When the Prime Minister announced that everyone must stay at home on March 23rd, within days, thousands of holiday parks closed their gates and sent owners home. The industry was dealing with unprecedented challenges and the Leisuredays insurance team quickly switched to crisis management mode.
Holiday home owners still needed insurance cover (as per park rules) even though they couldn’t use their property – in fact Leisuredays stats show that 90% of claims would occur regardless of whether a unit was occupied or not, often due to storms or floods.
Their contact centre function moved into their Advisers’ homes and with significant and rapid investment in a new phone system and IT infrastructure, Leisuredays were able to continue to service their customers seven days a week and until 8 pm on weekdays, as well as online via their 24 secure quote and buy system.
“It was a challenge to relocate more than 100 members of our team to home, but our IT team and disaster plan worked extremely well,” said Gareth Walker, Head of Leisuredays.
Working through lockdown
Leisuredays did see policy growth slow in April and May, but with home working for their Business Development Managers the norm, they were able to use digital platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom and even Whats App video calls to replace their usual face-to-face meetings.
Gareth said communication was key and they kept their park partners up-to-date with insurance news on how they were supporting their business and their customers via regular email bulletins.
Frequently asked questions about COVID-19 were added to their website to cover common queries. Plus, a new online claim reporting form and renewals web portal that enabled customers to report any non-urgent claims as well as renew and pay for their insurance policies instantly with a few clicks, proved to be a great success.
Putting parks first
The Leisuredays Business Development Managers are safe to travel to those parks that want to see them but recognise that many don’t want their customer insurance partner knocking on the door right now, and with smooth processes for introducing their customers to Leisuredays insurance, it’s just “business as usual”.
“We’re able to renew and review our park insurance arrangements over the phone or via a video call as we appreciate operators and managers are so busy with sales, holiday bookings and keeping parks Covid-Secure,” said Gareth.
Strong relationships built up with parks over the years put the Leisuredays team in good stead during lockdown.
“As much as we’ve missed sitting down with our parks for a catch up, we look forward to celebrating the staycation success with them very soon,” said Gareth. 
Life after lockdown
The Leisuredays Team has experienced high call volumes and enquiries since parks re-opened and together with their sister company Caravan Guard, they’re celebrating breaking through the 100,000 customers mark.
Insurance claims have started to rise too as customers return to their units following lockdown, with a particular increase in damage caused by vermin – up 300 % compared to last year – as well as panel damage and flooding claims from March.
The company’s passion for delivering brilliant customer experiences has not faltered during the pandemic, Leisuredays has achieved a 5/5 rating for service on review website Trustpilot and an “Excellent” trust score. Plus, they’ve been shortlisted for two UK Insurance Broker Awards. What’s more, despite disruption the business has maintained world class 90+ customer satisfaction (CSAT), scores as measured by its post call survey.
“We’ve worked through this challenging period; improvements have made us stronger and an even better insurance choice for parks,” added 
Gareth.
Holiday parks can also check for updates on policy renewals and cancellations via the Leisuredays Live system; refer customers to Leisuredays using a simple online webform and even order bespoke point of sale brochures and posters.
“Our hassle-free, no admin insurance model is perfect for parks during this busy period as customers can set up their insurance cover by phone, seven days a week, or via our online quote and buy system at any time of the day or night. Our time saving approach to customer insurance is now more beneficial than ever for parks.”
To speak to Leisuredays about your customer insurance arrangement email development@leisuredays.co.uk, call 01422 396 772, or visit www.leisuredays.co.uk/parkoperator.
