Center Parcs
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Center Parcs is a European network of holiday villages which includes a UK based company which runs holiday villages in Britain and a sister enterprise that operates in numerous locations in Europe.
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[edit] Background
Center Parcs started out in a forest in The Netherlands as Sporthuis Centrum, a new type of holiday resort, founded by Dutch businessman Piet Derksen. The idea was to combine relaxation in a natural setting with sporting and leisure activities. Over the years, Center Parcs has expanded greatly, and now has 20 resorts in The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany and England.
Accommodation in Center Parcs is provided in the form of villas or bungalows. These are compact buildings, clustered together in a park and being surrounded by trees and bushes. An exception to this is Park Zandvoort, being set amongst sand dunes. Certain resorts also provide hotel rooms.
The facilities available at Center Parcs vary depending on resort. All locations offer a Subtropical Swimming Pool. A range of sporting activities is available for guests, along with various restaurants. Other activities include spas, saunas, massages and other facilities.
[edit] What's There?
- Subtropical Swimming Paradise - in some Parcs this features an outdoor pool, wild water rapids, a "slow river", slides and flumes, a children's pool area, as well as a poolside food venue.
- Village Square / Centre / Europe: Market Dome - Usually contains hub of restaurants and facilities such as a launderette. At Longleat Forest in the UK the ParcMarket, Information Centre and many of its restaurants are in the Plaza, about 300 metres away.
- Jardin Des Sports / Sports Plaza - Typically includes squash courts, badminton courts, pool and snooker tables, a Sports Cafe / themed restaurant, gymnasium, table football, golf simulator, aerobics studio, outside and covered tennis courts and a space for 5-a-side football.
- Lakeside - for all water-based activities such as canoeing, fishing or pedalos.
- Aqua Sana - for pampering, relaxation, massage and therapy. Spa area at Sherwood includes various rooms such as "Indian Blossom Room", "Greek Herbal Room", "Tyrolean Sauna", "Zen Garden" - as well as a central pool with jacuzzi-style area at one end.
- Time Out Clubhouse / Europe: Kids Factory or Baluba - dedicated crèche and activity centres for children.
- House of games - Coin operated arcade video games
- Action Factory - Sports & entertainment, food & drinks. (Europe)
- Hotel - Various European Parcs operate a hotel. The only resort that operates its hotel also as a stand-alone hotel in stead of just integrating it in normal bungalow resort operations, is Park Zandvoort (Netherlands). At all other parcs the hotel consists of cottages stacked on top of each other. The only thing that divides them from normal cottages is the possibility of hotel service. (turn down, daily cleaning etc.)
- European Parc Specialities: Jungle Dome (Heijderbos), Discovery Bay (Vossemeren)
[edit] Restaurants and Bars (UK Resorts)
Typical facilities are:
- Rajinda Pradesh - Indian cuisine
- Luciano's - Italian
- Hugo's - Seafood
- Huckleberry's (Huck's Diner in Elveden Forest) - American
- Crispin's (and Lagoon Bar in Subtropical Swimming Paradise) - Fast food
- Coffee Shop - Hot Drinks and Cakes
- La Sapinière - Fine dining
- Le Grand Café - French
- Pancake House - Sweet and Savoury Pancakes
- Sports' Cafe - Pub lunches and breakfasts (located within Jardin Des Sports)
- Lakeside Inn - (only available at Whinfell Forest) Pub Meals and Hand Drawn ales
- Chez Pierre - Fine Dining
- Cafe Refresh - Whinfell Forest version of Crispins
- Yangs - Chinese cuisine
- Rock Legends - (Whinfell Forest only) American
Rajinda Pradesh and Luciano's also provide an early evening delivery service, with Indian take-aways or pizzas delivered to villas.
[edit] Restaurants & Bars (European Resorts)
- H-Restaurants - Casual Dining / Family Grill (Restaurants are called different at each resort, but names start with "H", like Hamiltons, Harveys or Harolds)
- Sharky's Bar & Grill - Casual Dining / Family Grill (Like H-Restaurants, but only at Zandvoort and Port Zelande)
- Market Cafe and Terrace - Grand Cafe
- Market Restaurant - Buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner (Called Market Buffet at former Gran Dorado Resorts)
- S-Restaurants - Fine Dining (Called names like Saffier or Saffraan)
- Pancake house - Pancakes
- Billy's Burger - Snacks (at former Gran Dorado resorts)
- Snack Corner - Snacks (called Snacks & Salads at some resorts)
- Aqua Cafe & Terrace - Pool bar (called Malibu Bar at some resorts)
- Irish Pub (mainly on German resorts)
- Sports Bar - Drinks & Snacks (integrated with Factory Cafe at some resorts)
- Mr. Woxy's - Casual Asian (only on Huttenheugte)
- Factory Cafe - Situated in mostly separate buildings, together with sports-, kids- or entertainment- facilities. Building is called Action Factory. (Or Beach Factory at Zandvoort, situated in the sports complex of the sea side hotel)
- Bowling alleys (separate, like The Old Barn at Heijderbos, or combined with Sports Cafe at Vossemeren or Factory Cafe at Eemhof or Zandvoort)
- Pizza & Pasta (sometimes as a part of Market cafe & terrace, or stand alone. Called Il Giardino at former Gran Dorado Resorts)
[edit] Activities
Falconry, Archery, Pool and Snooker Tournaments, Aerobics, Pilates, Yoga, Tai Chi, Badminton, Tennis, Diving, Paintball, Laser Clay Shooting, Sports Quiz, Art Class, Creative Writing, Woodland Walks, Paint Pots for your Patio, Cycling, Ten-pin bowling, Lawn Bowls and Boules, GoKarting, Climbing, Flu-Flu Golf and a variety of activities such as abseiling and high rope assault course, plus more / less depending on Parc.
[edit] UK Ownership
In 2001 during a move to concentrate on their core brewing business, Scottish and Newcastle sold the UK side of Center Parcs to venture capitalists. It was announced on 4 December 2003 that the then owners, Mid Ocean, would sell the UK resorts to Arbor for £285 million. Arbor was a company set up specifically to purchase Center Parcs, and float it on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market.
In May 2006 Center Parcs UK Group Plc was sold to The Blackstone Group, an American private investment company. Subsequently Center Parcs was delisted as a plc and re-registered as a private company, a subsidiary of the Blackstone Group.
During the sale, future growth of Center Parcs was hinted at by the Chief Executive, Martin Dalby. He said that the company might add a fifth village at some time in the future, but was also looking towards organic growth through investment in new facilities at the existing villages. Late in 2004 it was announced that the fifth village would be built near Woburn in Bedfordshire. Following the sale to The Blackstone Group, focus was shifted from growth, to investment in the existing villages and plans for the future village were put on hold.
[edit] Corporate Ownership
All resorts on the European main land are owned by a Dutch company called CenterParcs Europe, which is owned by a French company called Pierre et Vacances[1]. Centerparcs Europe[2] and Centerparcs UK only share history, name and logo.
In 2003 Scottish & Newcastle sold the European branch of CenterParcs to a joint venture of Pierre et Vacances (P&V) and DBCP, a German investment group. This joint venture was given the name: CenterParcs Europe (CPE). P&V at that time already owned Europe's largest (in terms of bed-count) bungalow-vacation-supplier; Gran Dorado Resorts, a Dutch-based former joint venture of Vendex[3], Algemeen Burgerlijk Pensioenfonds, GAK and Philips Rentefonds. P&V brought in Gran Dorado in the joint venture thus creating a company of monsterous proportions. The following problem rises: CPE is seated in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and the Dutch and European Commercial Competition Authority [4] do not approve of combining Gran Dorado and CenterParcs. This company would almost control the entire European market. To ensure that the merging could take place, the authority demanded a lower bed-count. This resulted in the sale of all but six Gran Dorado Resorts to Dutch Landal GreenParks[5]. The remaining six parcs are added to the CenterParcs portfolio. These parcs are: Loohorst (NL), Port Zelande (NL), Zandvoort (NL), Weerterbergen (NL), Hochsauerland (D) and Heilbachsee (D).
After the sale, the Gran Dorado flag still waved at all Gran Dorado Resorts. This remained so until January 1, 2003. By this date, all sold parcs were rebranded "Landal" and five of the six remaining parcs were rebranded "Sea Spirit from Centerparcs" or "Free Life from Centerparcs." All original CenterParcs resorts in the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Germany were sub-branded "CP Original," (which, come to think of it, is not very original at all) The "Weerterbergen"-Resort was sold to "Roompot"[6] in 2002 somewhat at the last moment, because the costs of bringing up this Resort to the new Centerparcs standards would be higher than CPE was willing to invest. Per January 1 2003, Gran Dorado Resorts-Brand was no longer used. Surveys showed that the general public thought CenterParcs was a stronger brand than Gran Dorado. CPE wanted to use only one brand for all parcs eventually. Seen in this light, choosing for the sub-brands "Original", "Free Life" and "Sea Spirit" was somewhat strange.
In 2003, Deutsche Bank Capital Partners (DBCP) was bought out of the joint venture by its partner, Pierre & Vacances. The French are now the sole owners of CenterParcs Europe.
The strange sub-branding ended again in 2006 with yet another rebranding. From the 2006 season on, al resorts are branded "CenterParcs". Differences between resorts are now shown in "birds" (similar to the bird in the logo). The more birds, the more facilities guests can expect. Three birds for small resorts, five for large and full-options resorts. At the start of the 2007 season, another amendment was made. The "Bird scale" now only consisted of 4 or 5 birds. Needless to say: this change in rating did not affect any resort facility. Three bird resorts were simply called 4 bird resorts from 2007 on. The strange urge to sub-brand shows its ugly head again: Resorts are now divided in four categories: Active, Premium, Family and EasyGo.
[edit] New UK Site
In December 2004, Center Parcs announced that it had identified a location for a fifth UK site, at Warren Wood near Woburn, Bedfordshire. It would be seeking planning permission and had already completed the signing of a lease on the land from its owner, the Duke of Bedford. The project was expected to cost approximately £160 million, including the construction of accommodation, indoor and outdoor facilities, sub-tropical swimming complex, restaurants and a spa. It is anticipated that, given planning permission, the project would take between three and four years to complete.
[edit] All resorts
CenterParcs consists of the following 20 resorts:
| Country / Resort | City / Village | Region | Opened | Added to portfolio |
| The NETHERLANDS | ||||
| Het Meerdal | America | Limburg | 1971 | - |
| De Huttenheugte | Dalen | Drenthe | 1972 | - |
| De Eemhof | Zeewolde | Flevoland | 1980 | - |
| De Kempervennen | Westerhoven | North Brabant | 1983 | - |
| Het Heijderbos | Heijen | Limburg | 1986 | - |
| Park Loohorst | America | Limburg | 1980 | 2002 |
| Port Zélande | Ouddorp | South Holland | 1990 | 2002 |
| Park Zandvoort | Zandvoort | North Holland | 1989 | 2002 |
| BELGIUM | ||||
| Erperheide | Peer | Limburg | 1981 | - |
| De Vossemeren | Lommel | Limburg | 1987 | - |
| GERMANY | ||||
| Park Heilbachsee | Gunderath | Rhineland-Palatinate | 1979 | 2002 |
| Butjadinger Küste | Tossens | Lower Saxony | 1992 | 2004 |
| Park Hochsauerland | Medebach | North Rhine-Westfalia | 1994 | 2002 |
| Bispinger Heide | Bispingen | Lower Saxony | 1995 | - |
| FRANCE | ||||
| Les Bois-Francs | Verneuil-sur-Avre | Haute-Normandie | 1988 | - |
| Les Hauts de Bruyères | Chaumont-sur-Tharonne | Centre | 1993 | - |
| UNITED KINGDOM | ||||
| Sherwood Forest | Rufford | Nottinghamshire | 1987 | - |
| Elveden Forest | Brandon | Suffolk | 1989 | 2003 |
| Longleat Forest | Warminster | Wiltshire | 1994 | - |
| Whinfell Forest | Penrith | Cumbria | 1997 | 2002 |
- In case of the former Gran Dorado Resorts, the 2002 "Added to portfolio"-date stands for the year these resorts were brought into the joint venture. These resorts were not branded Centerparcs until 2003
