Haven and British Holidays

Infobox Company
company_name = Haven and British Holidays
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 2004 as Haven and British Holidays
location = flagicon|UK Hemel Hempstead, England, UK
industry = Holiday
parent = Bourne Leisure
related = Park Resorts
homepage = [http://www.havenandbritishholidays.com Home]

Haven Holidays is a company that runs many well-known holiday parks around United Kingdom under the Haven and British Holidays brands, previously two separate companies until Bourne Leisure (previously owner of British Holidays) acquired Haven via the The Rank Group for £700 million in 2000 [ [http://travel.ciao.co.uk/haven_holidays_co_uk__Review_5527276 ciao.co.uk - Haven Holidays review] ] . It now almost entirely trades as Haven.

Haven and British Holidays operates 37 holiday parks under their own name, but previously ran a further 30+ smaller parks, which have either been sold to other providers such Park Holidays UK, Park Resorts and Parkdean Holidays.

Although the Haven name is now far more dominant, Bourne Leisure undertook the task of making the skills of the Haven chain consistent with that of its own British Holidays. Haven and British Holidays makes Bourne Leisure the largest caravan park operator in the UK [ [http://www.legalandgeneralventures.com/case_studies/Bourne_Leisure.shtml Legal & General Ventures - Bourne Leisure] ] .

History

Purchase of Haven

In October 2000, Bourne Leisure purchased all of The Rank Group's UK tourism interests for £700 million, which would bring up their total number of parks from both Haven and British Holidays to 78, with 55 branded as Haven and 23 marketed as British Holidays.

Bourne decided to retain only the larger operating units which accounted for approximately 85% of their customer flow. By focusing on the larger parks, a better return could be sought from investment and meant that it was possible to significantly upgrade the Haven parks in a shorter period of time to the standard of the British Holidays chain [ [http://www.legalandgeneralventures.com/case_studies/Bourne_Leisure.shtml Legal & General Ventures - Bourne Leisure] ] .

Park Resortswas formed and purchased 12 of the parks backed by Close Brothers. 9 of the parks were bought by Cinque Ports Leisure, which has since become Park Holidays UK.Other smaller parks were sold to independent operators. British Holidays on the other hand sold their Prestatyn holiday park, "Lido Beach", and the smaller New Quay park, "Cai Bach". At the end of 2004 a further 3 Haven parks and 2 British Holiday parks were sold to the publicly listed Parkdean Holidays " [http://www.parkdeanholidays.co.uk/wemyss-bay-holiday-park.htm Wemyss Bay] ", " [http://www.parkdeanholidays.co.uk/Pendine-Sands-holiday-park.htm Pendine Sands] ", " [http://www.parkdeanholidays.co.uk/Cherry-Tree-holiday-park.htm Cherry Tree] ", " [http://www.parkdeanholidays.co.uk/warmwell-holiday-park.htm Warmwell] " and " [http://www.parkdeanholidays.co.uk/torquay-holiday-park.htm Torquay] ". These were relatively small parks and did not fit as well into the brand.

Re-branding

for both British Holidays and Haven. In 2006, advertisements were solely branded as "Haven", and the former British-holidays.co.uk domain was re-directed to havenholidays.com, despite the British Holidays logo still being evident. By 2007 the slogan was again replaced with "Haven Love Families" highlighting the importance of the Haven brand name. From 2007, caravan sales marketing was rebranded as "Haven Holiday Homes", though the former "Owners Exclusive" brand introduced by British Holidays in 2001 still remains prominent on the parks themselves. The favouritism of the Haven name is due to it having a greater brand identity.

A variety of branding exists on the parks themselves. Former British Holidays resorts place greater significance on the individual park logo and name, with a mixture of British Holidays and Haven signage as a sub-brand only. Former Haven previously placed greater emphasis on the Haven brand, sites have also received their own park-specific logos since the acquisition.

Far Grange Park & Golf Club was purchased in 2007 (the first time a park was purchased by Bourne Leisure since the Rank Group in 2000) in Skipsea on the Yorkshire Coast. The park appeared for the first time in the 2008 holiday brochure, issued in November 2007, and has been simply re-named "Far Grange" [ [http://www.havenholidays.com/parks/YorkshireLincolnshire/fargrange/?linkname=HomepageFlashMap Haven - Far Grange homepage] ]

In November 2007, the British Holidays name was eventually put to rest within all publicity material, however it still appears to be used for legalities only [ [http://www.havenholidays.com/PrivacyPolicy.aspx Haven - Privacy Policy] . The British Holidays name is no longer used on the site, however is retained in legal formalities] . The British Holidays' "sun" logo continues to be used within various aspects of park branding, including within the entertainment brand "Funworks" logo. Additionally, the URL [http://www.haven.com haven.com] has replaced [http://www.havenholidays.com havenholidays.com] in all written publication.

Activities & Facilities

Activities across all Haven and British Holidays parks are universally branded using names introduced by British Holidays in 1998, including "Funworks" (main entertainment complex), "Showbar" (family entertainment centre), "Foodworks" (fast food outlets; many now replaced by Burger King), "Ropeworks" (high rope activity centre), "SplashZone" (swimming pools), "SportsZone (sports activities) and "FunZone" (outdoor family activity / playground areas). In addition, all parks have a general store (usually branded by "Everydays", "Essentials" or not at all), reception and a [http://www.havenholidayhomes.co.uk/ Haven Holiday Homes] focusing on caravan sales, often branded as "Owners Exclusive" within the parks themselves.

The ShowBar entertainers are universally named "FunStars", replacing the "Haven Mates" brand after the acquisition.

The children's mascot in Haven was previously Rory the Tiger and in British Holidays was Bradley Bear. However, since the bringing together of the two companies, both mascots are seen in all parks, alongside other children's characters from both former companies such as Greedy the Gorilla and Anxious the Elephant.

In 2008, Haven launched a new [http://www.havensholidays.co.uk/kids.php kids] programme, " [http://www.havenholidays.com/haven-experience/new/kidsalive/ Kids Alive] " to help encourage children to exercise and enjoy active lifestyles, which is part of the company's attempt to take on board the advice of the British Health Council in tackling childhood obesity.

Holiday Parks & Websites

In the UK, Haven & British Holidays operate thirty-six parks

Websites

[http://www.havenholidays.com]

[http://www.haven.com]

[http://www.touringholidays.co.uk]

[http://www.havengroups.co.uk]

[http://www.havenholidayhomes.co.uk]

Scotland and Northumberland

*Craig Tara (Ayrshire)
*Seton Sands (East Lothian)
*Berwick (Berwick-upon-Tweed)
*Haggerston Castle (near Berwick-upon-Tweed)

Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

*Blue Dolphin (near Filey)
*Primrose Valley (near Filey)
*Reighton Sands (near Filey)
*Thorpe Park (Cleethorpes)
*Golden Sands (Mablethorpe)

Norfolk

*Caister (near Great Yarmouth)
*Seashore (Great Yarmouth)
*Hopton (near Great Yarmouth)
*Wild Duck (near Great Yarmouth)

South East England

*The Orchards (near Clacton-on-Sea)
*Allhallows (near Rochester)
*Combe Haven (Hastings)
*Church Farm (near Chichester)

Dorset

*Rockley Park (Poole)
*Seaview & Weymouth Bay (Weymouth)
*Littlesea (Weymouth)

Devon, Cornwall & Somerset

*Devon Cliffs (Exmouth)
*Riviere Sands (Hayle)
*Perran Sands (Perranporth)
*Doniford Bay (Watchet)
*Burnham-on-Sea (Burnham-on-Sea)

Wales

*Kiln Park (Tenby)
*Quay West (New Quay)
*Greenacres (near Porthmadog)
*Hafan Y Mor (near Pwllheli)
*Presthaven Sands (Prestatyn)

=Blackpool & The Lakes=

*Marton Mere (Blackpool)
*Cala Gran (Fleetwood)
*Lakeland (near Grange-over-Sands)

International Parks

Until the acquisition of Haven by Bourne, Haven Holidays ran several parks in Europe as Haven Europe. However, these have now been sold to Siblu as part of a management buy-out. Slowly the Haven name is being dropped as is the use of the children's entertainment and clubs as featured at Haven in the UK (Tiger Club, Rory the Tiger etc). In Siblu parcs they now have Bubbles, Pirate Club and Barracuda.

Bourne Leisure also owns resorts in Ontario in Canada and Sarasota in Florida [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20010419115807/www.british-holidays.co.uk/statics/aboutcompany.htm British Holidays - About Us (archived)] ] .

ee also

*Park Resorts

References

External links

* [http://www.havenholidays.com/ Haven & British Holidays Official Website]
* [http://www.havenholidayhomes.co.uk/ Haven caravan sales Official Website]
* [http://www.havenholidays.com/haven-experience/new/zootroop/ Haven Characters Official Website]