Parkdean Resorts


Parkdean Resorts is a holiday park operator in the United Kingdom.
Parkdean Resorts was formed in November 2015 through the merger of Parkdean Holidays and Park Resorts. Operating 67 holiday parks across England, Scotland and Wales, Parkdean Resorts is currently the largest holiday park operator in the UK.
Parkdean operated 24 holiday parks across South West England, South Wales, Scotland and East Anglia while Park Resorts operated 48 holiday parks across the South and East coast of England, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Wight. In July 2016 the business acquired Vauxhall Holiday Park based in Great Yarmouth which caters to 80,000 holidaymakers a year.
As of June 2019, Parkdean Resorts' CEO is Steve Richards, taking over from John Waterworth who previously led the business for almost 20 years.

History

Legacy brands

Parkdean Holidays was formed in November 1999 with a management buyout of Trecco Bay Holiday Park in Wales for £21.4 million, and has since grown through a ‘buy and build’ strategy, growing to operate 24 parks in 2015. Parkdean Holidays was acquired by Alchemy Partners in March 2006, valuing the Company at £139.7m.
Park Resorts was created in March 2001 when CBPE, in partnership with a management buy-out team of three led by David Vaughan, decided to purchase twelve Haven freehold caravan parks from Bourne Leisure Ltd. The deal was finalised in May 2001 at a reported cost of £46m. Park Resorts has grown from 12 Caravan Parks in 2001 to 48 Holiday Parks in 2015. Park Resorts management team and Epiris acquired the business in July 2013.

Merger

The merger of Parkdean Holidays and Park Resorts was completed in November 2015 following approval from both the Financial Conduct Authority and the Competition and Markets Authority.

Ownership changes

In December 2016 it was announced that Parkdean Resorts had been purchased by the Canadian private equity company Onex Corporation for £1.35bn from Alchemy & Epiris. Onex stated it plans to invest up to £600m into the newly acquired company. The purchase was completed on 3 August 2017.

Awards

In November 2019, Parkdean Resorts won two awards at the annual British Travel Awards:
Parkdean Resorts closed its parks to the public on the 23rd March 2020 due to COVID-19, and has announced plans to re-open to the public on 6 July – subject to government advice. The company has stated that it will enforce the necessary social distancing measures that will enable holidaymakers to use facilities such as swimming pools, restaurants and bars.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Parkdean was criticized for not shutting down its travel parks during a time when the government was advising citizens to avoid all but essential travel. Parkdean replied that the caravans are standalone and separated from each other and 70% are privately owned, saying there is "no instruction or logic to evicting people who are enjoying the fresh air in their own space." On the 20th of March 2020, Parkdean shut down all restaurants, pools, and other facilities in response to a nationwide Government order. However, they remained open for people to stay, despite many other parks in the industry closing.
Welsh Health Minister Vaughan Gething objected to the parks staying open in Wales, saying "There's clear advice for people to avoid unnecessary travel and going to your caravan on the weekend doesn't strike me as necessary travel.". Local people in multiple locations where Parkdean operates were described as "angry and concerned" about the decision to stay open. They expressed concern that it would place pressure on sparsely populated areas that are already struggling to obtain food supplies and that it would further spread the virus from metropolitan areas to remote rural areas that were poorly equipped to deal with it. There was concern that an influx of seasonal population to sparsely populated rural holiday locations had the potential to cripple their local health services at a time when they were very vulnerable.
Static Caravan owners have also complained that full charges are being sought for pitch fees despite facilities and access being unavailable.
During the pandemic in the UK, Parkdean Resorts instructed its parks to donate remaining food, drinks and hygiene products to local communities, including food banks, schools and medical centres, as well as offering free emergency accommodation to NHS workers who were unable to return home.
Despite many businesses in the travel sector issuing redundancies due to COVID-19, Parkdean Resorts confirmed it would be supporting and retaining all of its employees, and offering 100% salary to those on furlough.
Parkdean Resorts confirmed on the 10th of June 2020 that as a result of COVID-19 holiday home owners would receive a 50% credit towards 2021 site pitch fees.

Holiday parks operated by Parkdean Resorts

As of 2018, Parkdean Resorts operates 67 holiday parks across the UK.