgh, Osprey Holidays Limited is managed by the third generation of the family, Michael Bennett, with John Bennett as Chairman.
As Osprey Holidays approaches its 50th year of operation, the company now looks forward to many more years offering our clients and agents short breaks and ski holidays with a focus on exceptional customer service, knowledge, advice and expertise.