Conference
Last week we attended the annual conference of our Association – the British Holiday & Home Parks Association
With over 500 delegates in the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre near the Houses of Parliament was very well supported and we came away with some new ideas and with the added benefit of a couple of days chatting with our colleagues about the economic climate and the many issues surrounding the running of holiday parks.
I was asked to speak about our experiences with the customer feedback system launched by the BH&HPA during 2010 and I was happy to share our experiences with the delegates. I hope my presentation will encourage more parks to join which I believe will enable us all to raise our standards and quality to benefit our customers. Over 400 parks took part in 2011 and we would like to see this double in 2012 so that we have a wide range of responses and comments.
We have gained a lot of information and guidance from the comments made by our customers and although we accept that it is impossible to ‘please all the people all the time’ we hope to improve our service so that we can ‘please nearly all of the people all the time’. We have already changed some of our practices and routines and over the winter we have looked at several options in response to customer suggestions.
The conference finished with a very inspirational speech by Ben Fogle, Transatlantic rower and Adventurer, which has set us up for the challenges of 2012 with the Diamond Jubilee and Olympics
Foundation Degree – third course starts this week…….
We were very proud to host the first week of the Foundation Degree in Tourism Park Management this week. The third group of students are starting on the first year of the four year course and the first group are completing their final year with the graduation cermony in this autumn.
I first became involved in the work to bring training courses to the holiday park industry in 1985 when basic courses were held at Evesham College and the seeds were sown for the Caravan Industry Training Organisation.
I have given limited help from time to time over the last 20 years, but many others in the industry have given a considerable amount of time to create and develop the courses. I am to see how training is now embedded into our industry with a wide range of courses including technical skills, NVQ2 and 3 in Caravan Park Operations and the Foundation Degree. Over 1000 students have completed the NVQ 2.
During the second day of the Degree course, I gave a brief overview of our parks with a tour around the park which provided the students with a break from the classroom. I wish all the Degree Students every success over the next 4 years.
PV display up and working
Our new PV panels on the Swimming Pool roof are working well even with the limited amount of sun this time of year. We now have a very clear display which shows the real time power, the total generated energy and the CO2 saved.
I took this photo early in the morning when the sun was weak and it was still generating 1.6kw ………and the total since September is already more than 2,000kwh. I believe our target for 12 months is over 20,000kwh – so we need the sunshine.
Destination Dorset – no more meetings…
Early in the week I attended a Board meeting of Destination 
Dorset and the only item on the Agenda was to decide whether the public/private organistion could continue. The decision was taken to let the organisation ‘sleep’ until an opportunity requiring a public/private tourism partnership or DMO is identified and agreed.
For the last 4 years we have been trying to find a way forward to create a single voice for Dorset tourism to make it easier for visitors to the area and for the trade – however, with the differences between the local authorities and the lack of co-ordination the private sector the necessary leadership could not be found.
The local authories will continue offering advertising packages to tourism busineses in their respective district council areas and working in partnership with each other for the benefit of Dorset where appropriate – one of the main benefits being www.visit-dorset.com
I am disappointed with the decision but I am happy and relieved that it has been taken. We were wasting so much time and it may now be possible for individuals invovled in tourism in the private sector to have time to look at other ways to promote and expand the visitor economy which is so important to Dorset.
First week of January
We started the first week of the New Year with a brisk walk up to the top of Golden Cap. It was a beautiful New Years Day Bank Holiday and what a reminder of how lucky we are to live here. The sun was out and the sky was clear – a fantastic way to finish the Xmas holidays
We all returned to work on 3 January and the weather immediately changed with severe storms resulting in some minor damage on the parks and in particular a couple trees had to be quickly sorted out to avoid further problems.
Regardless of the weather, the team are now on the countdown to the parks opening on 16 March and we are moving from job to job to ensure we get the most out of each day either working inside or outside depending on the rain……..it is another reminder that it is impossible to do all our work when the parks are closed and to keep up with our investment in new services and improvements to the parks we have to work when we are open and try to balance the noise and impact of workers with the peace and quiet expected by our visitors………
The office work never seems to stop and we are currently undertaking a complete review of our H&S policies and all the related isses. The Prime Minister should come and look at the amount of paperwork we have to generated in a relatively small business and he would understand the need to try and slow down the H&S red tape and endless checklists – surely it would help if the ‘ambulance chasing’ solicitors were slowed down by capping the fees so that they only pursue genuine cases.
On the more positive side we are pushing forward with the routine decoration of the bar and the swimming pool, the new boilers are arriving for the toilet block at Golden Cap next week and the partial refurbishment of one of the blocks at Highlands End is underway – plus numerous minor jobs…..however, we are encouraged by the number of telephone calls picking up and bookings starting to come in. Next week I plan to finish our staffing review and we will start to advertise for additional permanent and temporary staff.
Back to work today…….then watched the sun going down on 2011
I have been back in the office today to take advantage of being by myself for a few hours to think clearly and prepare various papers.
For many reasons 2012 will be a significant year for us and I am working on a number of projects.
We have clearly identify some areas for improvement from the feedback received from our customers and my target is to improve our customer ratings and at the same time work with the BH&HPA to encourage more parks to participate – which will probably mean that with many excellent parks joining the scheme I will be making it harder for us!!
Secondly, we are finalising some interesting plans for the parks and hopefully we will be given the opportunity to investing in the quality of our facilities and services to play our part in the recovery of the Dorset economy which is so dependent on tourism – more updates over next few months……..
My sister watched the sun going down on the NZ south island and send me a text describing the awesome sky with a ‘mass of pink, orange and red clouds lapping the sea and mountains’ ….. so I thought it would be a good idea to take a photo of our sunset over Eype; not so awesome this evening with a grey sky, but a good reminder of all the excellent sunsets during 2011 and to look forward and wish for some wonderful sunsets during 2012………Happy New Year
Xmas over
The three days of Xmas are over – starting with our local carol service in Eype Church on Christmas Eve followed by a very peaceful and enjoyable family Christmas Day at home and then on the Boxing day the traditional walk to West Bay to watch over 150 brave swimmers raising money for various charties.
All regular vistors to West Bay will know Margaret’s kiosk on the sea front and it was great to see her open and serving hot teas and coffees - West Bay would not be the same if Margaret was not in her kiosk. I bought my first ice cream from her over 40 years ago; I am sure many of you have fond memories of eating one of Margaret’s ice creams……
I was cold watching on from the pier wearing my new ‘Fat Face’ jumper (new Fat Face shop in Bridport so we all had Fat Face presents) and quickly placed my contribution in the collection tins and headed for the West Bay Hotel for a couple of drinks ………. and lots of conversations about 2011 and hopes for 2012.
Getting colder…..
Its getting colder here in Dorset and, as usual, we complained about the cold weather but watch the news with many parts of the UK covered in snow and ice.
I have missed my photography lessons for a couple of weeks and trying to think of something different for my ‘homework’ I decided that it would be better to stay in by the fire. I will probably get low marks, but at least I was warm!
On the parks we are preparing for the Xmas Break – it is the last Xmas function in the bar tomorrow and with the exception of the pool and regular security checks the parks start the quietest 10 days of the year.
We have finished two of our main projects – the new Housekeeping Store and the refurbishment of the bungalows – and after the break we have to concentrate on the seasonal touring pitches and the toilet and shower blocks in addition to all the routine maintenance tasks we have started and not finished - 13 weeks and the parks will be open……..
I take the advantage to have a few quiet days in the office and give some thoughts to finalising our plans for next year and clearing the outstanding paperwork so that I have fresh start in January……..I need to get my New Years’ Wish List ready……
Jurassic Coast 10th anniversary
Last week Vanessa and I were invited to attend a Dinner to mark the 10th anniversary of the formal designation of the Jurassic Coast – to quote from official website -
the 10th anniversary of its inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List on 13th December, the Jurassic Coast is not only a stunning 95 mile walk through 185 million years of the earth’s history; it is a place where outstanding earth sciences have inspired artists to creative dramatic, beautiful, and thought provoking works of art.
It does not seem possible that 10 years have passed by and the Jurassic Coast is now embedded in the way in which we live and market our tourism destination. The balance between the conservation of the coast and the promotion of tourism to ensure that it can be enjoyed by all provides a topic for many lively conversations, but we all appear to be taking the right approach.
Over the last 4 years we have been very involved with the Jurassic Coast Trust and we have just finalised our accounts for the year and visitors to our parks have beaten the previous record and donated £6,500 to the Trust – which brings our total to over £24,000.
This money will be used by the Trust for local educational or recreational projects and our contribution has already funded fossil interpretation boxes in local schools.
We had a very enjoyable evening which not only marked this milestone, but recognised the hard work done by many of the people involved during the early days who were committed to the project and spent over 8 years preparing the application which was approved in 2001. During the evening we were entertained by a very enthusiastic ‘B Sharp Lyme Youth Art Group’ followed by the Exmouth Shantymen.
Edinburgh and Makers Market
I was invited to the BH&HPA Scotland Conference in Edinburgh towards the of November to give a presentation on the BH&HPA feedback system and how it impacts on the management of our parks. Hopefully, I have encouraged more parks to participate.
David Lakins of KeyMultimedia based in Dorset gave an excellent presentation to the conference on the influence of social media on the tourism industry and holiday parks. He has a wealth of experience of ecommerce and I am sure that by the end of his session everyone in the audience had a greater understanding of the future of the mobile phone and its potential impact on the way we live and run businesses.
On 3 December the Makers Market was held in Eype Church and it proved to be a very successful day and we opened up the car parks at Highlands End to enable visitors to more easily walk to the church. The event raised money for local charities as well as providing the opportunity to buy unique gifts for Xmas
