MANY readers will be familiar with the Eurocamp or Keycamp holiday brands. They have been around for a number of years and you, or somebody you know, may have booked caravan holiday-homes or pre-erected tents with them for a holiday on a camping parc abroad or have seen the bumper sticker advert on cars.

Eurocamp started, literally, as a one-man band working out of a backroom in Cheshire with just one French campsite on its books in 1973 and gradually expanded its business until it was sold to a consortium, a disparate bunch of mainly retail businesses.

At a later stage the consortium was sold and the new owner was the well-known high street stores group Next plc, but that company divested itself of Eurocamp rather quickly!

But what about Holidaybreak, the European specialist holiday and activity group, or Own A Holiday Home – have you heard of those? Maybe not, but Holidaybreak is now the parent company of Eurocamp and Keycamp and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Own A Holiday Home, (oh yes, it’s a bit of a mouthful, isn’t it?) is the recently created division of the company dedicated to selling caravan holiday homes abroad.

It’s fair to say that prior to 2007, Eurocamp and Keycamp occasionally sold its ex-rental fleet caravan holiday homes to private individuals, but took no responsibility for transporting, siting or maintenance, once sold.

The French holiday market is changing and Eurocamp or Keycamp ready-erected tent holidays have become less popular with parc owners as well as clients and the caravan holiday home rental market is not growing at the rate it was.

The company realised that there was a growing demand for buying a second home in France, and Own A Holiday Home started trading in January 2007 from the Holidaybreak headquarters in Cheshire.

No pressure

Jez Allen, the general manager explained, “We just sell the caravan holiday-home and the client buys in sterling; the contract is between the owner and the parc owner and once the purchase is made, the client pays fees, in euro, to the parc owner on an annual basis and this cost depends upon the location of the camping parc.

“People can visit our showground in the UK by appointment. All our staff, wherever they are based, speak English – in fact, many of them are British, and many speak French.”

Models sold include those from the French companies IRM and Rapidhome, plus models from UK manufacturers Willerby and BK Bluebird. Some of them are designed specially for Own A Holiday Home – there’s just a few design tweaks that make them unique. If a client wants an enhanced specification, like a dishwasher or a washing machine then, if the design allows, these can be fitted. Decking and skirting packages are available too.

Unlike some of the other operators in this market, the company doesn’t own or operate the parcs on which it sells caravan holiday homes and currently has no plans to buy parcs or enter into parc management.

“We are under no pressure from parcs to achieve a sales target each year and we don’t promise parc owners that we will sell a certain number of pitches for private caravan holiday home ownership each year,” Jez said. “We are entirely client driven – the purchaser chooses a parc that suits them and then a caravan holiday-home.”

Expanding network

At present all the parcs are in France and, at the last count, there were 19 listed across the regions. The company does hope to expand its network, though – not only in France but also other European countries, too.

Some of the Eurocamp and Keycamp locations feature in the Own A Holiday Home brochure, but there are also several smaller parcs, with a more limited range of facilities than the all-singing-all-dancing destinations – for example, some of them are not suitable for families as there aren’t any water slides or pool complexes.

Some are open all year and the company wishes to maximise on this and sees it as an important selling point.

The target market for Own A Holiday Home clients falls into two distinct groups, Jez told me – the younger family looking for a caravan holiday home for say the next fifteen years and the semi-retired or retired people who will visit between five and seven times per year and stay for quite a long duration.

Guaranteed

Sub-letting is important to the first group, Jez added, and clients are welcome to organise the sub-letting for themselves so long as it fits in with the parc policy, though some parc owners prefer to manage sub-letting themselves. Sub-letting can also be done via Eurocamp or Keycamp and the caravan holiday home has to be handed over to them for a minimum of three weeks and maximum of ten weeks per year.

There are advantages and disadvantages to this, of course. For example, you are guaranteed a financial return whether or not Eurocamp or Keycamp can let your property but the sum guaranteed is determined by them and is dependent, among other factors, on the location of the parc and model of caravan holiday home. Payment is at the end of the season, in sterling.

If you sub-let, I think you must ask yourself if you want complete strangers using your carefully chosen caravan holiday home, and would it inhibit your own use. Only you can decide.
The second group, the so-called grey market, normally shows little interest in sub-letting and understandably so,
I think.

TOP TIP

Visit the parc, spend some time on it and meet the parc owner. It’s important that you get on with the owner – a lack of compatibility may mean that you don’t enjoy your holidays. Jez Allen

POWERPOINT

Ask what is the campsite’s power supply to your caravan-holiday home, especially if you are having extra electrical equipment fitted, like a dishwasher and or washing machine. Make sure the input is sufficient to run the appliances.

Bear in mind that electricity is cheaper than gas in France.

To create a homogenous composition some parcs will only accept models from one manufacturer so bear that in mind, too.

REPAIRS

Own A Holiday Home has a network of repair and maintenance teams throughout France and runs an in-house training course to skill the team members – for example, in gas appliance safety to CORGI standard.

VIEWING BREAKS

Own A Holiday Home can offer two-day viewing breaks, at cost of £99 per party, at most of the parcs, including information on the local area. A refund of up to £200 will be given if a purchase is made following a visit.

“Subject to availability we will accommodate a family of up to six people in one of our caravan holiday homes as we know that sometimes friends or families share the purchase cost. We will offer accommodation for a couple in a 2 star hotel nearby, if necessary,” Jez Allen said.

FOR SALE

There are special offers available on 2007 unused stock models at a number of parcs at prices from £23,950, plus ex-rental models from £14,500. They include an IRM Super Octalia (34 square metres) at Parc de Montsabert in the Loire Valley, £26,950; an IRM Apollon (40 square metres) at Camping Le Coiroux in the Dordogne, £35,950; a BK Bluebird Seville (40 square metres), also at Le Coiroux, £31,950; or an IRM Super Titania (30 square metres) at Camping Praire de la Mer on the Côte d’Azur, £26,950. Finance deals are available.

• Under current French legislation, a caravan holiday home cannot exceed 40 square metres in area unless the local authority grants the parc a special licence.

CONTACT

Own A Holiday Home, Hartford Manor, Greenbank Lane, Northwich, Cheshire CW8 1HW. Freephone: 0800 977 7004. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.ownaholidayhome.com

• Prices start at £14,500


This review was published in the November 2008 issue of Park & Holiday Homes magazine. To order our latest issue please click here.


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