Sunbeach Spas

DESTINATION HOT TUBS

Posted on May 10, 2023

DESTINATION HOT TUBS

Holiday locations now have a wealth of compliant spas to choose from...

HOLIDAY BOOKERS continue to look for hot tubs as part of their vacation wish list.

The holiday market continues to recognise hot tubs as essential for attracting the best level of bookings. Key words and phrases such as ‘staycation UK with hot tub’, ‘hot tub staycations UK’, and ‘UK staycations with hot tubs’ all appear on a list of the most common staycation Internet searches. So, there is great appeal for the appropriately named Vacation Range, from Superior Wellness, that is ideal for holiday homes, cottages, B&Bs and Airbnb.

Ready to order now, you can choose from the Vacation Lounge or the Vacation Social depending on your customers’ needs. Great for guests who want to relax on holiday, the Vacation Lounge hot tub is suitable for five to six people and offers the perfect combination of one lounger and five seats. This 13 amp hot tub has R10 insulation and 25 jets.

 

SOCIAL TIMES
Superior’s Vacation Social is an all-seater hot tub for up to seven people, ideal for larger holiday rentals that need a hot tub big enough to fit all guests in. This 13-amp hot tub has R10 insulation and 26 jets. Not to be out-shone, Sunbeach Spas remain the exclusive supplier of hot tubs and related products to a number of holiday parks around the UK, including multiple sites with both Coastfields Leisure and Country & Coastal Holidays along the east coast, and also Lady’s Mile Holiday Park in the south.

“We continue to bring new holiday park companies on board, and most recently have been awarded a new contract to supply over 100 of our 344S spas and 100 saunas to a brand new park over the next six months,” reveals Sunbeach’s Wayne Green. Sunbeach’s 344S plug-and-play spa is now in its third regeneration and remains by far the spa of choice for most of our holiday park clientele.

Wayne confirms: “They appreciate its simplicity of design, combined with a good feature set for its price point - enough features to make it great for customers to have fun and relax in, but also be easy to maintain by site staff. The 344S features award-winning R10 insulation system, making it cost-effective to run, too. “For the next level in lower-cost, eco-friendlier running, it is also heat source pump compatible and pairs wonderfully with the iNHEAT range of heat pumps exclusively available from Sunbeach Spas,” Wayne shares.

“Our iNHEAT heat pumps are available with outputs from 3kW to 21kW, with either on/off switching or inverter controls, and can be retrofitted onto a wide range of spas and swim spas.” Matthew Lowe, Sales Manager with Coastfields Leisure Ltd, endorses the Sunbeach offering: “We have been in partnership with Sunbeach Spas now for over five years, we chose to use them initially due to the energy efficiency and ease of installation of the 344 tub. We are currently using almost exclusively the 344 spa,” says Matthew.

“We picked this model due to it looking the part, excellent build quality, great energy efficiency, ease of installation and we have not been disappointed,” adds Matthew. Coastfields currently have around 100 tubs on our fleet units and Sunbeach look after all the warranty and aftercare needs including the care chemicals and filters. There is also a stock of chemicals and filters in Coastfields’ shops so retail customers, who also have the same tubs, can keep them in perfect condition.

 

Matthew enthuses: “We are also currently near completion of another lodge development at Grange Leisure Mablethorpe utilising the 344 tub. It’s been a pleasure to work with Sunbeach Spas and look forward to many more years of excellent service.“ Relative newcomers to the holiday hot tub sector, Certikin offers a range of four true-hydrotherapy hot tubs, specifically designed for the holiday-let market for both guests and operators.

The commercial spas don’t just comply but some exceed the all-important health and safety requirements enforced by HSE and Local Authorities. The premium, energy-efficient smart spas feature an ozone generator, 24- hour filtration duration; a spa frog in-line chemical dosing system and have no perishable items such as headrests, diverter, or air valves fitted.

In addition, and going above and beyond the HSE and BISHTA guidelines, the hot tubs also feature a fast drain valve, reducing drainage time to 9-10 minutes; a reduced heating time of 3-5 hours with an additional energy source; tamper proof 2-3 button control panel and a silent, energy-saving circulation pump to protect the high-speed pumps.

They can be operated via a Smartphone App and Wi-Fi control that allows the operation of up to 100 spas. The Sevilla Plug and Play model features one lounger and five seats and has 46 hydrotherapy jets and relaxing LED colour-therapy lighting. Due to its low power consumption, it is ideal for parks with limited electricity supply.

The Cordoba comes with 40 hydrotherapy jets, StarLightTM corners, Central LED colour therapy lighting and accommodates six people. The smallest hot tub in the range is the four-seater Porto whilst the largest is the very spacious seven-seater Valencia.

 

HEALTH AND SAFETY
The main aim of the introduction of Health and Safety Guideline 282 (HSG282), that came into effect in early 2017, was to reduce the risk of Legionella outbreaks associated with spas and hot tubs. The guideline covers all spas and hot tubs in a commercial setting i.e. all those hired out and used by more than one party such as holiday destinations and lets.

The guidance aims to:
• Reduce the risk of Legionella and microbiological contamination
• Emphasise the operator’s responsibility
• Ensure testing is frequent and planned (at least three times a day)
• Highlights that results should be recorded
• Stresses there should be a written action plan if required

The Lovibond® Professional Pool and Spa Photometer Kit enables the operator to measure all the tests mentioned in HSG282 from one case. Contained within the kit is an MD 100 Professional Photometer for the measurement of chlorine, bromine and pH and an SD 80 Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Pen. All kits are supplied complete and ready to use. They use premeasured reagents which when added to the hot tub or pool water sample form a colour the intensity of which is proportional to the amount of substance being tested.

A typical test procedure would be
• Take a sample of the water to be tested in a sample cell, place it in a photometer and zero the unit
• Add tablet reagents and allow the colour to develop
• Return cell to photometer and read
• Record results and take appropriate action

Each HSG282 test kit purchased receives access to a FREE online Training Course. The training course covers:
• What is HSG282
• What to test for and why
• Correct Sampling
• Overview of pH, TDS, Chlorine & Bromine
• How to use photometers, comparators & TDS Pens
Importantly, the kit measures both chlorine and bromine so, if different disinfectants are used across your site, the same kit will cover both. Contact support@lovibond.uk for more information.

HOT TUB PAYBACK

Posted on January 26, 2021

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