User:TerryBG/Parkdean Resorts

Parkdean Resorts is a holiday park operator in the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 2015 through the merger of Parkdean Holidays and Park Resorts. As of 2020 it operates 67 holiday parks across England, Scotland, and Wales, and is the largest holiday park operator in the UK.

Prior to the November 2015 merger, Parkdean Holidays, founded in November 1999, operated 24 holiday parks across South West England, Scotland, South Wales, and East Anglia, and Park Resorts, founded in May 2001, operated 49 holiday parks across the South and East coasts of England, the Lake District, Scotland, Wales, and the Isle of Wight. There was little geographical overlap between the two companies, with Parkdean Holidays concentrating in South West England and Scotland, while Park Resorts concentrated on England's East Coast and North West.

Parkdean Resorts' CEO has been Steve Richards since June 2019, following the retirement of John Waterworth, who had led Parkdean Holidays and then Parkdean Resorts for nearly 20 years.

Parkdean Holidays overview
Parkdean Holidays, founded in 1999, was a self-catering holiday park operator with 24 sites in the UK in 2015: 15 in South West England, six in Scotland, two in South Wales, and one in Norfolk. The company offered a range of accommodation, including caravan holiday homes, lodges, cottages, and apartments; it also had caravan and camping pitches at many locations.

Parkdean Holidays history
Parkdean Holidays was formed in November 1999 via a management buyout of Trecco Bay Holiday Park in Porthcawl, South Wales, and grew through a buy and build strategy.

In July 2000 Parkdean Holidays acquired an additional three parks in Cornwall: Newquay Holiday Park, Holywell Bay Holiday Park, and Crantock Beach Holiday Park.

In March 2001 the company bought an additional three holiday parks in South West England (Challaborough Bay Holiday Park, West Bay Holiday Park, and St Minver Holiday Park), and four in Scotland (Grannie’s Heilan' Hame, Nairn Lochloy, Tummel Valley Holiday Park, and Sundrum Castle Holiday Park). The company headquarters was also moved to Newcastle upon Tyne in March 2001.

In March 2002 the company acquired Ruda Holiday Park in Croyde, North Devon.

In May 2002 Parkdean Holidays was listed on the Alternative Investments Market of the London Stock Exchange.

In May 2003 White Acres Holiday Park and Sea Acres Holiday Park were acquired in Cornwall.

In March 2004 the company acquired Southerness Holiday Park in Scotland. It acquired an additional five parks, from Bourne Leisure, in October: Wemyss Bay Holiday Park in Scotland; Cherry Tree Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk; Torquay Holiday Park in Devon; Warmwell Holiday Park in Dorset; and Pendine Sands Holiday Park in Wales.

In March 2006, Alchemy Partners purchased an 80% stake in the company, with the remaining 20% split between Parkdean Holidays' management.

In July 2007 Parkdean Holidays bought Weststar Holidays, which owned four holiday parks in South West England, including Mullion Holiday Park and Looe Bay Holiday Park in Cornwall, Sandford Holiday Park in Dorset, and Hayling Island Holiday Park in Hampshire.

Entertainment
Parkdean Holidays offered on-site entertainment as part of its holiday offering, including performances from the "Parkdean Troupers", who produced and performed live shows as part of the Parkdean Holidays entertainment package.

Children's entertainment was performed by Parkdean Holidays' mascots Sid the Seagull and Lizzie the Lizard, who hosted a number of children's activities and clubs at the company's holiday parks.

Park Resorts overview
Park Resorts was a holiday park operator, founded in 2001, with 49 holiday parks located across the UK in 2015.

Holiday parks were mainly located at or near to the seaside or lakeside, chiefly on the south and east coasts of England, but also extending to Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Wight, and the Lake District. Income was generated from rentals of static holiday caravans and touring pitches, alongside caravan and holiday home sales and on-site retail.

Park Resorts employed over 3,500 people during the peak holiday season, including the support team at their head office in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. Park Resorts had over 16,000 caravan or holiday home owners, and over 1 million holidaymakers visited their parks each year.

Park Resorts history
Park Resorts was created in May 2001 when Close Brothers Private Equity (CBPE), in partnership with a management-buyout team of three led by David Vaughan, purchased 12 Haven Holidays freehold caravan parks from Bourne Leisure. This created the UK's second largest caravan park group, and Vaughan, former managing director of Rank Leisure and Rank Entertainment, became the company's CEO. The company subsequently acquired three parks on the Isle of Wight, two in Yorkshire, and one at Bideford Bay, Devon.

In late December 2004, Park Resorts was sold by its private-equity holder CBPE to ABN Amro Private Equity, and merged with GB Holiday Parks. Retaining the Park Resorts name and CEO, the resulting company had 35 holiday parks and became the UK's second largest caravan park group after Bourne Leisure.

In March 2007, ABN Amro sold the company to GI Partners for £440 million in a highly leveraged buyout. In the same year, the three founding directors left the business and Martin Grant joined from Roadchef as CEO. Three additional sites were acquired in 2007, and a number of GB Holiday Parks sites were upgraded.

In April 2008, GI Partners injected £15 million capital into the Parks Resorts business. In December 2008, in increasingly difficult financial conditions, GI Partners reinstated the original three directors, with David Vaughan returning as CEO. In September 2009, former CEO Martin Grant and his colleagues Colin Bramhall and Richard Hunt won a case of unfair dismissal against GI Partners on the grounds of a "flagrant breach of dismissal procedures", and the three men were awarded a total of £45,000 in compensation, but the tribunal rejected the men's allegation that GI Partners had lied to Park Resorts' lenders.

In June 2009, Park Resorts were featured on the program Undercover Boss, which showed marketing director Andy Edge going undercover in staff positions at two resorts. In October 2009, a restructuring of Park Resorts' £325 million debt facilities was agreed upon by its creditor banks; this also included a new £25 million debt facility to fund a programme investing in the company's parks over the next five years, and the banks took a 5% stake in the company.

In 2010 Park Resorts acquired two additional parks, Southview Leisure Park in Skegness, Lincolnshire and Manor Park in Hunstanton, Norfolk, bringing the total to 39.

In 2011, the company introduced the slogan "Creating Amazing Memories" to appear below the logo of Park Resorts on all publicity material, letterheads, and signs. In October 2011, Park Resorts was ranked 244 in the annual Sunday Times Top Track 250 of Britain's biggest mid-market private companies by latest sales; in 2010 it had been 215, in 2009 it was 229, in 2007 it was 234, and in 2006 it was 221.

In February 2012, Park Resorts was ranked 48 in The Sunday Times Buyout Track 100 of Britain's mid-market private-equity-backed companies with the fastest-growing profits over the last two years; it had been 73 in 2008, and 17 in 2007.

In July 2013 Park Resorts secured a new majority stakeholder, Electra Partners, and appointed a new CEO, David Boden, who had held senior board level positions at The Rank Group and Hippodrome Casinos Ltd. Park Resorts' founder and CEO David Vaughan became the company's chairman. The new lead shareholders also refinanced Park Resorts' debt package, with Electra Partners gaining a 54% stake in the company; the debt restructuring freed up significant capital to invest in the company's parks.

In September 2013, the Park Resorts management team and Electra Partners led the acquisition of South Lakeland Parks, a holiday parks operator with nine parks in the English Lake District and Morecambe Bay area. Park Resorts contracted to manage South Lakeland's parks. Operating together, the two businesses created the largest holiday parks operator in the UK, with 48 properties.

In August 2014, in partnership with Park Resorts, Electra Partners acquired the company Eastern Parks, owner of Southview Holiday Park in Skegness and Manor Park Holiday Park in Hunstanton, from Bluebird Partners. Park Resorts had been managing both parks since 2010. In November 2014, Alan Parker, chairman of Mothercare and former CEO of Whitbread, was appointed chairman of Park Resorts.

In April 2015, Park Resorts acquired Summerfields Holiday Park near Great Yarmouth, bringing its total number of parks to 49.

Mascots
Park Resorts' entertainment for children centered around "Sparky's Krew", which consisted of Sparky and Sparkle the rabbits, Naarky the aardvark, and Pipsqueak the mouse.

Merger into Parkdean Resorts
In 2015, Parkdean Holidays merged with Park Resorts to create Parkdean Resorts, the UK's largest holiday park operator. Upon completion of the merger in November 2015, Parkdean Resorts operated 73 holiday parks across the UK, serving 1.8 million customers, with 22,200 caravan owners, 35,400 pitches, and 400,000 domestic holiday sales across their estate. The new company continued to operate under its two brands, "Parkdean Holidays" and "Park Resorts", with dual head offices in Newcastle and Hemel Hempstead, throughout 2016 before launching a new website and rebranding all the parks as Parkdean Resorts.

Parkdean Holidays and Park Resorts were jointly awarded "Best UK Holiday Parks Operator" at the 2015 British Travel Awards.

In July 2016 Parkdean Resorts acquired Vauxhall Holiday Park, based in Great Yarmouth, which caters to 80,000 holidaymakers a year.

In October 2016, in an entertainment revamp for the new combined business, Parkdean Holidays' mascots (Sid the Seagull and Lizzie the Lizard) merged with Park Resorts' "Sparky's Krew" (Sparky, Sparkle, and Naarky) to create the "Starland Krew" under the Parkdean Resorts brand.

In December 2016 the Canadian private equity company Onex Corporation purchased Parkdean Resorts from Epiris (formerly Electra Partners) and Alchemy Partners for £1.35 billion. The sale was completed in March 2017, and Onex Partners and certain co-investors made an equity investment of $627 million in the newly acquired company.

In June 2019 John Waterworth, who had been the CEO of Parkdean Holidays and then Parkdean Resorts for nearly 20 years, retired. Steve Richards, then CEO of Casual Dining Group, became CEO of Parkdean Resorts.

In November 2019, Parkdean Resorts won two awards at the British Travel Awards: "Best UK Family Holiday Company (Large)", and "Best UK Holiday Parks and Lodges Company (Bronze)".

Coronavirus response
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.