Holiday Parks Management Magazine

A few scattered overgrown tourers in a field. A standpipe and, if you are lucky, a toilet and a shower or two. Not a description of your park, obviously, but it might have been just a few decades ago! Sometimes when I visit holiday parks, there is a fading photo on the wall depicting the early days. Managers and park owners are proud to remember their roots, perhaps starting with grandad or their parents. But they are also rightly pleased with the way things have developed, what they have achieved. How did we get from that ad hoc situation to what we have now... impressive infrastructure, expensive features, facilities galore and people luxuriating in static units or lovely lodges with more mod cons than at home?

It’s been a long journey, as those who have been running holiday parks (formerly called caravan sites) for any length of time will know. A route with much outlay on the way, putting in water, electricity and sewage, upgrading those facilities, providing improved access roads and parking, you know the rest. Hard decisions have been made as to what facilities to provide, depending on your target customer. Parks have over the years fallen into groupings ranging from the quiet retreat type with no added facilities and features, to the all-singing, all-dancing, often coastal, parks with entertainment, restaurants, bars and much more.

No matter where you fall in that range, you will always be thinking of the next development. At times and in some of the troughs of the economy, mere survival is the name of the game. However parks always have to look to the future beyond this year’s bottom line, to be ready for growth when it comes. Parks change hands and new owners have new ideas and often new finance. Where to target that finance is often a taxing question. A million is not a big figure in a holiday park, but it might be hard-won, and so asks to be spent carefully and appropriately. If you are juggling with smaller sums as many are, it is equally important that you make the developments which will grow your park into what you want it to be.

Wherever you fit in the spectrum of parks, you will want to achieve the best balance of investment and return, of realistic workloads and satisfied customers.

What have existing and potential holiday lodge or park home owners come to expect? There is not one answer to this question, as you will know. Except that all owners will want to feel happy and relaxed in their own major investment, and that is not down to how much you spend on your park, but the atmosphere you create. Parks which have the longest-standing residents are not necessarily those which have had the most lavished on them. However ease of access and parking, the right blend of facilities, all contribute to that sense of well-being.

Expectations include a clear and fair licence agreement. An approachable management and staff, who act promptly when there are problems. Friendly faces around the site. Beyond that, what people want varies tremendously. As I visit holiday parks in particular, I find lodge and holiday home owners often fiercely protective of one rule or other of their park. An example is those who are on parks where no-one is allowed to let out their unit. Residents say they are glad of this, as it means there is a control on who stays there, adding to the sense of community where everyone knows each other. On the other hand, on parks where letting is allowed, owners are often grateful that they can recoup some of the considerable expense put into buying their unit, and paying ground rent etc. Since you can’t please everyone, it is better not to try! But to attract the type of owner who wants your sort of park, and make it the best it can be of its kind.

At one time, those about to alight on a holiday park in their chosen area might have been just grateful to have a pitch for their unit. Now that expense dictates that they need to be in it for the long haul, they have many more questions. Good and clear answers to these, may mean you get the new resident. People expect to understand, perhaps more than in previous decades, what will be expected of them in return for their custom, and what plans the park has or has not for development and maybe expansion.

There is a move towards parks with few facilities, as illustrated by new lodge parks which are springing up around the country, and often have no bar or restaurant, and nothing else. Others have one or two well-chosen acitivites like a golf course or swimming pool, a pitch and putt or bowling green. Potential owners often cite peace and quiet as their main aim in buying a holiday home of whatever kind. Residential parks tend to have fewer facilities anyway, though they sometimes find it would be good to add a communal room at least, to create a sense of community.

Because there are so many local and regional variations, it would be foolish to try to generalise too much, or even to predict or describe trends. Tentatively I would say that as expectations have risen in terms of the interiors of holiday and homes, to the point where many are dripping with spec, so many owners have come to assume that lighting, roads and infrastructure will also be top notch. Some individual parks have struggled to keep up with this demand. However I would contend that there is also still a place for the more modest but well-kept park with simple roads and few features – and a lower ground rent.

As to the future, it is even more unpredictable in this industry. Signs are however that there will be an increasing emphasis on respect for the environment, as there is at home. A challenge for parks will be to ride with this wave, choose the best products and save themselves and their customers money in the long run.

Janet Lumb