Oasis
Brochure: Oasis Forest Holiday Villages.
Centres: Oasis Lakeland Forest Village in Cumbria.
Product update: a Hard Rock Cafe will open in the spring while ice-skating and horse-riding are now available on site. Themed breaks also make their debut, these include golf, hill-walking and circus breaks.
Also new for 2000 is check-in and late-departure option forVIPguests. Female guests in VIP lodges can have a range of Sanctuary spa treatments in their rooms, and families hiring pre-paid bikes will have them delivered to their door on arrival.
Target audience: families and couples.
Facilities: restaurants, take-away food outlets, supermarket, water complex, tanning centre, health and beauty treatments, children’s clubs and a kindergarten for children aged from three months, soft-play area, adventure playground, indoor and outdoor activities for children and adults including water sports on the lake. There is also evening entertainment.
Type of accommodation: ranges from studio apartments to four-bedroom lodges.
Sample package price: a four-night break in a two-bedroom lodge from July 3 costs from £443.
Short breaks: three and four-night breaks available throughout season plus a range of themed breaks including Easter Breaks, Firework Breaks and Lapland Breaks.
Reservations: 08705 086000.
Butlins
Brochure: 52-page Butlins Family Entertainment Resorts brochure and a 26-page Breakaways from Butlins brochure offering themed-weekend winter breaks.
Centres: Minehead, Bognor Regis and Skegness.
Product update: Butlins’ entertainment programme has been expanded with extra performances in the Skyline Pavilion and new musical shows on the Centre Stage, with a different act every night of the week. New performances include the State Circus of Moscow, a Latin American-style Carnival Night and a Rocky Night of Horror show.
Additions to the children’s daytime programme include the State Circus Skills School and a Junior Driving School where kids will be taught go-karting skills. For teenagers there is a new adult-free zone, featuring activities such as discos, ten-pin bowling and volleyball.
Target audience: families are the main market but Breakaways is also aimed at couples and groups.
Facilities: swimming pools, restaurants, bars, day and evening entertainment, nursery, multi-sports court, bowling green, bowling alley, crazy golf, soft play area, adventure playground, fun fair, go-kart circuit, cinema, shops and medical centre.
Type of accommodation: a choice of half-board accommodation in studio rooms or self-catering apartments with kitchenettes. A new option for 2000 is Gallery Choice where guests in a self-catering apartment get a 20% discount on all meals.
Sample package price: £106 per person for a week in a self-catering studio apartment at the Skegness Resort from June 30.
Short breaks: three and four-night breaks available, plus themed music, comedy, and sports weekend breaks from January to April.
Reservations: 0870 242 0870.
British Holidays
Brochure: 51-page British Holidays Parks brochure.
Centres: 19 family parks throughout the UK, all in coastal locations.
Product update: British Holidays has invested £15m expanding park facilities and capacity. For 2000 there will be more daytime entertainment including a Bradley Bear touring show for youngsters, organised sports activities and tuition for teenagers, as well as an Alice in Wonderland pantomime for families. There has also been investment in landscaping gardens and improving beach access.
Target audience: families.
Facilities: indoor or outdoor pool with slides, most parks also have splash pools for kids. Entertainment complex with day and night-time entertainment programmes; take-away food outlets; family restaurants and supermarkets.
Type of accommodation: two and three-bedroom caravans. Top-end Gold Olympic caravans are 12ft wide and come with microwaves and heaters in the bedrooms. Three Star Holiday Homes are 10ft wide but guests staying in these are allowed to bring pets.
Sample package price: £466 for a week at Haggerston Castle in a Gold Olympic two-bedroom caravan from July 1. Price includes linen and entertainment passes. Discount of £80 for payment in full at the time of booking.
Short breaks: Early Bird discounts of £20 on a three or four-night break in spring or autumn and £40 on summer breaks in Gold Olympic caravan.
Reservations: a new number for agents is 0870 24 34 100.
Haven
Brochure: 196-page Haven Holidays and Short Breaks brochure.
Centres: 56 throughout the UK, including six in Scotland and five in Wales. Parks are split into four types; All-Action, Lively, Leisurely and Relaxing.
Product update: new for 2000 at selected parks are activity sessions for children aged one to four years and their parents. Also new are baby food-warming facilities in selected food outlets, high chairs in restaurants and baby changing areas.
For 10-14-year-olds there is now a T-Co club at All-Action and Lively Parks offering daily activities including quizzes, team challenges and body boarding.
Evening entertainment programmes at the All-Action parks from May 29-September 7 now include special versions of the musicals Fame and Boogie Nights plus a Hot Chef Show. An additional Danceation activity has been introduced to all parks, it combines dance with fitness.
Target audience: families and couples.
Facilities: vary according to type of park but all have fun pools and swimming pools, childrens’ clubs, adventure playgrounds, daytime leisure facilities, evening entertainment, bars, shops, restaurants, take-away food outlets and laundrettes. All-Action Parks have the greatest range of daytime and evening entertainment, sports and leisure facilities.
Type of accommodation: mostly caravan and chalet accommodation, although some parks also offer villas, apartments, tents, cottages and lodges. For 2000 there are a selection of Rory Village jungle-themed lodges at 19 locations and cottage-style Gold model caravans with centre lounges at some parks.
Sample package price: a week in a Bronze model caravan, which sleeps up to seven people, at Grannie’s Heilan’ Hame in Sutherland, Scotland, costs £272 from July 1. Self-catering holidays at selected parks are half-price in June and July when booked before the end of February.
Short breaks: three and four-night breaks are available throughout the season.
Reservations: 0870 242 2222.
Warner
Brochure: 86-page Warner Just for adults UK Short-Breaks brochure.
Centres: Littlecote House, Hungerford; Thoresby Hall, Nottingham; Holme Lacy House, Hereford; Nidd Hall, North Yorkshire; Cricket St Thomas, Somerset; Bodelwyddan Castle, North Wales; Alvaston Hall, Cheshire; Bembridge Coast and Norton Grange on the Isle of Wight; Sinah Warren and Lakeside, Hayling Island; and Gunton Hall and Corton in Suffolk.
Product update: a new historic hotel, Thoresby Hall in Nottingham, will open in September. It is a Victorian Grade One listed building which will have bedrooms within the hall and an adjacent purpose-built cabaret venue, restaurant, indoor pool and spa. At Holme Lacy House there are now clay-pigeon shooting and Wine and Cider Appreciation breaks; Littlecote House has added Fiction Writing breaks.
Target audience: all centres are adult only and are designed to appeal to couples.
Facilities: wide range of leisure activities including bowls, tennis, croquet, archery and indoor pools are available at most locations, some also offer health and beauty treatments and every centre has a resident band and dancefloor plus visiting bands and artistes.
Type of accommodation: ranges from chalet-style with en-suite facilities in Warner’s five Classic Resorts to luxury hotel rooms and suites in its eight hotels. Alvaston Hall also has chalet accommodation.
Sample package price: seven nights’ half-board at Gunton Hall Classic Resort starting on July 7 costs £294 per person.
Short breaks: three and four-night breaks are available year round with a seasonal theme.
Reservations: 0870 601 6012.
Pontin’s
Brochure: 72-page Pontin’s brochure.
Centres: Blackpool; Southport; Prestatyn Sands in North Wales; Brean Sands in Somerset; Camber Sands in Sussex; Wall Park in Devon; Pakefield in Suffolk; and Hemsby in Norfolk; plus the Jersey Holiday Village and Plemont Bay, also in Jersey.
Product update: for 2000, Pontin’s top-of-the-range apartments will have microwaves and TV/video players. New activities include step classes and aqua aerobics during the main school holidays, plus a baby-sitting service at selected parks.
Target audience: the eight centres on the mainland are targeted at families while the two in Jersey are aimed at families and couples.
Facilities: all eight mainland centres have restaurants, shops, indoor pools, exercise classes, daytime and evening entertainment, childrens’ clubs plus a wide range of childrens’ activities including Adventureland jungle for under eight years of age, go-kart track, quad bikes, trampolines, abseiling, hockey, snorkelling, fencing and kite flying.
Type of accommodation: self-catering apartments graded Club, Classic and Popular. Guests can book a full-board package option.
Sample package price: a week in a two-bed self-catering apartment, sleeping six, at Prestatyn Sands from July 1 costs £434. Bookings before February 29 get 20% off.
Short breaks: three and four-night breaks available throughout the year, but short breaks are limited in the summer peak. Special-interest breaks such as Western dance, sequence dancing and country music are also available.
Reservations: 08705 331199.