Month: November 2014

Tax Gains For Holiday Park Owners

Posted on November 24, 2014
tax

OPDS is a new division of the Omar Group, which aims to support the market by advising on all aspects of park development and operations.

Tax Gains For Holiday Park Owners

Park owners could be claiming significant tax rebates according to the experts at Omar Park Development Services (OPDS).

The new division of the Omar Group was set up to help new and existing park owners in all aspects of park development and operations. Now in partnership with RD Tax Solutions, park owners can also benefit from expertise in the minefield that is capital allowances, with the average claim being around £125,000.

Over recent months OPDS has worked with several park owners to identify unique tax advantages in the UK leisure market and with success across several areas. Areas such as planning, commercial buildings, land remediation, heating and lighting, land management and enhanced eco assets have all proven to meet the stringent criteria of the tax office and together have been labelled the Leisure Park Tax Allowance (LPTA).

Richard Sigsworth, special projects director for OPDS comments: “I came across RD Tax Solutions whilst researching eco solutions and grants for parks and realised that there was huge potential for parks to claim significant tax rebates.

“The core ethos of OPDS is to help parks so I am continually seeking new opportunities and cost saving initiatives to that aim. Through this unique partnership we are able to further strengthen the services we offer to parks.”

Parks Reap Environmental Rewards

Posted on November 24, 2014
rewards

Brighouse Bay Holiday Park in Dumfries, Scotland is enjoying a new lease of life, both fighting and adapting to climate change.

Parks Reap Environmental Rewards

Four holiday parks in Dumfriesshire have cut carbon emissions and slashed energy costs following the introduction of a resource efficiency package from a local research organisation.

The Brighouse Bay, Seaward, Barlochan and Sandyhills caravan parks, which make up the Gillespie Leisure group, participated in the Sustainable Process Improvement scheme offered by the Crichton Carbon Centre. Free to local businesses, the scheme generates a baseline of the parks’ energy, transport, water and raw material use and waste production and makes recommendations on how to reduce this.

All four holiday parks have adopted new practices such as installing timers and turning down heating in addition to larger measures such as installing solar thermal panels to heat their swimming pools. The programme also compliments other environmental accolades achieved by the holiday parks including the Green Business Tourism Scheme, a VIBES sustainable business award, the Scottish Award for Environmental Excellence and a David Bellamy Gold Award for biodiversity.

Douglas Gillespie, director at Gillespie Leisure comments: “Being close to nature with our holiday parks we see climate change first hand and do what we can to limit our impact.

“The changing climate is benefiting the business in itself though, as the better weather brings an upsurge in British holidaymakers opting for a staycation rather than holidaying abroad. The results – a happy local business, a healthy local economy and even greater carbon savings.”

Demand Soars For Family-Run Holiday Park

Posted on November 4, 2014
wayside

The expansion of Wayside Holiday Park represents a £450,000 investment that will lead to the creation of 38 new lodges.

Demand Soars For Family-Run Holiday Park

A holiday park in North Yorkshire is expanding onto a new ten-acre lakeside site after demand for its luxury holiday homes soared by 20 per cent over a three year period.

The Wayside Holiday Park in Wrelton has recently enjoyed a spell of dramatic growth, leading to the sale of all its 154 plots on the existing site.

Now, a £450,000 investment by the park owner Mark Goodson will see the addition of 38 new lodges to the picturesque lakeside setting, as well as the creation of four new jobs.

Mark is the third generation of his family to own and run Wayside Holiday Park, which combines five star static caravan holiday homes with a small AA four star-rated touring site.

Mark comments: “We’ve worked hard to ensure that we’re marketing our products effectively and it has really paid off, sending demand for our holiday homes through the roof and prompting us to expand onto a new site.

“Most of our customers live within a two-hour radius of Wrelton because they love the convenience of being able to head over here on a Friday, have a full weekend enjoying some of the best countryside Yorkshire has to offer and then still be back in time for work on Monday morning. Armed with that knowledge, we’ve been able to get our marketing mix just right and it has really paid off.”

All Eyes On The Farm Business Innovation Expo

Posted on November 4, 2014
farm

The Farm Business Innovation Expo is free to attend and returns to London Olympia on 27th and 28th November.

All Eyes On The Farm Business Innovation Expo

The much anticipated Farm Business Innovation Expo returns to London Olympia in November, inspiring land owners to find new ways to use their land and ultimately maximise profit.

Don’t let the name fool you – you don’t need to be a farmer to benefit from a day at the show.

Now in its second year, the exhibition and conference is packed with inspiration, ideas and advice to help rural entrepreneurs to diversify out of agriculture. More than 3,000 people with an interest in rural business attended last year’s event, to take advantage of the exclusive seminar and workshop schedule, networking opportunities and 200 exhibitors.

“If you’re considering diversifying your farm or rural land, then you simply must attend Farm Business Innovation,” urges event director Gary Hall.

“We are expecting double the amount of visitors as last year and double the insight into the industry.”

The 2014 expo is free to attend and runs from 27th – 28th November. Seminar and workshop topics are set to include farm shops, tourism, glamping, renewable energy or storage, with expert advice on how to identify opportunities, as well as how to seek planning permission and attract investment. The expo conference will also highlight the latest trends that forward-thinking land owners will turn to next year, featuring business advice and diversification inspiration direct from the experts.

Book your free ticket online now at www.thefarmingshow.co.uk

Hospitality Industry Tackles Youth Unemployment

Posted on November 4, 2014
hospitality

300,000 new jobs will be created in hospitality by 2020.

Hospitality Industry Tackles Youth Unemployment

The British Hospitality Association has announced the creation of 6,000 new jobs for 16-24 year-olds by the end of the year, as part of a wider industry expansion.

The aim is to fill 300,000 jobs in the hospitality sector by 2020 to reflect rapid growth and market demand. 60,000 of these new jobs will be earmarked for 16-24 year olds, as the industry provides a gateway to tackle long-term youth unemployment.

It is estimated that across the UK there are some 900,000 young people not in education, employment or training. While many young people are still out of work, there are thousands of job vacancies in the hospitality industry and it’s this disconnect between jobs on offer and what young people will consider as career options which is causing particular concern for industry experts.

Speaking at the recent Big Hospitality Conversation, Ufi Ibrahim, CEO of the British Hospitality Association said: “Hospitality is a successful industry with even greater growth prospects offering a vast range of job opportunities for all job seekers of any age. However, there are still widespread misconceptions amongst many outside the industry who don’t see the value in hospitality careers. We urge young people to look beyond outdated viewpoints and join our industry.”

Bumper Weekend For Hoburne Holiday Parks

Posted on November 4, 2014
hoburne

The Hoburne team celebrated £1.1million worth of holiday home sales at Beaulieu recently.

Bumper Weekend For Hoburne Holiday Parks

There were smiles all round for Dorset-based Hoburne Holiday Parks recently, as the company notched up a seven-figure sales total of holiday homes in just three days.

Some 22 holiday homes were sold to new and upgrading customers at the Holiday Park and Homes Show at Beaulieu in Hampshire, 17 of those from manufacturer ABI. The bumper sales tally also included a deal on a new lodge which will be the first lodge sited at Hoburne Bashley in New Milton, Hampshire.

Hoburne’s group sales manager, Dan Steadman, said: “It was a great weekend. The weather was good, lots of our owners came to the show, manufacturers like ABI unveiled some fantastic designs and we have top quality parks in incredible locations that families want to buy into.”

Following the success at the show, open weekends were held at all seven Hoburne Holiday Parks across Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, the Cotswolds and Cornwall.

Hobourne Holiday Parks
www.hobourne.com

Tributes For Holiday Stalwart

Posted on November 4, 2014
jf

Holiday park magnate John Fowler
has passed away at the age of 86.

Tributes For Holiday Stalwart

The holiday park industry has bid a sad farewell to John Fowler, founder of the largest privately owned holiday group in the West Country – John Fowler Holidays.

From humble beginnings, the company was founded when John left his Merchant Navy ship in 1953 with aspirations of a business life ashore in Cornwall and with just his £300 pay-off in his pocket. Without a house, job or car to help him in his determination to start a business, John bought an old pre-war caravan for £100 and completely refurbished it. He had noticed visitor demand for the independence of a self-catering holiday as an alternative to traditional boarding houses or hotels.

After a round of phone calls from the village green phone kiosk he found a neighbouring farmer with permission to site the van. The agreed place was no more than a lonely grass field, without electricity or roads, but just a short scramble to a sandy beach, and a brief bus ride to Newquay. A single chemical lavatory, plus an outside tap for drinking or washing water, were the only two concessions to holiday facilities. John spent 6/6d (33p) on a small advert in a Midlands newspaper and when cash bookings started to arrive in the post ploughed all income straight into more caravans.

Within weeks he had the beginnings of a very small holiday business. Now a multimillion-pound chain of 14 holiday parks spread across the south west, John Fowler Holidays was recently ranked at number 32 in a list of the 150 biggest firms operating out of Devon and Cornwall.

The company has also been recognised in the Sunday Times Profit Track 100 list of the UK’s 100 fastest firms for profit-growth. John, who passed away in September, leaves behind his wife Susan, five children and several grandchildren. There is no doubt that he has left a large gap in the industry, in many people’s lives and some very happy memories too.

A Welcome Upgrade In Online Booking

Posted on November 4, 2014
welcome

The new Welcome Anywhere booking system allows holiday park owners to reclaim their park’s allocations, without high commissions charges.

A Welcome Upgrade In Online Booking

As a supplier, it’s not often that you attend to a trade show with an unfinished product. But that’s exactly what Welcome Computer Systems did at this year’s Lawns Show, armed with their work in progress product – Welcome Anywhere for holiday parks.

For over thirty years the company has built web-based computer systems and their latest online booking system is designed specifically for the holiday park sector.

Welcome sales director Mark Ellis, explains: “Our desire to enter a brand new sector brought us to the Lawns Show and presented us with an exciting opportunity to speak face-to-face with holiday park operators. We wanted to find out why other providers have seemingly struggled to make a significant mark in the industry and just what was expected from such a system.”

Due for release at the end of the year, the new Welcome Anywhere system allows holiday park owners to reclaim their park’s allocations and make the most of selling holidays directly to guests, therefore avoiding high commission charges and offering a fully-transparent booking service.

Mark adds: “While we have always specialised in booking software for hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs, we recognise that the parks industry is vastly under-served when it comes to online booking systems which can provide a tangible return on investment.

“Having recently become fully-accredited members of the BH&HPA, we’re relishing the opportunity to bring our hotel booking software experience into this vibrant and much-loved industry.”

Holiday Snaps: Jon Hyatt, Hendra Holiday Park

Posted on November 4, 2014
hendra

Jon Hyatt, Hendra Holiday Park - Newquay

Holiday Snaps: Jon Hyatt, Hendra Holiday Park

Jon Hyatt is the director at Hendra Holiday Park in Newquay and the third generation of the family owned and operated business. Over the last 42 years Hendra has developed its 80 acre park with award-winning facilities and now has over 300 holiday homes with 500 touring, camping and motorhome pitches.

How do you see the UK holiday industry at the moment?

The industry broadly appears to be a lot more positive than at any other time over the last four or five years, no doubt aided by a prolonged period of fine weather this summer and an ever strong ‘buy British’ brand, which together are building confidence for the 2015 season.

What are the main challenges facing the industry?

The poor weather of recent years has knocked consumer confidence in UK holidays, which may take a long time to recover. But perhaps even more significant is the economic uncertainty that much of the UK population is living with - how much will the average family have to spend, or save for a holiday after the bills are paid and how much is this disposable income likely to be squeezed over the next 12 months? In short, how can we give potential guests the confidence to book UK holidays in advance and not just wait for last minute budget deals?

How have customer expectations changed during your time in the holiday business and how have you reacted to those demands?

Even in my relatively short time at Hendra, we have been attracting an ever wide range of holidaymakers to the park, so we have an ever increasing range of expectations to deal with. From the weekend group surf-breaks to the three-week extended family summer holiday we, in true family business style, strive to be honest in our offerings from the start and concentrate on exceeding expectations through fantastic customer service to deliver memorable holidays.

If you had to identify one element, what is the most crucial aspect to the success of your business?

The continual and substantial investment in our business year on year has been absolutely key to Hendra’s ongoing success over the years. Whether in renewing our holiday home fleet on a rolling six-year basis, adding new customer facilities or in securing our energy security with renewable technologies, we have always taken a long term view on investment over short term gain.

What has been your most interesting experience in the industry?

Personally I have thoroughly enjoyed helping to develop our environmental business strategy; with our business occupying 140 acres and accommodating up to 4,000 guests a night, reducing our impact on the environment and our dependence on fossil fuels has not only been vital to our sustainability but also very rewarding for all involved. It is another example of our long term view to business and investment, but also recognising that the surrounding environment is our key offering to guests at Hendra.

Where do you go on holiday?

Before joining Hendra full time I spent time travelling around Australia and New Zealand with my wife, I was shocked by how many of the local people we met had seen more of the UK than we had, so we often plan trips around the UK now.