Anytime Booking

FINALISTS FOR 16TH DEVON TOURISM AWARDS

Posted on November 12, 2025

CLAWFORD LAKES has been named as one of the finalists of the Holiday Park of the Year.

The finalists for the 16th Devon Tourism Awards have been announced, following three months of 91 judging visits across the county. This year’s awards will be presented at a glittering ceremony at Sandy Park, Exeter, on 27 November 2025.

A total of 77 finalists have been selected, with a few categories deliberately kept secret to maintain surprises for the big night. In addition, two special awards will be announced and ten businesses will receive Commended status. Gold winners in each category will be nominated to represent Devon in the 2026 national Visit England Awards.

This year sees the launch of a new Regenerative Tourism category, reflecting the sector’s growing focus on sustainability and community engagement. Awards organisers also retained their ‘Outstanding’ accreditation from the Awards TrustMark scheme.

Mark Worden, Director of lead sponsors MiHi Digital, said: “It’s inspiring to see the talent, creativity and hard work that make Devon such a special place to visit. Every year the standard gets higher, and these awards celebrate the people and places that make this one of the best tourist destinations in the UK.”

Robin Barker of Services for Tourism added: “Judges have sampled the Devon tourism experience first-hand, and their reports show the passion for excellence shared across the industry.”

CAMPING & CARAVANNING PARK OF THE YEAR SPONSORED BY ANYTIME BOOKING
Finalists include:
• Harford Bridge Holiday Park, Tavistock
• Lynmouth Holiday Retreat, Lynton
• River Dart Country Park, Ashburton
• Yeatheridge Farm Caravan Park, Crediton

HOLIDAY PARK OF THE YEAR SPONSORED BY TOZERS
Finalists include:
• Andrewshayes Holiday Park, Axminster
• Clawford Lakes Resort and Spa, Holsworthy
• Cofton Holidays, Dawlish
• Woolacombe Bay Holiday Park, Woolacombe
• Beverley Holidays, Paignton

Just One Click

Posted on October 13, 2016

Just One Click

You cannot afford to miss out on online bookings advises Ashleigh Mackenzie…

Eight out of ten Brits now book their holidays online.

Eight out of ten Brits now book their holidays online.

With eight out of ten Brits choosing to book their holidays online, it’s now more important than ever for parks to have their finger on the pulse in terms of efficient booking management systems. Holiday parks are increasingly looking for greater functionality from their booking and management systems. The ultimate goal is to provide online customers with a quality system that is simple and easy to use, that will not only save time but will also generate more bookings for their business.

“A sophisticated system needs to sit at the heart of any forward thinking holiday accommodation business. It is the glue that holds everything together,” says Wendy Radford-Gaby of Anytime Booking. “Just make sure the booking and management software you choose helps you to solve real life problems at your holiday park.” She adds: “Don’t try to retro-fit a software designed for another market. Use technology that understands you.”

Park owners can keep pace with technology by having a web based management and booking system which operates from one platform, so when an online booking is made it immediately goes into their management system avoiding mistakes and errors.

EARLY BIRD

“September to March is a busy time for system suppliers as it is naturally when new customers come on board. So get in as early as you can to have time to familiarise yourself fully with the system before your busy season starts,” advises Dawn Bee, Managing Director of Netguides.

Netguides offer GemaPark, a cloud park reservation management system with online bookings. The optional park website package gives holiday parks a modern responsive, optimised website with content management, to promote their park and provide integrated online booking. “Our solutions are fully hosted, backed up and managed and we offer 24/7 support,” says Dawn.
“We pride ourselves on our responsiveness and customer service and are constantly listening to customer feedback to make our products easier and more efficient for customers to use.” The system starts from £60 per month for 60 pitches or 12 statics and scales up. The prices include hosting, backup and support so there are no surprise extra costs.
Says Dawn: “With GemaPark we have new connectivity with other providers such as Hoseasons and Pitchup, we have lots more features to support holiday home parks and as always we have development in our online booking widgets to increase usability and conversion.”

In terms of setup, there is a data gathering stage where Netguides get to understand your park, what you offer and how you sell it. The company will then configure the system for you loading your units, pitches and prices and provide the link or widgets to your web developers to add the online booking elements to your website. Full staff training is offered to get the team up and running with the system.
“You will never realise just how important until you experience it,” comments Dawn.

“It improves customer experience, increases the number of sales and greatly reduces administration time. This allows you time to work on your business and then business growth and enjoyment in running the business increase significantly – and that’s important.”

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Net Gains

Posted on September 8, 2015

Net Gains

Almost 80 per cent of Brits now use the internet to research their holidays.

Almost 80 per cent of Brits now use the internet to research their holidays.

Revolutionising the way that we live, work, shop, and communicate, startling figures from the National Office of Statistics revealed that 38 million adults in the UK accessed the internet every day in 2014. What’s more, 74 per cent of people bought goods or services online, up from 53 per cent in 2008.

The tourism industry is continuing to evolve around technology, with increasing access to information and services available at the customers’ finger tips. Guests now expect to see clear and representative images of accommodation and resort facilities online before they book. They want to read reviews, share other people’s experiences of the resort so they can decide whether or not it meets with their needs. And they expect to be able to do all this online, using whatever device they choose, whether it’s a smartphone, tablet PC, handheld computer or laptop.

“Users are booking when it’s convenient for them,” says Dawn Bee of website and business system provider Netguides. “Younger users don’t want to talk to anyone to book, it’s just not familiar behaviour for them anymore so they feel uncomfortable doing it. This means you are missing out on a lot of customers if you don’t take online bookings.”

Niall Norris of management and booking software CampManager concurs: “The number of holiday parks and campsites taking bookings online has increased dramatically in recent years,”

“We can see similar trends from all our clients across the UK, Ireland and France, that the proportion of bookings being made online is now averaging between 50 to 75 per cent of all bookings.”

The number of holiday parks and campsites taking bookings online has increased dramatically in recent years. Pic: CampManager.

The number of holiday parks and campsites taking bookings online has increased dramatically in recent years. Pic: CampManager.

Keeping up-to-date with the latest technology by moving to a computerised booking and management system may seem daunting, but Niall stresses the importance of moving with the times: “The right booking and management system will actually save you money, generate more business and free up so much of your time.

“We recommend that all parks to update their online booking pages and websites to be Mobile and Tablet compatible. We see clear trends that over 50 per cent of online bookings are now being made on Tablet and Smartphone devices.” He adds: “To ensure that you are catering for these customers and not losing out on bookings, it is important to address this immediately.”

CampManager offers a complete end to end process for managing a caravan park or campsite. Covering all aspects of site management, booking management and online booking, the system is user-friendly and can be tailored to suit the individual needs of each park.

“It is important to remember that not all visitors to your website have stayed at your park before. Therefore it is hugely important that your website is maintained as much as the park,” advises Niall. “An old and tired looking website, with poor quality photos will not attract new customers. Also a poor booking system that takes a long time just to check availability and does not provide alternative dates will frustrate your customers and potentially drive them elsewhere.”

The biggest change to online bookings that Dawn Bee of Netguides has seen in recent years is the move to mobile responsive online booking. Dawn explains: “There has been a surge in the popularity of mobile responsive bookings following Google’s emphasis in their search algorithm for mobile search and the growing use of mobile devices to book online.”

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