A £600,000 bespoke booking system and website have been introduced as Solmar Villa Holidays targets a 25% rise in turnover next year.
Staff are in the process of moving to bigger offices which will double the company’s operating space.
Growth plans include moving into long-haul destinations, offering full package holidays including flights, transfers and add-ons, and a 24-hour UK based helpline for customers to supplement the in-resort representative service.
The aim is to increase the number of villas available by 1,000 to about 2,500 and to increase staffing both in the UK and in resorts.
Four new directors have been appointed with another to come as part of a planned growth strategy.
Burton-on-Trent-based Solmar was created by chief executive Julie Blake’s parents in the 1980s after they bought their own villa and started to rent it out.
Blake said that in-resort reps, personal service and a focus on quality and customer experience help Solmar to stand out from a crowded field, and she intends to continue and develop that ethos.
Blake said: “We’re making sure we don’t allow quality to drop in pursuit of growth. While we will be getting on for £40 million turnover next year, we are still very family-friendly, both as an employer and as a company to speak to, and I think our clients like that. They like the personal touch, and we understand each client and what they are after.
“We are a family-run business, we’re not answering to shareholders, it’s not investment driven – this is about a family wanting to earn a living and be proud of what we do.
“We are pushing forward with what you would call an old-fashioned opinion really, which is looking after the customer.”
She added: “Our plan is to be that go-to brand, to be a household recognised name so when people think of villa holidays, whether they be in the trade, in the public or press, Solmar is that brand that they think of, and in a positive way.
“We looked at the organisational structure and put the directors in place so we have leadership in each department. Until then, it was just me and I was becoming the bottleneck within the business.
“It has been really exciting to have the directors come in, with the experience they have, and it feels like the pressure is off my shoulders because we have like-minded people in place. Next step is to review the business below that level and put structures in place to make sure the business is future-proofed.”
Solmar is also working closely with villa owners to help them maintain and improve their properties, which in turn would enhance the holiday experience for customers.
Plumbed in water filters so holidaymakers don’t need to buy bottled water and an affordable purchasing scheme so villa owners can buy quality Solmar-branded mattresses to assure visitors of a comfortable sleep are among innovations and add-ons Blake is keen to introduce.
She added: “Post-Covid, the big difference between what we’re doing and what our competitors seem to be doing, is they all seem to have pulled away from the traditional tour operator business model. Some are no longer doing in-person health and safety checks, they’re not having staff on the ground because it’s expensive.
“That’s all great, and it cuts costs and puts profit on the bottom line, but what’s the experience for the customer, what’s the retention?”
While the cost of living crisis is pushing up costs and squeezing profit margins, Blake is confident that UK holidaymakers will still head abroad in numbers in 2023.
“Market research suggests that while cost of living is an issue, people might change what they do and how they budget, but there’s no way they’re giving up their holidays,” she said/
“If we hadn’t had the pandemic I think we would have been a little bit worried about how many people were going to stay in the UK, but UK holidays are so much more expensive than they used to be. Even when you’re there, you’re not guaranteed the weather and food is much more expensive here as well.
“We’ve been through two recessions in my time here and through both of them Solmar has grown quite substantially. We don’t say ‘Oh no, there’s a recession, we’d better make redundancies and reduce numbers’. What we do instead is look at the opportunities.”