Exceeding Expectations

Posted on May 20, 2015

Carmenta offers the ideal solution for bespoke projects – both indoors and out.

Exceeding Expectations

They say the trick to full occupancy in the holiday business, is knowing what the punters want…even before they do! Case in point – holiday spas and hot tubs. Once considered an unnecessary nuisance – these days, switched on marketeers, vow the addition of a hot tub will increase the likelihood of an on-line booking by 70 per cent.

Where spas and hot tubs lead, wellness now follows whetting an appetite for sauna, steam, experience showers and a host of relaxation treatments. Leading UK suppliers, Anapos, report a sharp spike in wellness project enquiries in the past nine months. “The increase in interest in the home wellness market puts more pressure, in turn, on commercial venues to constantly raise the bar but they will always look at return compared with investment.

Martyn Wood, national sales director at Anapos Thermal Spa Equipment advises holiday park operators to think carefully about the target audience of their spa offering and recommends providing a bolt-on children’s area, to keep the kids entertained while the adults enjoy the spa. “A good spa facility will attract customers from far afield, so it’s worth investing to put your spa ahead of others in the area.

“The appeal of a spa is the peace and quiet, so keeping to an ‘adults only’ policy is advisable. However, on a holiday park the majority of guests will more than likely be staying with children, so I would suggest offering a children’s play area or club to keep the children amused while the adults enjoy the spa facilities.”

Holiday parks can also benefit from opening the spa up to non-residents. Offering spa day packages and spa weekend breaks can be real money spinners if charged at premium spa prices. For those that are looking to expand their spa offering, or to add a new spa, Martyn suggests offering a selection of elements that will make your spa stand out from the crowd: “As a starting point, a basic spa should ideally include a hydro pool, a minimum of three thermal cabins, around four to six treatment rooms and a nice relaxation area is a must.

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Center Parcs Introduces Google 360° Technology

Posted on April 15, 2015

Center Parcs villages have been mapped using Google Business View technology, including the first fully operational sauna to be virtually toured.

Center Parcs Introduces Google 360° Technology

Center Parcs has become the first UK holiday resort to be comprehensively mapped using Google Business View technology.

The technology allows visitors to the Center Parcs website to virtually explore every square inch of the villages at the click of a button, whether viewing the subtropical swimming paradise or taking a look inside the range of accommodation options on offer.

It took 20 days, over 180 hours and in excess of 25,000 individual images to create the 140 different virtual tours. All buildings have been captured internally, including each of the different restaurants, leisure facilities and Aqua Sana spa.

In combination with Google Street View of all Center Parcs Villages, this is the most extensive use of this technology within the UK holiday sector. Four of the five Center Parcs Villages have been mapped, with the recently opened Woburn Forest set to follow later this year.

All-Weather Swimming For Visitors

Posted on April 1, 2015

West Hayes Caravan Park in Lyme Regis has installed an Endless Summer enclosure over its existing pool to extend its swimming season.

All-Weather Swimming For Visitors

Fed up with a seemingly endless round of wet summers, West Hayes Caravan Park in Lyme Regis called in local pool retailer, Isca Pools to install an Endless Summer enclosure over their existing swimming pool to extend the swimming season.

Manager of the caravan park, Carol Bishop, says: “Erecting the enclosure is the best thing we have done in terms of increasing our business. “We have had so many favourable comments from customers about the difference it has made and the fact that they can now enjoy the pool, one of our main attractions, for so much longer, that it is worth every penny spent on it.

“Whereas before we could only open the pool from May to September, now we plan to open it from March to October.”

A textbook installation, the 17.6m x 11.0m, nine bay telescopic enclosure at West Hayes was up and running in just four days. Endless Summer is an experienced British company that manufacture pool enclosures specifically designed to suit the UK climate.

The pool enclosure is made up of a series of modular components which can be integrated to ensure that the enclosure can accommodate almost any shape pool, pool surround materials and adjoining buildings. The flexibility of the design and its adaptability will respond to your most creative and imaginative plans. Besides the standard enclosures, custom designs include retracting, fixed, lean-to, low level and centre opening models.

Richard Kinver, MD of Isca Pools says: “This is the second Endless Summer enclosure that we have installed and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to other clients.

“It has surpassed mine and the customer’s expectations and is the ideal solution to the unpredictable British climate. It’s easy to use, unobtrusive and attractive in design.”

Endless Summer
Tel. 0800 083 7495
www.endlesssummer.co.uk

Invisible Pool Blanket Dramatically Cuts Gas Bill

Posted on February 9, 2015

Invisible Pool Blanket Dramatically Cuts Gas Bill

Heatsavr has saved Hoburne Holiday Parks thousands of pounds on pool heating costs at the Devon Bay resort.

Hoburne Holiday Parks has saved thousands of pounds on its gas bills, following the introduction of Heatsavr liquid pool cover in the indoor pool at its site in Torbay.

Heatsavr was first used at the park in 2011, in a bid to reduce the gas consumption used to maintain the temperature of the pool and the humidity within the pool hall. Results from an independent analysis by EEVS, the UK’s leading provider of performance measurement and verification services for energy, reveal that Heatsavr has reduced gas usage at the park by 21.7 per cent, the equivalent of £4,500 cost saving per year.

Heatsavr, the original liquid pool cover, was first introduced to the UK leisure industry almost a decade ago. Many commercial pool operators and domestic owners have adopted the technology and enjoyed considerable energy savings, as well as the benefit of a simple pool cover system that works 24 hours a day.

Heatsavr works by slowing evaporation from the pool’s surface. The Heatsavr monolayer spreads across the water and traps energy and moisture within the pool. In an indoor pool, energy savings relate not only to pool water heating but also to the ability to turn down the dehumidification system due to the reduced evaporation.

“For pool managers who are in control of expenditure where the pool itself has limited controls, using Heatsavr may feel like a leap of faith as the energy savings may not be easily extracted,” says Peter Marshall of Brenntag UK. The product is odourless, tasteless and completely invisible, tempting pool managers to wonder if it is working at all.

“But pool managers should have confidence in these findings and recognise that whilst invisible, Heatsavr continues to work throughout the day and night, saving energy and enabling them to focus on other cost saving initiatives within their site.”

Peter adds: “In providing customers with the independent analysis that they have been seeking, we hope to be able to deliver energy saving benefits and ultimately, peace of mind, to a greater number of commercial operators across the UK.”

Brenntag UK
Tel. 0113 3879200
www.heatsavr.co.uk

Butlins Enforces Pool Safety Policy

Posted on February 9, 2015

Butlins stand by their swimming pool safety policy which states that every two children must be accompanied by an adult.

Butlins Enforces Pool Safety Policy

Holiday park operator Butlins came under fire recently, after a mother-of-four was asked to leave the swimming pool at Butlins’ Skegness resort for having too many children.

Kelly Noble was approached by a lifeguard while swimming with her four children and advised of the company’s swimming pool safety policy which states that every two children aged eight years old and under must be accompanied by at least one adult – a policy which is mirrored by many other commercial pool operators.

While Ms Noble was clearly outraged, Butlins insists that the policy is in place to ensure the safety of its guests.

A spokesperson for Butlins commented: “When guests book with us, our telephone advisors make them aware of our policies with regard to child supervision in our pools and at our fairgrounds. The same information is available on our website.

“Due to Ms Noble’s eldest children also requiring additional supervision, they were unable to be responsible for the younger children, which is why they would have not been able to use the pool.”

The spokesperson added: “The safety of all our guests is our absolute priority at all times and we cannot compromise that.”

Swim To Win

Posted on December 19, 2014

Swim To Win

Even parks with the most basic of wet leisure facilities can maximise the potential their offering with a few simple measures that will broaden appeal.

With water leisure at the top of many visitor priority lists, it is vital for holiday parks to continuously not just meet but exceed demands for safe and fun aquatic facilities.

Even parks with the most basic of wet leisure facilities can maximise the potential their offering with a few simple measures that will broaden appeal and keep the guests coming back time and time again.

“The pool is a vital tool in attracting and retaining new customers,” explains Kevin Christopher, leisure manager at Swanage Bay View Holiday Home Park in Dorset. “We do our utmost to provide an extensive range of pool-based activities, and are continually improving these to ensure that guests are more than satisfied with the offering.”

The indoor heated swimming pool at Swanage Bay View is open to guests and the public, and sees around 50,000 users on average each year. The pool plays host to an assortment of water activities as well as swimming sessions, including snorkelling, aqua fit classes, pool parties and the increasingly popular Waterwalkerz, which can be hired by guests on request.

Kevin comments: “We run Waterwalkerz sessions every weekend for our younger guests between the ages of five to sixteen, at a cost of £5 per session. “We have had the two Waterwalkerz for just over year now and they are certainly one of the most popular activities we run at the pool.”

The Waterwalkerz at Swanage Bay View Holiday Park are a popular attraction at the poolside.

Haven holiday parks make the most of their swimming facilities by offering swimming lessons for children, amongst other pool-based activities. In partnership with the Swimming Teacher’s Association (STA), Haven provide Learn2Swim sessions for guests aged four and above, as well as parent and child Water Confidence sessions for youngsters between six months and three years of age.

Gordon Bush head of sports and leisure for Haven comments: “Many of our parks offer sessions to team members and their families and have also worked in partnership with local communities by inviting local schools onto park to access our lessons and facilities.

“Last year we taught nearly 18,000 guests in just one of our lessons. We trained a further 75 swimming teachers in 2014 and will look to train a further 60 in 2015 so that we can deliver this life skill to our guests of all ages.”

The indoor teaching pool at Haven Holiday Park in Burnhamon- Sea was recently transformed into a highly interactive water play area aimed at increasing water confidence among youngsters. Supplied by Hippo Leisure, the pool now features a short mast which supplies two interactive water channels with a flow of water. There are also large tipping buckets, water wheels and shark showers, which are suspended above the pool on a span pipe, with high level water spraying, tipping and showering at regular intervals.

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Somerset Holiday Park Splashes Out

Posted on September 19, 2014

Brean Leisure Park in Somerset has invested in a new splash play area, with help from design specialists Hippo Leisure.

Brean Leisure Park in Somerset has introduced a new water play area to keep its younger guests entertained within the indoor pool hall.

The multi-level play platform was designed and installed by waterplay specialists Hippo Leisure, and incorporates high and low level features to cater for all ages and ability groups. Splash battle squirting cannons, tipping buckets, water wheels and spray rails are just some of the elements that have been included, to ensure maximum enjoyment for users.

Teresa Metherell of Hippo Leisure comments: “In our experience, holiday parks that invest in family friendly water play equipment that is designed to appeal to their customer base will not only increase their success in attracting new visitors but also maintain repeat custom.”

Hippo Leisure
Tel. 01752 771740
www.hippoleisure.com

Plans To Revamp Derelict Camp

Posted on January 6, 2014

Plans To Revamp Derelict Camp

New owners want to create a holiday park at the derelict Atherfield Bay Holiday Camp on the Isle of Wight. Pic: TrevBish Photography

It could be ‘hi-de-hi campers’ for a former 1950’s holiday camp, with fresh plans to breathe new life into the abandoned site.

Developers plan to invest £10 million in Atherfield Bay Holiday Camp on the Isle of Wight to bring it up to date with contemporary holiday homes.

Set in 30 acres of land, the previously thriving camp ceased trading in 2007 and has since become neglected and derelict.

Plans lodged with the Isle of Wight Council seek to replace the existing 160 holiday chalets, the swimming pools and clubhouse with 95 modern, two and three-bedroomed holiday lodges, together with a new clubhouse and restaurant and two new swimming pools.

The holiday camp shot to fame when it was used by Channel 4 as the setting for Wakey Wakey Campers, a four-part reality TV series screened in 2005, which recreated a 1950s holiday camp.

Jake Slack, of Nottingham-based Richmond White Estates, which runs holiday, lodge and residential parks across the country, said they hoped to transform Atherfield into one of their flagship parks.

He said they hoped to start work early next year, subject to planning, and the site would be marketed to a world-wide audience.

Jake added: “We recognise it is a fantastic site and can see the potential there. In the past it has been a tremendous park and we want to recreate that.”

SPATEX Offers Package Deal

Posted on November 29, 2013

SPATEX offers a one-stop shop for water leisure products and services such as one-piece tiled Signature swimming pools for holiday parks.

SPATEX Offers Package Deal

Bringing together many of the major players in the water leisure Industry, SPATEX 2014, in February, offers the full package for holiday park owners and operators.

Now in its 18th year, a line-up of over a hundred exhibitors will be displaying everything from wet and dry safety flooring, water play features, pool enclosures to saunas with swimming pool water treatment and energy saving ideas thrown in. In fact, all the equipment you need in a holiday park swimming pool and leisure complex.

Each day, the Institute of Swimming Pool Engineers will be running workshops with talks from leading industry experts, giving the show an important technical and educational edge. Tuesday February 4th is Leisure Operators’ Day when the Workshops will be aimed specifically at operators and managers of commercial facilities.

The Arena’s central location, just 500 yards off the M6 and within two hours commuting time of 75 per cent of the population, ensures easy access and the Ricoh has 2,000 free on-site car parking spaces.

The event takes place at the Ricoh Arena’s Jaguar Exhibition Hall from Sunday February 2nd to Tuesday 4th. Free visitor registration is now open via www.spatex.co.uk