Butlins

Park Focus: Hendra Holiday Park

Posted on May 2, 2014
Hendra

Hendra Holiday Park in Newquay is one of Cornwall’s largest parks, welcoming 380,000 visitors per year.

Park Focus: Hendra Holiday Park

For over 42 years, Hendra Holiday Park in Newquay has been a popular tourist destination for families and couples looking to explore the Cornwall coastline from the comfort of a 5-star caravan and camping site.

The family-run park has been owned and operated by three generations of the May and Hyatt families since it opened as a touring and camping park in 1972. Static holiday homes were added to the site in the mid 80’s and the park now boasts over 300 holiday homes and 500 touring, camping and motorhome pitches. Both May and Hyatt families still live on the site and are actively involved in the day to day running of the park.

Jon Hyatt, director at Hendra Holiday Park comments: “Our philosophy is to offer great family holidays for all budgets at the highest, 5 star quality standard. We invest heavily on an annual basis to improve, upgrade, build and install new facilities for our guests, to not only fulfil, but surpass their expectations.”

The park has a high profile among holidaymakers and is one of the largest in the county. The 80 acre site provides guests with various catering options, a supermarket, indoor and outdoor children’s play facilities as well as sports and entertainment activities. But as Jon explains, the park must constantly evolve to keep up with customer demand: “I would say the biggest challenge we face is continuing to meet the needs of an increasingly sophisticated market with higher and higher expectations from a holiday.” He adds: “Whilst Cornwall remains the UK’s favourite holiday destination, household spending on holidays has been reduced and competition from cheap overseas destinations with guaranteed weather is very strong.”

Continuous development and investment into the facilities and services has won Hendra numerous awards and accreditations including a National Quality Assured Scheme 5 star grading, an AA 5 Pennant award, and a Cornwall Tourism Award for Holiday Park of the Year and Sustainable Tourism. Most recently Hendra’s Fish & Chip Takeaway won Seasonal Fish & Chip Operator of the Year at the Seafish National Fish & Chip Awards.

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Hendra Holiday Park
Tel. 01637 875778
www.hendra-holidays.com

 

Make ‘Em Smile!

Posted on April 16, 2014
Butlins holiday resorts have always been known for their entertainment including seasonal pantomime performances.

Butlins holiday resorts have always been known for their entertainment including seasonal pantomime performances.

Make ‘Em Smile!

Television is largely responsible for the public view today of holiday parks with some thinking the image of Hi-De-Hi and “Hello Campers” is still the style.
But today’s holiday parks are far more sophisticated, while still aiming to provide ‘fun for everybody’ – including the thousands of staff and entertainers across the UK who make holidays unforgettable for families.
We are probably all familiar with the colour codes of those in charge of entertaining at the biggest venues in Britain.
Redcoats for Butlins, Bluecoats for Pontins and Greencoats for Warners.
And then there’s the Yellowcoats of Haven Holidays staff – 300 FunStar entertainers .
Haven Holidays entertain over three million guests and owners during a 34 week season across their 35 family holiday parks.
Daytime children’s clubs and nightly entertainment are all included in the price of a Haven holiday and each year they introduce new elements to keep it fresh and exciting and for this they need bright new talent.
Steve Donnelly, head of entertainment, says: “My vision has been to embrace entertainment concepts that are current and in tune, such as The X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing, and Britain’s Got Talent.

SPARKLY FROCKS

“In particular it has been really important to identify current and future trends that will engage and delight the whole family. The days of jazz hands and sparkly frocks are gone for Haven.
“We want dynamic young cast members who can, aside from performing, interact meaningfully with the guests and take an interest in how they are enjoying their holiday.
“By developing and improving what’s on offer to them in terms of entertainment and events, we can enhance their time at Haven and they’ll want to come back again and again.”
Butlins holiday resorts have always been known for their entertainment.
Many big names in the world of showbiz started their careers at the ‘seaside camps’, as they used to be known.
Sir Cliff Richard started his career playing with The Drifters at the Clacton-On-Sea camp.
In 1962 the Skegness camp played its part in the formation of The Beatles, when Paul McCartney and John Lennon visited to meet Ringo Starr who was playing drums with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes at the time.
They offered Ringo the drummer’s position with The Beatles, because they had just secured a recording contract. The first song McCartney himself ever sang in public was “Long Tall Sally”, at a Butlins talent competition.
As well as the many other famous names to come through the Butlins doors, they’re probably most famous for their Redcoats. Employed originally by Sir Billy Butlin to help guests find their way around the resort and entertain them through their stay, Butlin’s Redcoats are just as big a part of the Butlins experience today as they were back at the start in 1939.
Many famous faces started life as Butlins Redcoats, including Stephen Mulhern (Britain’s Got More Talent, Catchphrase), Shane Ritchie (Eastenders), Johnny Ball (Think of a Number, Playschool), Des O’Connor, Jimmy Tarbuck and Dave Allen to name but a few.
Today Butlins entertainment and entertainers are still at the heart of any visit to the three remaining seaside resorts in West Sussex (Bognor Regis), Somerset (Minehead) and Lincolnshire (Skegness).
With more than 1.5 million guests visiting each year, the Butlins team work endlessly to discover new shows, ideas and talented people to entertain the visitors.

Haven FunStars are chosen for their good work ethic and great customer focus.

Haven FunStars are chosen for their good work ethic and great
customer focus.

This year Butlins is putting on a wide variety of brand new shows. Starting in February half term guests will be treated to the premiere of Scooby Doo Live, which combines live actors and characters in a musical mystery tour with monsters and ghouls!
Also making their 2014 debut in February are TV presenters and all round cheeky chaps Dick and Dom, who are bringing their unique style of mayhem into a live show for the whole family during all school holidays this year.
There will also be new live shows such as Freddie - a musical tribute to the music of Freddie Mercury and Queen - Cirque Du Hilarious, Titan The Robot and character shows from Angelina Ballerina, Mike The Knight, Thomas and Friends, Bob The Builder and Fireman Sam.
During the summer holidays Butlins will have a purpose built Big Top Circus at each of their resorts playing host to amazing aerial gymnasts, trapeze artists and comedy routines from around the world.
Mister Maker (CBeebies) will be playing all Butlins resorts over the summer with an exclusive live show, featuring music and special guests. Other summer entertainment includes The Wheel Of Death stunt team, live music, Redcoat shows and a spectacular acrobatics show.

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Work Hard, Play Hard

Posted on March 20, 2014

 Work Hard, Play Hard

work hard

Butlins are continuously investing to make sure that their resorts are up to the standards that modern British families expect.

Celebrating its 78th birthday this year, Butlins has successfully stood the test of time and remains a firm favourite among families and holidaymakers looking for a break a little closer to home.

Owned by Bourne Leisure, Butlins welcome more than 1.6million guests to their three resorts each year, spread acrossthe season from February half term through to New Year’s Eve. Around half of the guests that visit each year are repeat visitors, illustrating a strongsense of brand loyalty. The company attributes its success to being a family inclusive resort, offering a huge variety of shows, entertainment, activities and dining and accommodation choices at affordable prices. Dermot King, managing director at Butlins reveals: “We know that the key to success is continuous investment into the resorts to make sure that we keep the standard that modern British holidaymakers expect.

Our aim is to provide holiday resorts where families can happily enjoy a holiday in a safe, secure and appealing environment. Families work hard to come away and we aim to give them a break from the daily routine of normal life and let them spend quality time together, whilst we take care of the hard work.”

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Butlins Plans Resort Hotel At Minehead

Posted on February 7, 2014

Butlins Plans Resort Hotel At Minehead

Butlins are upgrading the accommodation at their Minehead site to appeal to families all year round.

Butlins is developing plans to regenerate a further part of its Minehead site by replacing some older holiday accommodation with a modern resort hotel.

The proposals, which represent a £20 million development creating up to 100 new jobs, will be displayed at a public exhibition in Minehead.

Butlins Minehead’s managing director, Julian Highfield, said: “Visitors tell us that they would welcome the flexibility and convenience of holiday accommodation in the form of a resort hotel on the Minehead site. We are proposing a character hotel that would appeal to those with pre-school children outside school holidays, as well as families during traditional holiday periods.”

Work has recently started on a £16 million redevelopment project on the Minehead site to provide improved holiday accommodation. It is hoped that the new resort hotel will complement this development by providing a greater variety of accommodation and an improved experience for visitors.

Julian added: “The type of hotel we are proposing has worked well at our resort in Bognor Regis and we think Minehead would also benefit from a modern resort hotel that will help to turn Butlins into an all year round destination.”