Taking The Plunge

Posted on November 28, 2014

Having their own hot tub is often the highlight of a holiday break for many guests. Pic Master Spas

Taking The Plunge

There is something rather decadent about lying back in an al fresco hot tub with just the gentle bubble of warm water to break the silence – don’t knock it until you have tried it.

Appealing to families as well as couples, for many holiday makers, having their own hot tub is the highlight of their break. Perfect any time of the year, hot tubs are especially indulgent when it is cold outside so add to the lure of an autumn or winter holiday offering.

For holiday park operators, adding a hot tub is an opportunity to enhance visitor appeal and to add a premium to the letting price of the accommodation. Switched on holiday sector marketeers are cashing in on the popular trend with a host of websites and on-line marketing offers, highlighting the added attraction of a holiday hot tub.

The Management of Spa Pools booklet insists that a hot tub in a commercial environment needs to have a continuous chemical feeder built into the spa
to continuously treat it with disinfectant.

Hoseasons is among them, currently offering more than 750 holiday options with a hot tub. On-line searches of holiday accommodation with hot tubs spring up a multitude of websites such as www.hottubholiday.co.uk and www.forestholidays.co.uk all majoring on hot tubs as an added attraction. Potentially profitable, there are however, many pitfalls to avoid before taking the plunge and adding a hot tub to your holiday offering.

Shrewd operators and owners will look before they leap when it comes to showing duty of care not to mention doing the necessary sums to ensure a profitable bottom line.

“The best advice I can give holiday operators is to keep it simple and only invest in hot tubs if they can provide or include service, within a daily maintenance routine, to ensure safe water and correct settings,” advises Stephen Weller, of Master Spas, one of the UK’s longest serving suppliers.

To read more on this story, please subscribe online today.

Tributes For Holiday Stalwart

Posted on November 4, 2014

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.

Holiday Snaps: Jon Hyatt, Hendra Holiday Park

Posted on November 4, 2014

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.

Net Gains

Posted on August 29, 2014

Net Gains

The caravan and holiday park sector is recognising the value of cashless card systems like Embed.

Startling figures from internet giants, Google, show that more than 80 per cent of Brits use the internet to research their holidays.

With more holidaymakers than ever then going on to book their holidays; from holiday and touring parks to caravan and campsites.

Sharp and effective websites with user-friendly online booking systems, search engine optimisation, e-blasts, apps and cookiebased promotion – the e-marketing revolution is here and is ignored at your peril.

“In today’s day and age, it’s more important than ever that park operators keep pace with technology – especially when it comes to maximising online bookings and sales,” urges Niall Norris of management software CampManager.

E-marketing is not just about selling holidays, but also about user-friendly booking systems.

“There are basic principles, which if adhered to can really make a difference to a park’s online booking service,” Niall adds.

For a visitor to the website, the online booking system should be straightforward and easy to use, and clearly provide the visitor with all the information they need to book their stay. It must be logical, with quality pictures and descriptions so that customers can make their preferred selection.

“Customers like to feel comfortable and secure as they navigate around the website booking pages. Having the booking page designed in the same style as the website and having the payment taken directly from the website page considerably helps this, and directly increases the number of online bookings made,” advises Niall.

MAKING IT EASY

Equally, the system should be just as simple for the reservation team to use, making it easy for them to carry out tasks such as taking payment, amend bookings, calculate tariffs, generate arrival and departure reports and undertake online marketing initiatives.

“A common mistake that park owners make is using a system more suited for hotels,” says Niall. “A more flexible booking system is required for campsites and caravan parks, as the accommodation options are far more complex, plus all of the added extras available.”

“A key advantage of having a web based booking system that operates from one platform, is that when an online booking is made it immediately goes into the management system, therefore avoiding mistakes and errors.”

CampManager is fast becoming a popular choice for campsites and caravan parks looking for a complete management and booking system that is efficient and easy to use.

To read more on this story, subscribe online today.

Park Resorts Launch Caravan Sales App

Posted on July 3, 2014

Park Resorts new caravan sales App is designed to make buying a caravan as simple as possible for prospective home owners.

Park Resorts Launch Caravan Sales App

Park Resorts has become the first UK holiday park operator to launch an App showcasing all of the current caravans, lodges and chalets for sale on its parks.

The free App is a one-stop shop for people looking to invest in a holiday home, as well as existing home owners.

Users can search for properties by location using a UK map, find parks closest to their current location, or search by model or price range. The App also allows prospective buyers to view details of the facilities at all of Park Resorts 38 parks as well as photo galleries of all of the caravans, lodges and chalets for sale. A useful finance calculator also helps them to work out costs and repayments.

Martin Abrams, head of digital at Park Resorts said: “We know that around a third of visits to the Park Resorts website are now made from tablets or mobile phones and we expect this number to further increase over the coming 12 months.

“Nowadays people want to easily access information when and where it suits them and often on the move. This new user-friendly App is designed to meet the growing demand for people browsing on these devices. This is just the first part of some big changes to our web and mobile offer this year and we’re excited at what lies ahead.”

The App was produced, built and tested by Park Resorts inhouse web team based at its Hemel Hempstead HQ. It is available to download for free from the App Store or Google Play.

HOLIDAY HOT TUBS

Posted on December 19, 2013

HOLIDAY HOT TUBS

Hot tubs can add value to holiday lets but operators need to look before they leap.

Hot tubs now regularly feature on the wish list of holiday makers looking to book a range of holiday accommodation from cabins, lodges and chalets to some of the more luxurious ‘glamping’ packages at holiday sites throughout the UK and Eire.

For holiday park operators, the addition of a hot tub is a tempting prospect. It makes a lodge stand apart from a comparable cabin at a competing location, while creating the option for a premium price level for ‘superior accommodation’ with hot tubs. It also adds to the kudos of the site generally as a ‘five star’ holiday venue.

A handful of the bigger holiday park operators have invested in ‘adapted’ portable tubs with remote commercial filtration and chemical dosing for their luxury lodges. These are generally much larger than the average portable spa with bigger and better filtration and sanitation systems along with other features that suit much heavier use in theme parks and health spas.

But, over the past ten years, a vast majority of smaller holiday park operators and holiday let owners, have just purchased and operate what are in fact domestic hot tubs only designed for home, and not intended for commercial use.

WELCOME BOOST

While holiday park operators rush to meet the demands of prospective customers and a welcome boost to sales – hot tub suppliers should make clear about the health and safety considerations that come with every holiday hot tub installation – advising customers appropriately and not succumbing to lower standards for the lure of quick or bulk sale.

“Any pool of water being used by a paying customer would bring it under the category of commercial use. It is the case for hot tubs installed into a holiday lodge. They are there for commercial use,” advises Jimmy Lamb, UK Bayrol product manager for the Pollet Pool Group, and a leading expert in hot tub care.

“It’s not as straight forward to simply plonk a hot tub into any log cabin, chalet or holiday lodge and expect the hirer to get on with it. If the water is not maintained properly things can quickly go wrong,” warns Lamb.

“One risk is the fast dissipation of the disinfection residual as the holiday maker, his family and all of their friends embark on the inevitable hot tub party.

“Once the disinfectant is allowed to diminish, bacteria are allowed to multiply exposing the risk of cross contamination between bathers. Rashes and skin complaints will result in an unhappy holiday maker seeking some form of compensation but, we all know that other waterborne diseases can develop in poorly treated pools that can become a lot more serious than just a rash.”

And he stresses: “A legally-required risk assessment should highlight the requirement for operating procedures of such an installation to include regular draining, disinfecting of the tub, pipework and filter after each letting.”

The HPA (Health Protection Agency) has produced a booklet called ‘Management of Spa Pools’. This booklet offers advice on the installation of what is generally a product designed for domestic use being installed into a commercial facility. It states that if there are a number of premises sharing the pool then a commercial spa is required. The British and Irish Spa and Hot Tub Association also offer member fact sheets about these installations and have further advice within their standards.

To read more on this story please click here to subscribe.

Holiday Park Scene Magazine

Holiday Park Operator

Taking The Plunge