March 1 celebrated by caravan holiday home owners
Whilst March 1 is St David’s Day, the annual celebration of Wales’ patron saint, to thousands of caravan holiday home and luxury lodge owners across the UK it’s also a day to celebrate. Traditionally, March 1 marks the reopening of caravan holiday home parks after the winter break, sparking to life the new caravan season. It’s the moment many caravanners have been awaiting to return to their beloved holiday homes, which offer a bolt hole or escape to a relaxation. For award-winning caravan and motorhome dealership Salop Leisure, which has sales centres in Shrewsbury, Machynlleth and Stourport-on-Severn, the date signals a surge in business, with first time buyers keen to invest in a holiday home and existing owners looking to upgrade. March 1 is also the day caravan holiday home park owners and managers have been working to, as they busily prepare to welcome back their customers. Many will have been busy over the winter months making improvements and upgrading. Tony Bywater, Salop Leisure’s chairman, said: “All caravan holiday home park owners and managers are extremely excited about March 1. As a company, we have never known so much excitement and enthusiasm from new and existing holiday home owners who can’t wait to return to their caravans for the start of the new season. “Caravan holiday homes are popular because they provide five-star accommodation in the location of the owner’s choice which they can use whenever they wish during the season. “With predictions of staycationing continuing to grow across the UK during 2020, a caravan holiday home represents an excellent investment for couples and their extended families. I predict that 2020 is going to be a tremendous year as demand for holiday homes and staycationing in the UK increases.” Salop Leisure supplies caravan holiday homes and luxury lodges to holiday parks across Mid Wales and the Heart of England. In addition, the company owns nine, five-star caravan holiday home parks across inland and coastal Mid Wales, together with the multi-award-winning Love2Stay luxury holiday resort in Shrewsbury.
Paperless Policies Raise More Than £110,000 For Heart Charity
A kind-hearted fundraising initiative by caravan and motorhome specialists Caravan Guard, and Leisuredays, has raised more than £110,000 for Heart Research UK. Ten years ago, Caravan Guard launched its Paperless Policies initiative, which sees them donate £1 to the charity each time a new caravan, campervan or motorhome insurance customer opts for their policy documents to be emailed rather than posted out. Throughout 2019, Caravan Guard’s Paperless Policies campaign and other fundraising efforts raised a hearty £17,645, pushing the total gifted in the last decade to an incredible £110,887! The caring staff at Caravan Guard don’t just promote the paperless policies, they also go extra miles for the charity by taking on challenges such as the Great North Run half marathon and running healthy heart events. A “love yourself” event saw the charity deliver health and lifestyle checks and staff were encouraged to make 2020 the year to care completely about their health, as well as others. Many are already sharing healthy recipe ideas and signing up for a range of challenges, as well as inspiring each other to lead healthy lifestyles. Associate Director Laura Wilby presented Heart Research UK with a cheque for £17,645 during the Halifax-based company’s healthy heart day. “We’re delighted to have raised so much money for such a great cause in 2019 and absolutely thrilled to have smashed through the £100,000 mark in the last decade,” said Laura. “A big thank you to our customers too, who have chosen to go paperless so we can pass on all this money to help with the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease.” Caravan Guard cares passionately about many local and national charities to help them make a difference to the lives of others. Two runners also raised £2,283 for Heart Research UK last year after finishing the 2019 Great North Run half marathon in record times, and the company’s Great Yorkshire Bike Ride team added more donations into the fundraising pot. The money raised in 2019 could potentially help pay for scientists to develop a new blood test to identify high-risk patients after treatment for a heart attack or contribute towards new MRI techniques to examine heart muscle structure. Heart Research UK CEO, Kate Bratt-Farrar, said: “Over the last 10 years, we have been blown away time and again with the generosity of the Caravan Guard customers and staff. To have raised over £110,000 is a truly remarkable achievement, and we can’t thank them enough. “The money that Caravan Guard has raised will be used to benefit patients as soon as possible, funding life-saving research into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease.” Caravan Guard’s contact centre staff will continue to encourage more customers to receive paperless insurance policies so they can help even more hearts in the next decade! Visit www.caravanguard.co.uk or call 01422 396 777 to buy your paperless caravan or motorhome insurance policy.
Static Trader: Decades of Industry Knowledge Brings Business Success
When Hayley and Byron Whiteside set up Southeast Static Trader in July 2017, the original plan was to bring their knowledge of on-site and off-site static caravans into the static caravan and leisure homes trading industry. Little did they know just how much their particular brand of expertise, combined with their ‘customer first’ approach, would be in demand. Byron has a professional background in static caravan sales, having worked on holiday parks in the South East for over a decade. In 2017, seeing an opportunity to share his expertise in all aspects of static caravans, transportation and siting to off-site customers and other traders, Byron and wife Hayley decided to set up their own trading company. With plenty of industry contacts and a team of expert contractors ready to work with them, Southeast Static Trader was born. Initially working from the corner of an industrial yard, with six statics plus an old, cold static converted into an office space, Byron, Hayley and their small team set out to build a business with a different kind of foundation, creating a business which makes the most of the team’s industry knowledge and prioritises customer care. There are decades of individual knowledge within the team: take Dean and Lee with their understanding and expertise in siting and levelling; Hoddy’s knowledge of wide load and heavy goods transportation, and of course Byron, Hayley and salesman Sean’s collective and extensive product knowledge – of manufacturers and the wide range of static caravans available at any given time, plus the in-depth logistics of site surveys, movement and siting of statics. All of which means Byron and Hayley have built a formidable collective knowledge base “a team of professionals around us where we’re able to overcome any scenario and, importantly, to keep our customers happy.” As individuals, everyone on the team has an area of specialist knowledge to contribute, something Byron recognises as “experts within who we are as people”. But it’s the way they’ve come together as a team that has developed Southeast Static Trader’s position of strength in the industry and “why” Byron points out, “we’ve been able to grow our business from nothing to practically 300 deals within the two years since we started.” Indeed, from their original handful of used static caravans, trading in a small corner of the South East coast, Static Trader’s sales yard directly reflects the stellar growth the company has achieved so far. The company’s Rye Harbour sales yard now accommodates around 80 used static caravans at any given time, plus 8 brand new static caravans thanks to dealerships Static Trader has secured with brand leaders Atlas, Carnaby and Regal. The Rye Harbour are also now home to a fleet of vehicles delivering in-house transportation and siting services across the UK, available to Static Trader’s customers. All of which has resulted in a subtle change of branding; whilst Static Trader has an active presence in the South East, the location label has been dropped from the brand name to reflect UK-wide growth. “How we have grown has been about how we have approached what we’re doing – from the services we’re offering and the statics we are trading in. It’s all about delivering professional standards and going the extra mile for our customers, whether they’re buying from us, or selling to us. The reason we’re a breath of fresh air in the industry is because at Static Trader we’re actually a set of people who care about what we’re doing – and about what the customers want.” All of which is something Static Trader have proved to be very successful at, gaining positive feedback for both buying and selling. “I can’t recommend this company highly enough,” shared customer Rachel in the company’s five-star Google review. “We received excellent service when viewing and choosing the caravans, and did not feel under massive pressure to buy. The transportation crew were absolutely amazing – we loved them!” This level of service is mirrored in Static Trader’s purchasing service. “Having never sold a caravan before, I felt well supported,” customer Sadie stated after Static trader purchased her on-park static caravan. “I was pleased with the price and transportation which was all dealt with for me. Payment for the van was very prompt.” Sadie’s experience also shows that, when it comes to customers, Static Trader is just as much a presence onsite nowadays as offsite. As well as selling and purchasing, Static Trader has a specific trade arm to its services, trading directly with leisure parks and static caravan sites, as well as other leisure home traders. This professional trading is something Byron values greatly as part of the company’s continued success: “With the support of people around us, we’re only going to grow from here and we’re ready to open up our front doors to professional contacts. With our manufacturer dealerships as well as our wide network of contacts, we pride ourselves on finding the right caravans for the right parks, marrying up our stock with their needs based on our discovery and relationships with the parks, finding something which is the right fit for them within our extensive list of contacts.” In all of the industry spaces – onsite, offsite and online, Static Trader is developing an authority presence which promotes professional standards and customer care at all levels of practice. All enquiries are welcome, from trade or private customers and whether static-specific questions or general how-to research, someone on the Static Trader team will have an answer to give or a solution to offer. For more information, visit Static Trader at www.statictrader.com.
