"We loved the launch, but what is it you do?"

Hey,

We’ve answered that question a few times throughout the last month. A consequence of us having an idea and running with it full steam ahead? Most likely.

We’re those ‘100 miles an hour’ type of people and we know that all may not have been clear from the start.

So, where do we start? What a whirlwind couple of months it’s been.

When we decided to start our journey as consultants for the holiday park sector, we honestly had no idea what to expect. Nerves, excitement, drive, genuine passion and belief that we could make a difference in the sector - we had all that and some.

Those from within the sector will know that launching anything other than a marketing campaign in ‘peak’ can be tricky territory. Coupled with the fact Matt was navigating moving house and a 5 year old on school holidays. Not to mention a load of rain, the HPP website launch, spending quality time with our extended holiday park people (who have been super supportive), traveling to meet park operators, dogs, the Oasis ticket saga and well, general life.

It’s certainly been a busy time. 7(ish) weeks on, we’re as excited as we were on day one. Have we learnt a lot? Hell yes. But we’ve enjoyed every minute, and if anything, we’re more passionate about the sector than ever before. Here’s why…

The people - Honestly, we know it might sound cheesy, but this sector is just full of brilliant, talented and genuinely good people. From calls offering us support to meetings with suppliers and park operators, the people are just brilliant. We’ve absolutely loved getting out on the road meeting park operators, suppliers we’ve known for many years and new suppliers. ‘Our people’ network will be the best of the best in the sector and we can’t wait to share this network with you soon.

As an example, we had an ace chat with Helen from Lichfields about planning last week. We gained so much insight from Helen as we discussed how the sector can build trust with local communities and planning departments and how we can innovate to support planning consent that benefits parks, local communities and the wider economy. We’re no planning experts, but they certainly are and we’d strongly recommend that any operators considering park developments or future planning get in touch with them. A great bunch that really know their stuff and genuinely care. Definitely our kind of people.

The innovation - we attended the Great caravan, motorhome and holiday home show in Harrogate. It was our first time attending an event of this nature as the Holiday Park People and it was ace! In particular, we absolutely loved catching up with ABI, Swift, Carnaby and Victory, hearing about everything that’s going on in the manufacturing space and seeing their ranges.

We’ve worked in this sector and with these manufacturers for such a long time and it simply blows our minds how they and their talented teams continue to innovate, push boundaries, change the historical preconception of a caravan or lodge and adapt to meet and exceed consumer wants and needs. They’re also brilliant people that care and their passion for the sector and the people in it inspires us.

Having spoken to lots of manufacturers, operators and suppliers at the show it’s clear there’s green shoots out there and that makes us feel excited for the year ahead.

Doing what we love - we’ve taken on some incredible clients since launching and that makes us super proud. From day one, we said we’d only work with people that were a great fit and we’d only work with businesses when we believed we could genuinely make a positive difference for them. The variety of businesses we’re working with is amazing for us on a personal and professional level and no two days are the same, which we love. From system implementations to sales and marketing planning, part exchange support and training, it’s the reason we started this business. We’re genuinely proud when we get to work with new clients and their teams. We love being able to support and we’re absolutely up for a challenge.

Doing our bit - we recently launched our partnership with Walking With The Wounded. An incredible charity that is close to our hearts and aligned with our values. We’re thrilled to be working with them and believe we and our sector can do loads to support this charity. We love that we can be a mechanism to drive this support and we will shout about it loads because it can really help.

We’ve just signed up for our first fundraising event which is a CEO sleep out on 28th October. We’ll share more throughout the coming weeks and we’ll share our experience of the event on our social channels if you’d like to follow along.

We’re well and truly in Autumn now (as if Summer even happened) and that means focus on autumn/winter part exchange, end of season events, holiday sales planning for next year, 2025 CAPEX project planning and winter training programmes for most. If we can help you with any of that, or anything else, we’re here and we’re your people. Don’t hesitate to get in touch for a chat and a brew.

Til next time,

Stacey and Matt x