Boosting holiday park secondary spend: a guide for operators

Beyond Accommodation: The Commercial Opportunity

Your core business is providing great accommodation and a fantastic holiday environment. The beds are the main source of income, and occupancy is the metric watched like a hawk. Focusing only on accommodation, however, leaves a significant amount of money on the table. Real growth for established holiday parks lies in what happens between check-in and check-out. This means encouraging guests to spend on food, activities, and retail, and turning a happy guest into a loyal, repeat visitor.

For years, parks have relied on leaflets in welcome packs, posters in reception, and hopeful staff upselling. These methods are inconsistent. They depend on a guest happening to see the right poster at the right time. To grow commercial returns, you need a reliable, direct way to communicate with guests while they are on-site with phone in hand, deciding what to do next. A dedicated digital platform for your park provides exactly this.

Making It Easy for Guests to Spend More

Food, Drink, and Retail

Friction is the enemy of secondary spend. A long queue at the bar, an engaged tone when trying to book a table, or uncertainty about what is available are all barriers. Digital ordering removes this friction. A family settled in their caravan after a long drive can browse the restaurant menu on your park's app, place an order for collection, and receive a notification when it is ready. This is revenue that might otherwise have gone to a local takeaway.

This extends to retail. Imagine a guest needs extra swimming nappies or a bottle of ketchup. Instead of walking to the on-site shop to see if it is in stock, they can check on the app and use a click-and-collect service. Every transaction is an opportunity. Making it simple and immediate is the key to increasing the frequency and value of those transactions.

Activities and Entertainment Booking

Your activity schedule is a huge asset. However, managing it via a physical whiteboard or a booking sheet at the pool reception creates bottlenecks. It relies on guests physically being in a specific place to make a booking. This is inconvenient for them and inefficient for you.

• A digital schedule allows guests to see what is on, check availability, and book their spot from anywhere in the park.
• Push notifications can remind guests about their upcoming booking for the archery lesson, reducing no-shows.
• You can promote last-minute availability for an activity with a targeted message. For example: 'Only 4 spots left for this afternoon's pottery class. Book now!'

When booking is this easy, guests are more likely to try new things and spend more. Your team is also freed from constant administrative booking tasks. They can focus on delivering a great activity instead of managing a clipboard.

From Loyalty Cards to Digital Memberships

Repeat business is the foundation of a resilient holiday park. Many parks have a static owners' community but find it harder to convert casual holidaymakers into regulars. A loyalty scheme is a good start, but physical cards get lost and offer limited communication opportunities. Digital memberships, held within your park's app, are a far more effective tool.

With digital memberships or passes, you can create a tiered system that rewards loyalty and encourages off-season visits. It helps create a feeling of belonging and offers genuine value, keeping your park top of mind when next year's holiday is planned.

• Offer early access to booking for the next season's school holidays.
• Provide exclusive member-only offers, like a free coffee at the cafe or a discount on a future stay.
• Send targeted communications throughout the year, keeping your community engaged even when they are not on site.

Uncovering New Commercial Avenues

A digital approach also opens up other commercial possibilities. Consider your park's app as valuable media real estate. Local businesses, from restaurants and taxi firms to nearby attractions, want to reach your guests. You can offer sponsored content or listings within your app to create a new, high-margin revenue stream.

For parks with a conservation or wildlife focus, a digital platform also provides a simple mechanism for fundraising. A 'donate' button within the app, linked to a specific project like rewilding a patch of land or building a new bird hide, can be surprisingly effective. Guests who have had a wonderful time are often happy to contribute a small amount to help preserve the environment they have just enjoyed.

Understanding Your Guests Through Data

Every booking, click, and order placed through a digital platform generates data. For a commercially-minded operator, this information is invaluable. Without it, you rely on guesswork and anecdotal evidence. With it, you can make decisions based on real guest behaviour.

The data can answer key questions. For example, which activities are most popular, what time of day do people order food, and which areas of your digital map are viewed most often? A guest experience platform like n-gage.io collates this information, giving a clear picture of what your guests want. You might discover that evening entertainment is underperforming while demand for early morning kids' clubs is high. This data allows you to adapt your offering, optimise staffing, and focus investment where it will generate the best return.

Your Practical First Steps

Adopting a digital approach does not have to be a daunting, overnight change. The key is to start with the areas that cause the most friction for your guests or your team, and build from there. Here are a few practical steps to begin.

Getting Started

• Audit the guest experience. Walk through your park as a guest. Note where queues form and which questions are asked repeatedly. These are your starting points.
• Identify your biggest commercial prize. Is it increasing table turnover in your restaurant, or filling up your afternoon activity slots? Focus on one key objective first.
• Talk to technology partners. Find a provider who understands the attractions sector and can offer a platform that solves your specific problems, whether that is with digital maps, ordering, or ticketing.
• Start with a pilot. You do not need to launch everything at once. Begin with a digital what's on guide and activity booking. Measure the impact, gather feedback, and then expand the features.

By taking a structured approach, you can begin to systematically remove barriers to spending, build stronger guest relationships, and open up the full commercial potential of your holiday park.