Holden Farm Case Study

This article appeared in Holiday Park Scene magazine:

2019 marks Holden Farm’s third season running a campsite. Following a recommendation, they have used Allocate from the outset. They were advised that to manage bookings manually was time consuming whether through phone calls or emails and that checking the receipt of payments was a chore.

Rebecca Corbett runs Holden Farm, she describes their site in Hampshire as a friendly, no frills family campsite for tents. There is an excellent facilities block, with reception, showers, toilets, recycling bins and fridge/freezer for food storage. You can also charge your devices with ample power points. The large camping field is home to 20 well-spaced firepits which are booked in advance. Campers get to choose where they want to camp in the ample space. Campers will often camp with family or friends, sharing a fire pit.

More often than not the tents are pitched around the perimeter of the field and it is not uncommon for Rebecca to find campers gathering together to play a game of Cricket or Rounders in the centre of the field.

Allocate is important to Rebecca to minimise her workload prior to their arrival. On site, Allocate is used to ensure who is around as Rebecca likes to walk around the campsite to chat with campers, particularly on their first night to make sure they have all they need. She uses the Allocate summary of arrivals to help with this so she knows names, numbers, days they are staying, how far people have travelled and existing requests.

At the end of each season Allocate data for the year is exported to analyse the pattern of customers, the spread of their home addresses, the lead time on bookings, all down to the time of day they booked. The aim being to understand who their clients are and to attract more for the following season. Bookings and revenue grew in the second year compared to the inaugural year and expectations are that the trend will continue.