Not everyone is a hotel person, and they certainly have their drawbacks. That’s why I, like many others, also enjoy having my holiday in the great outdoors, breathing in the fresh air while camping or caravanning under the stars. If I’m feeling particularly exuberant it might be a forest lodge or even treehouse. It’s not just the surroundings that make the experience entirely different from a hotel; though there might be a central cafe/bar to eat at, most people will head out to restaurants to eat, grab a picnic, or cook for themselves by their campfire.
As we go through 2018’s Summer holiday period, this has got me thinking. What about those people that, like me, who want the best of both worlds? When you have children, a hotel holiday can be a little stifling at times, that’s why we choose the opportunity to sleep by the sea, under the stars or beneath a forest canopy. In doing so, however, we can miss out on the luxuries that come with a hotel. A newspaper delivered to the door, a hot cup of tea and a bacon butty in hand, all provided without the need to strike a match, light a camping stove or set foot outside of a door.
I would argue that there’s no reason this can’t become a reality. If a holiday park, woodland lodge or campsite has a shop selling newspapers, and a cafe/restaurant providing food, it’s just a small step from them providing an on-site service to bringing a ‘room service’ to a guest’s unit.
Now is the time to capitalise on the surge in popularity that holiday parks have experienced since the pound weakened. In 2017 the staycation was big news, and the trend looks set to continue through 2018. Still, I can’t help thinking if business managers want to carry that success through into the future, and keep attracting guests in a rapidly moving technological age, such services could be a huge coup. This is the age of glamping afterall, a time when consumers expect extra creature comforts!
Integrating ordering into a site’s existing mobile platform, creating a dedicated app, or offering online ordering would be a great way to give holidaymakers an extra-special experience. It would also generate additional revenue streams by capturing the camper’s (or glamper’s) extra pound.
If I knew I could have the freedom of an outdoor resort, with the luxury of hotel room service, the decision about where to go on holiday might be a lot easier.
– By Charlotte Bass, Preoday’s UK Head of Marketing
It’s not as catchy as: ‘When is a door not a door?’ (answer, when it’s a jar) but it speaks to the idea that in-car collection, and the technologies that support it, are flexible enough to bend to the needs of a business and its guests.
Delivery can be daunting to the uninitiated, and it might be tempting to sign up with a third-party ordering aggregator that offers the service, such as UberEats, but other options could suit your business and brand better. Here we present three different ‘levels’ of delivery, starting with the most basic – and cheapest method: doing it yourself.
