We visited Vakantiepark Wiltershaar, a wooded vacation park of Hofparken, located in Winterswijk, and talked to Maarten Bode, head of marketing. He tells us about the opportunities and challenges in the industry and how Booking Experts supports them in both the sale of real estate properties and the rental of vacation homes.
Maarten, thanks for letting us stop by! Can you tell us a bit more about yourself and Hofparken?
Hofparken is a young player in the Dutch vacation world. We develop sustainable vacation parks and want to distinguish ourselves with that. I myself have been working at Hofparken for about 2 years now and am a member of the board and Head of Marketing. When I started at Hofparken we were in a phase where we were rapidly scaling up. There's a lot involved in this: developing new phases, finding homeowners and putting properties into rentals . We were looking for a partner who could keep up with our pace and support us in all aspects of the process, fromsales to rentals. In Booking Experts, we found this partner.
As mentioned, we were really looking for a partner who could support us in the entire process, both operationally with software and strategically with advice and market knowledge. Booking Experts supports us from A to Z, from developing new phases to marketing for rentals.
Before we put a house up for rent, we need to find a buyer. In a market with increasing competition, it is essential to stand out as a park and offer exactly what is in demand. Therefore, before we develop a new phase, we are in contact with Booking Experts. They advise us on the latest trends in the leisure market, which helps us put together an attractive offer for potential buyers.
We find that this is successful. When we built a previous phase, we were advised to add hot tubs to the homes, and we are now seeing that rentals are significantly higher than the homes without hot tubs.
In addition to development advice, Booking Boosters also helps us with lead generation and final rentals. They do this by keeping our websites up-to-date and running various online campaigns. Furthermore, we think it is important that we really work together with the homeowners, and thus our contact does not end after the owner has signed. Again, the owners environment of Booking Experts helps tremendously with this.
Specifically, how does the system help you satisfy homeowners?
Communication with homeowners is hugely important to us. The homeowner module of BEX PMS plays a crucial role in this. We offer complete transparency: from construction updates and news to occupancy figures and average nightly rates, directly from BEX PMS. This reinforces trust in Hofparken and contributes to a long-term cooperation. In addition to the transparent communication made possible by BEX PMS, Booking Boosters also helps us achieve year-round healthy occupancy rates. This is essential so that homeowners receive attractive returns.
There is obviously a lot involved in an onboarding, but we actually found it to be immensely enjoyable. It really gives you a chance to critically examine and optimize all the processes within your company. We consulted Booking Experts and took a fresh look at the entire customer journey. We have now set up our processes to match our ambitions and are ready for the future.
Working with Booking Experts has really helped us to reform and professionalize our organization, which means we are now able to scale up quickly. To make our growth plans a reality, it is important to work with a partner who can move just as quickly, and we have succeeded. When we have questions, they are often answered within half an hour and we can move on immediately.
Wondering what Booking Experts can do for you? Contact us or take a look at our page for project developers.