Back to Previous

Big4 Holiday Parks: heading for national expansion

Sarah Stowe

“We’re not the traditional one size fits all franchise,” says Big4’s Ray Schleibs. The holiday parks business conducts research every two years and has achieved 70 percent brand awareness in the Australian population among hotel brands, with a 46 percent rate of recognition without any prompting.

“Holding a brand to a truth is important,” says Schleibs. “There are strengths and weaknesses in being a market leader. Everyone watches you and you have to keep driving the brand. Everyone else gets halo marketing,” he explains.

The power of a brand is to deliver, to reach customer expectations.  “If you can’t do that your brand is broken.”

THE BIG4 PROMISE

These are the foundations of the Big4 promise:

  • Excellence in customer service delivery
  • Excellence in cleanliness and safety
  • Excellence in facilities and park presentation
  • Excellence in delivering a unique holiday experience

“These seem fairly simple points but research shows these are trigger points for our customers.”

So how does the company ensure consistency in the group? Through measuring and managing, says Schleibs. And he’s proud of the company’s complaints record – about 100 out of 50-60,000 visits.

It is a result of a rigorous approach which includes marketing and branding as well as the delivery of the brand promise at park level. The latest is the first tv campaign for seven years for Big4. It will run on social media and mobiles sites too, and it links directly back to the holiday parks.

The branding allows for Big4 to remain in the top five slot among branded accommodation on the web, says Schleibs.

“Each park has its own microsite they can manage at park level too. Some we manage, some they manage, with photos for instance.”

ADDING TECHNOLOGY

The technological improvements are paying off for the chain. Live booking direct to the park has been a great innovation for the company, with bookings worth $25 million taken online.

A fully bookable mobile system has been rolled out for nearly two years and accounts for 40 percent of the bookings with tablets proving significant booking tools channels too.

“This puts our parks ahead of the curve,” says Schleibs.

And it means franchisees don’t have to build their own mobile versions of the website.

“Technology really drives everything. We have portals for our parks to communicate with us,” he adds.

In addition to guidance and tools for marketing, pr and social media which are available as online resources, there is educational support which the business development team manages online.

Big4 has also updated its loyalty card program, ditching the discount offers and cheap card and re-launching the program in July with a card that can be scanned and provide improved benefits.

There is a tier structure to the program, with blue standard or gold cards based on the number of credits customers accrue.

Big4 has endorsed partnerships with companies such as OPSM and RM Williams to get a broader selection of products. “There are so many programs out there, if you want someone to keep your card in their wallet you need to give it more value.”

The company also has its own reservations system, Park Accommodation Manager, which was introduced five years ago.

The idiosynchrocies of park management have been incorporated into this tailor made program which Schleibs says has been “incredibly successful”.

SO WHAT IS NEXT?

“We’re about to go into strategic planning in March for the three years ahead.  Our objective is to stay the brand of choice, first of mind – for the right reasons.”

A significant national footprint is on the list, and there is still plenty of potential for existing holiday parks to re-badge he says. In the two and a half thousand to four thousand holiday parks that operate across Australia there are only 180 in the Big4 chain. But, he admits, “we have the lion’s share of the best parks in the country”.

The best quality parks in the best locations with the best operators – that is the aim, maybe a final portfolio of 200 parks nationwide, he says. “We need a national footprint so someone can stay at a Big 4 on their way to a destination anywhere in Australia.”