Who's who: Shearings Holiday Hotels
Shearings Holiday Hotels? Is it anything to do with the coach company?
Exactly. The Torquay-based hotel company is a subsidiary of coach and holiday operator Shearings Holidays, which is more than 100 years old and has owned hotels since the 1970s. After passing through the hands of Mecca Leisure, then the Rank Group, in the 1980s, it regained its independence in 1996 via a management buyout involving director of hotels Vince Flower.
What sort of hotels does it have? Its 38 hotels are mostly resort-based in England and Wales, with a mix of rural and resort properties in Scotland. Scottish and Welsh hotels have two- and (mostly) three-star status, while English properties are rated at two or three diamonds. The largest is the 132-bedroom Highland hotel in Strathpeffer, while the smallest is Tenby's Imperial hotel with 46 bedrooms.
Why the mix of stars and diamonds? The English star system doesn't recognise the Shearings offer, and demands facilities, such as bedroom telephones, which its customers don't require.
Who are its customers? UK holiday-makers aged 55-plus, who mostly travel alone, 67% of them on Shearings coaches. They are very loyal - some visit its hotels four or five times a year, for both short and long breaks.
What keeps drawing them back? Location, comfort, customer service and the desire to be entertained. All hotels offer entertainment most nights and have developed a range of themed breaks. Guests can rave along to the tribute band of their choice (Abba, Shirley Bassey, Elvis, Patsy Cline, the Drifters or the Rat Pack), the sounds of the sixties and seventies, the legends of rock'n'roll, the legends of comedy, or Stars in their Eyes performers.
How did the themed entertainment evolve? According to Flower, themed breaks are essential to future growth and success. They were devised as a vehicle to tackle the shift from long- to short-stay breaks by extending the opening season from 36 to 52 weeks. Now, 23 hotels are open all year, and the rest for least 46 weeks. This shift helped the group win a Thistle Award last year for its year-round contribution to Scottish tourism.
Did it win any other awards last year?
It scored 81.2% in the Hospitality Assured customer service standards to become one of just a dozen companies to exceed 80%.
Didn't the group put itself up for sale in late 2001? Yes, but it took itself off the market a month later because of poor market conditions following 11 September. This way of funding expansion has been superseded by a £65m refinancing deal, clinched at the end of 2002, which increased the directors' equity share while leaving Bridgend Capital the majority shareholder. The deal provides about £5m to buy new hotels over the next three to five years.
What are its plans? To continue to refine its estate, buying better hotels to replace existing ones in star locations. It also plans to add 60-70 bedrooms (about six to seven per hotel) to key resort hotels over the next two years.
Shearings is also seeking hotels in areas such as Blackpool, Brighton and Hove and Scarborough (where demand massively outstrips current supply).
Where are you?
Scotland: Braemar, Aberdeenshire; Dornoch, Sutherland; Fort William, Grantown-on-Spey and Inverness, Inverness-shire; Gairloch and Strathpeffer, Ross-shire; Dunoon and Oban, Argyllshire; Rothesay, Isle of Bute; Loch Lomond-side; Melrose, Roxburghshire; Pitlochry, Perthshire; and Portpatrick, Wigtownshire.
Wales: Llandudno, Conwy; Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys; and Tenby, Pembrokeshire.
England: Bournemouth and Weymouth, Dorset; Cirencester, Gloucestershire; Eastbourne (two), East Sussex; Exmouth, Ifracombe, Lynton, Paignton and Torquay (two), Devon; Great Yarmouth, Norfolk; Newquay (two), St Ives and St Mawes, Cornwall; Ryde, Isle of Wight; Scarborough and Whitby, North Yorkshire; Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset; and Windermere, Cumbria.
Your vital statistics
Hotels: 38
Bedrooms: 2,821
Employees: 1,400
Trading, 2002: turnover, £42m; operating profit, £8.4m; occupancy, 78.25% (92.5%, April-October)
Who are you?
Vince Flower: director of hotels
Mark Haber: financial controller
Jane Burke: human resources director
Jan Chopping, Karl Emmott, Jim Smith, Steve Boricic, Kevin Billington, Tony Cunliffe: area managers
