HOT TUB PAYBACK

Spas clinch the holiday booking deal...

LADY’S MILE HOLIDAY PARK say payback on a hot tub can be as little as six months

Open 365 days a year and based in the picturesque location of Dawlish in South Devon, Lady’s Mile Holiday Park currently offers 90 hot tubs on its lodge and mini lodge accommodation. The multi-award winning, family-run park knows that hot tubs are a key component when sealing the booking deal. “Customers are asking for hot tubs as part of their booking requirements,” says Stephen Brown Lady’s Mile Holiday Park’s Operations Manager. “It is now getting to be an expectation rather than a luxury add on,” Stephen continues. Stephen confirms accommodation offering hot tubs are returning value for money. “Lodges with hot tubs command a 20% premium in the peak weeks and up to 80% premium in low income weeks due to increased levels of demand,” he confirms. “Payback on a hot tub can be as little as six months,” he adds. “We certainly will be looking to increase our hot tub range on lodges and high-end caravans for the foreseeable future.”

PLUG AND PLAY

Lady’s Mile Holiday Park’s preferred spa supplier is Sunbeach Spas offering the holiday park sector five models in a ‘plug and play’ range, designed to run from regular household electricity supplies and starting from £1,995. “Whilst these tubs tend to be at the lower end of the price range we offer, they are not lacking in features and have everything holidaymakers need in a hot tub – easy to operate with space for all the family, and offer powerful jets, music and lights,” explainsWayne Green, Managing Director of the UK- wide Sunbeach team. “Holiday park operators also appreciate the fact that all our plug and play spas come with our R10 insulation, providing massive reductions in incidental heat loss over standard insulation, with savings of over 70% in test conditions.”

FIT FOR PURPOSE

Sunbeach Spas also build their hot tubs with two separate pumps – one for circulation and one for jets, instead of the oft-used solitary twin-speed pump which performs both tasks with a single unit. “Whilst this has a marginally higher outset cost, it will allow for significant savings on overall costs – as holiday park hot tubs see significantly more use than general, the circulation pumps are running at maximum frequency to unsure the water is reheated and retreated at all times,”Wayne explains. This range has additional convenient features for the holiday park, including built in/non-removable headrests (no pillows to get damaged or stolen) and twin filters with inline chemical dispensers allowing for superior water cleansing, even whilst the tub is in use. “We have also developed an acrylic control panel housing to prevent unwanted tampering with the controls on systems which don’t have a user lock-out built in,” addsWayne. When considering large numbers of hot tubs running on the same site, the question of running costs becomes all important; even a small saving on a single spa will prove significant when multiplied across an entire holiday park, and so it is vital that any recommendation takes this into account. Wayne points out: “The common perception of the unbranded, low- cost hot tub was one of “cheap to buy, expensive to run”, with better insulation and power saving technology reserved for high-end hot tubs from well established brands. “Sunbeach Spas philosophy is that you can have the best of both worlds - the R10 insulation we build into each of our hot tubs won us the Spa Energy Efficiency Award at the 2019 UK Pool and Spa Awards and we continue to innovate to improve on that baseline.”

SIMPLE STEPS

For holiday lets, simplicity the key, both from the perspective of the park and of their guests. The average holidaymaker does not want to have to wade through pages of instructions, so it is important that the chosen hot tubs are simple to operate, but also come with the features that make having a hot tub so appealing – relaxing jets, a good music system, fun lighting and so forth. SaysWayne: “From the park’s point of view, simplicity of installation, using plug and play systems to avoid unnecessary and expensive upgrades to the park’s electrical grid system.” All Sunbeach Spas holiday park customers are offered free training days, which are held on their own site (so as many of their employees as they wish can attend easily) and are conducted by one of the leading chemical supply companies in the UK. “We also offer on-site training with our own staff for hot tub operational training, as well as all year round, out- of-hours telephone support,” adds Wayne.

“CUSTOMERS ARE ASKING FOR HOT TUBS AS PART OF THEIR BOOKING REQUIREMENTS.” LADY’S MILE HOLIDAY PARK say payback on a hot tub can be as little as six months. - Stephen Brown, Lady’s Mile Holiday Park

TRAINING MATTERS

“In our opinion, having a well-trained, on-site team is key for any holiday park; a hot tub breakdown, even if caused by the guests themselves, can sour an otherwise perfect holiday experience. Having an on- site team minimises downtime and will also be available for preventative maintenance,” Having hot tubs which are easy to maintain is vital to getting things up and running again smoothly. It’s equally important that the regular maintenance (cleaning, sterilising etc) is a hassle-free job, to ensure that the tub can be made ready for the next party of holidaymakers to use. “All our hot tubs have inline chemical dispenser options to keep the spa water clear and safe during their stay and minimising the impact on the clean down crew at the end of the stay,”Wayne continues. “In the last couple of years alone, we have seen the technology available on hot tub control systems jump forward.” New control systems are being developed all the time, with new features and ways of managing the spas more efficiently. But not all changes are suited to all cases, and it is easy to get excited about new features which are not of true benefit. One of the pitfalls of a hot tub at a holiday let is guests having the correct information on how to use the hot tub safely. “Most guests just want to just get in it and use it but if they don’t shower beforehand, rinse their costumes, not walk around in bare feet, drunk too much alcohol then their experience and safety can be at risk,” advises Sunbeach dealer John Threadgall of Yorkshire Spas. “We encourage holiday let owners to clearly display a user guide both next to the hot tub and in their welcome pack also giving users reasoning behind guidelines. “This information can prevent guests contacting the owners regarding dirty water, help quicker changeovers and help keep guests safe.”

Sunbeach Spas
Tel. 01623 706185
E. sales@sunbeachspas.co.uk
www.sunbeachspas.co.uk