lodge manufacturers

HOLIDAY HEROES

Posted on August 2, 2023

HOLIDAY HEROES

Away Resort's raises the UK holiday park bar...

WATERSPORTS are a big attraction at Tattershall Lakes

International travel is back, but the Great British Holiday continues its rise. At the forefront of this increasingly sophisticated market are innovative operators like Away Resorts. A UK holiday park operator with a difference, Away Resorts started life in 2008 when Chief Executive Carl Castledine teamed up with industry stalwarts Neill Ryder and Greg Lashley.

Following in the footsteps of his grandfather who ran one of Britain’s first holiday camps, it was written in the stars that Carl would enter the parks business. In fact, according to colleagues, if you cut Carl in half, he would have the words ‘holiday park’ and ‘Away Resorts’ running through him like a stick of rock! With the acquisition of their first holiday park – Whitecliff Bay on the Isle of Wight – and a self-confessed ambition to ‘shake up the industry,’ Away Resorts was in business.

“We wanted to take the best bits of the great British holiday park, throw out the worst aspects, then add in some amazing contemporary touches, creating holiday parks for the next generation,” says Carl. And that’s exactly what they have done. Today, Away Resorts operates 27 holiday parks across the UK set in beautiful locations throughout Scotland, Lincolnshire, Isle of Wight, North Wales, Hampshire, Dorset, Cornwall, Hayling Island and Essex.

INNOVATION SUCH AS CONTEMPORARY themed accommodation fuels development. Pictured, the Rockstar.

Each park in the portfolio is unique and has its own individual appeal, whether it be festival inspired entertainment and Instagrammable themed accommodation, or retro-style talent shows and low-key camping under the stars. At the heart of every park is the same desire to inspire their guests to make memories.

“Whether customers want coastal or country locations, full-on fun or a relaxing time with loved ones, each resort is alive with character and atmosphere, and specifically crafted to suit customer needs,” explains Laura Miller, who joined Away Resorts as Head of Marketing in 2017.

“We want to ensure that our customers feel inspired and leave with ‘remember when we did that?’ moments that will last a lifetime. We want our guests to remember their holidays forever.” With an accommodation portfolio that includes over 500 Lodges (250 with Hot Tubs), 1,800 caravans, three hotels and over 200 chalets, that’s more than 120,000 holiday bookers in any one season.

Not forgetting the additional 4,000 holiday home owners across 20 parks. With investment in holiday homes growing across the UK, owners are an increasingly important part of the Away Resorts family. “Our owners tell us they enjoy their time with us again and again: unlimited holidays led by our teams on park - true Holiday Heroes,” says Laura.

THE WIDEST RANGE of accommodation appeals to all types of guest. Pictured, Camping Pod at St Ives Bay Beach Resort.

CORE VALUES
Away Resorts have 172 ‘Holiday Heroes’ supporting guests at the central office in Hemel Hempstead. During peak season, the total number of employees is just shy of 2,400. Employees share a common goal: to ‘deliver delight’ to customers. “Ultimately, our vision is to inspire everyone to holiday in the UK, driven by a mission to ‘strive for extraordinary’.

At the heart of all this are our people, led by three core values: Attentive, Amazing, Lovers,” explains Laura. Building a team that aims to be the ‘best in the industry’ has not been without issue in recent times. “The pandemic was obviously a huge challenge for all businesses, and some of these challenges have continued, most notably in hospitality and seeing a return of this skillset in particular destinations,” says Carl Castledine, CEO.

“During the pandemic, our fantastic team responded well to the crisis, continually putting each other and our customers first. For now, we look to attract talent with some of our fantastic benefits, training and coaching opportunities. We have such an amazing sector to work in and it’s about attracting new, young talent.” Latterly, the war in Ukraine has also put pressure on the business.

“The impact of both energy and non-energy commodities continues to be challenging,” says Carl. “We have had to work smarter through this difficult period, whilst not compromising our great offering for guests and owners.” There’s clearly no slowing down on delivering on expectations at Away Resorts. Excellence in service and a commitment to innovation are the hallmarks of their continued success, and there’s a constant flow of new and exciting ideas to fuel development.

With over £14.5 million invested in the last 5 years, Tattershall Lakes in Lincolnshire is now the biggest resort in Away Resorts’ portfolio. With a guest profile split equally between young families, families with teenagers, couples and groups, Tattershall Lakes really does offer something for everyone. Water-based activities are a major draw at this eight-lake site (three offering watersports) including water and jet skis, stand-up-paddleboarding, canoeing and kayaking, as well as more laid back pedaloes.

NEW STARGAZER ACCOMMODATION at St Ives Bay Beach Resort.

There’s also an inflatable Aqua Park, outdoor lakeside Lido, outdoor splash pad, sandy man-made beach, as well as an indoor swimming pool complex with an aqua play splash zone. An extensive variety of accommodation offers the widest appeal from classic caravans to lakeside lodges, to the ultimate in ways to stay with Away Resorts new range: the Esme, the Rockstar and the TriBeCa.

With enormous flatscreen TVs, private hot-tubs and stylish, contemporary furnishings, as well as quirky individualised design touches (think foliage and Union Flag feature walls and neon light décor), these exclusive holiday homes are ideal for a new generation of UK holidaymakers. And when they want to head out after dark, how about a trip to the Giggling Goose, a stylish over 18s gin and cocktail bar with an expert mixologist and secret rooftop garden.

With a multi-million-pound private equity investment taking place in 2021, Away Resorts were primed for further expansion with the acquisition of St Ives Bay Beach Resort. This beautiful location with access to 3 miles of prime Cornish beach has seen £3.7m investment in new accommodation over the past two years. The new Thalassa and Stargazer holiday homes are the ultimate in indulgence with the latter offering roll top baths, hot tubs, and a glass window in the bedroom for exploring the evening stars.

More innovation is apparent at Sandy Balls Holiday Park, one of Away Resorts most popular destinations. This holiday village offers forest-themed accommodation, exceptional family leisure activities including walks with resident alpacas, and an annual Forest Festival, all with the outstanding natural beauty of the New Forest as its backdrop.

AWAY RESORTS INVEST heavily in new entertainment and activities. Pictured, Alpaca Walks at Sandy Balls Holiday Park.

FUTURE-PROOFING
With future-proofing a top priority, it’s no surprise that sustainability and ‘giving back’ are also high on the agenda. All new developments are built using the latest energy-saving technology and the team work closely with caravan and lodge manufacturers to keep pushing boundaries.

“In our recent new development at Mill Rythe Coastal Village in Hampshire, we’re installing a brand-new natural airflow system instead of electric-powered air handling units,” explains Carl. “This natural airflow system is PV (solar) powered.” Projects to end single plastic use and increase recycling including uniforms are well underway. Charitable giving is also significant.

Working with Creating Tomorrow’s Forest, Away Resorts plant a tree for every holiday home sold to a new owner. There’s also a partnership with Surfers Against Sewage with many locations doing regular beach cleans. A commitment to protect the Great British Holiday and our Planet… it seems Away Resorts are well on the way to their ambition ‘to make the future amazing for everyone!’

BIBLICAL CHALLENGES

Posted on May 5, 2021

BIBLICAL CHALLENGES

Insurance companies respond to unprecedented times...

It has been an unprecedented period for holiday park operators with challenges of biblical proportions as they faced floods, a global plague and a stop-start famine then feast on bookings. It is a period that has also challenged insurance cover suppliers to step up for their holiday park customers. Given the extraordinary circumstances of Covid, one of the hottest insurance topics has been Business Interruption (BI) cover. Long-awaited clarity about how BI claims should be handled came with the publication of the Supreme Court judgement on 15th January 2021. Not all customers will have the specific cover the test case referred to, which means that not all customers’ policies will be expected to cover Covid. The process of assessing BI claims is a complex one, and there are steps that need to be followed in order to submit a valid claim. Specialist insurers are working with the holiday trade who had the relevant policy coverage to confirm and assess their claims as quickly as they can. Champions of the Park Protect Scheme, David Moffat, Associate Director, of PIB Insurance Brokers says: “Unfortunately the pandemic has coincided with a significant hardening of the insurance market with insurance rates for certain types of insurance increasing markedly in recent months.

PARK PROTECT
“This often happens at a time of uncertainty as it usually comes with increases in claims and the insurance market reacts accordingly,” David explains. “Insurers have seen increasing claims costs, particularly from natural disasters but also due to an increasingly litigious society,” David continues. “As insurer profitability declines, they either decide to exit unprofitable markets or increase premiums.” Meanwhile, Leisuredays have been working hard, often behind the scenes: “We worked hard to educate caravan and lodge owners that their units remained at risk during lockdown using press releases, online content and through our advisers,” says Gareth Walker, Head of Leisuredays Development. “Covid, may have meant parks were closed for long periods but the winds still blow, rivers still flood, thieves still steal and pipes still freeze,” Gareth continues. “We calculate over 90% of claims could still occur even when units are unoccupied and parks closed, with storm and flood, fire, vermin damage and theft topping the list of claim types,” says Gareth. With parks’ income drying up overnight, it was clear that specialist insurance companies needed to do whatever we could as quickly as possible to help customers through the lockdown period. Compass were quick out of the blocks, developing a tailored product, Compass Essentials, which was offered to all holiday park businesses from May 2020. The product was designed to ensure all park customers, existing and new, could be offered a discount or refund of some sort. It largely worked on the premise that parks’ insurance needs changed, as a direct result of being closed to the public. For many, this meant liability covers could be reduced without putting the park business at risk. By further eliminating less critical covers such as frozen food cover and accidental damage, many parks were able to secure immediate premium refunds of up to 25%.

HOME OWNERS
Several Compass insured parks have experienced flooding in the past six months, and a few have been very badly affected. Over half of the claims that Compass handles relate to flood and storm. One of the biggest lockdown issues for holiday home owners has been their ability to comply with insurance policy conditions. Holiday caravan owners also need to think about their sums insured as pressures on the supply chain mean that the cost of replacing caravans is likely to increase sharply, if only for the next 12 – 18 months “Coronavirus has had a significant impact on the way in which holiday caravan and lodge manufacturers can operate,” Richard Walker, of Compass points out. “Coupled with supply chain issues, this has resulted in fewer units being produced at a time when staycation bookings and new caravan/ lodge sales have boomed. “The high demand for the units that are available could potentially impact any total losses experienced by parks and their customers in the next year or so. “The fact that the dearth in available units is driving up prices may also be relevant, as will the increased costs of many of the materials used in caravan/ lodge construction,” Paula adds. Once parks re-opened, Leisuredays say they dealt with a record number of insurance enquiries as parks enjoyed healthy sales of new units.

RECORD NUMBERS

“For those suffering temporary financial difficulty as a result of Covid, we were able to defer payments or waive cancellation charges,” says Gareth. “If a customer asked to cancel their policy but was intending to keep their unit uninsured, we would do everything possible to keep them insured because the last thing they needed on top of everything else was an uncovered bill for a caravan repair or replacement. The closing of parks at the end of October also brought difficulties for customers to drain down their units for winter in line with insurance policy terms. “We were able to offer flexibility for customers to arrange for their parks to drain down within an extended timeframe yet maintain full cover until this was completed,” he adds. Leisuredays set about making it even easier for park customers by offering a new online renewal portal so they could renew 24/7. Gareth explains: “To ease any stress, we provided an up to 10% uplift to policy sum insured at no charge. “This was beneficial to customers on a new for old policy who have to insure at the price of a brand-new equivalent unit.” In effect, the Leisuredays approach meant the customer could renew and be sure their caravan would be fully replaced with a new one on the park – it also reassured the parks that the customer would have sufficient funds to replace their unit via them.

SUFFICIENT FUNDS
“If anything, our way of working with parks has worked extremely well during the pandemic,” Gareth emphasises. “Because our parks work with us as Introducer Appointed Representatives they effectively introduce the customer to us for us to quote, then setup and administrate policies. “When parks re-opened in July 2020, many parks were keen to maximise sales so they bundled our free insurance offer with new units as a deal sweetener. “This proved extremely popular for new owners who wanted everything to be provided as part of the purchase package.” Gareth believes Covid has made self- administration of customer insurance even less attractive for holiday park operators. “We’re even more confident the route of introducing to a specialist like ourselves delivers better results,” says Gareth. “Letting a specialist such as Leisuredays do the insurance admin lets them concentrate on their core business. Gareth adds: “We firmly believe they’re in for a bumper season of demand for holiday caravan sales and holidays so they need to make hay whilst the sun shines in that regard – why let insurance get in the way?”

COMPANY CONTACTS

Compass Insurance
Tel. 0344 274 0276
enquiries@compass.co.uk
www.compassparks.co.uk

Leisuredays Insurance
Tel. 01422 396 693
parkoperator@leisuredays.co.uk
www.leisuredays.co.uk

PIB Insurance Brokers
Tel. 01422 358 525
david.moffat@pib-insurance.com
www.pib-insurance.com/business/hospitality/caravan-and-holiday-park-insurance