If you saw us on stage at the BH&HPA conference in Edinburgh last week, you will have heard me talking about how important it is to love your holiday makers!
If you didn’t see our session on Selling in a Difficult Market, let me firstly point out that this doesn’t mean hugs, kisses and gifts. What a relief!
My specialty is very much in customer engagement and improving the customer experience. Many underestimate the importance of both engagement and experience…it’s the ‘fluffy’ side of holiday park jobs. The truth is, it’s so much more and directly links to retention, on site spend and unit sales.
In 2024, 15-20% of all unit sales (on our customer parks) came directly from holiday makers.
This is a figure which can’t be ignored and should actually be explored with a view to increasing it further.
Learn from your customers
Holiday makers choose to come on park and spend their time with you, but do you know what they like best about your park, or what needs improving? Do you send customer surveys after a stay? Does anyone actually answer them?
Last year, we started Post Check Out Happiness Surveys on a park that we work with. I personally called a selection of guests within 7 days of check out each week. We varied unit type, party size, pet friendly etc and tried to cover as many units as we could across the year. We asked simple questions; did you enjoy our holiday? What did you enjoy the most? Were the staff friendly and helpful? What could we improve on?
The results were amazing! It turns out that lots of people had little issues on park that weren’t big enough to justify a “complaint” at the time but, had the park known about it and been able to make changes, would have improved the next persons stay. For example, rusty radiators in bathrooms, or a pet unit that smells like dog, or an uncomfortable mattress, or even the missing corkscrew in the cutlery drawer.
The Post Check Out Happiness Surveys also identified people that had been coming to the park several times a year, for a number of years. People that look like your owners…or as we like to call them…Look a Like Owners. People who had often chatted among themselves about how lovely it would be to own a unit themselves, but had never spoken to a salesperson. In fact, 7% of all surveys conducted resulted in a solid sales lead that went directly to the sales team. A number of potential sales hiding in plain sight! Unbelievable.
So, what can you do to show your holidaymakers some love and improve their experience, your retention, your secondary spend and even your chances of selling a unit?
Firstly, walk your park and see it from a customer’s point of view. Are the grounds well maintained? Is there litter? This is the first impression for anyone on your park, so make it count!
Check your facilities. Are the changing rooms clean? Are there enough seats in the Ents Lounge? Are the menus clean in the restaurants? When on park, we want guests to use the facilities as much as possible and as a result increase secondary spend. Clean leisure areas and welcoming F&B areas will encourage this.
Step into your units. What is the wear and tear like? Can you see the faults that guests are mentioning? If you are selling a Luxury Hot Tub Lodge holiday, does it live up to that expectation and cost?
People are spending more cautiously than ever; it’s all about perceived value. Whether they have spent £1,200 on the best lodge on the park for the weekend, or £200 on an entry level unit for the same weekend, their expectations are the same because that money has the same value to each party. The very least they expect is a clean, well maintained unit on a park with clean and tidy areas, good food, friendly staff and great service.
If your park falls below the expected standard then the chances are guests won’t spend time on park, they’ll visit the local area instead. They won’t eat on park, they’ll eat in local restaurants. Most importantly, they are unlikely to return or to recommend you to anyone else.
If your park can meet, or even exceed expectations, then you will see increased secondary spend, increased retention and even an increase in unit sales. Wouldn’t that be amazing!
Walk your park. Step into your units. Look at the feedback, good and bad, and use it as an opportunity to improve your customer experience, improve your park and improve your profitability.
Love your Holiday Makers!
To find out more about Post Check Out Happiness Surveys, or how to identify Look a Like Owners, get in touch with Jackie
jackie.hall@ruthbadger.com