New Years Honours list

The New Year’s Honours List is meant to reflect all that is best about society. So it is revealing that this year’s has no politicians and few businessmen. Instead, sportsmen and entertainers have stepped into the breach.



In the year of the expenses scandal and political disillusionment, where better to turn than the sexagenarian rock band Status Quo? No one can say they have not earned it. Since meeting at Butlins in 1965, they have notched up 118 million sales and spent 415 weeks in the singles chart.

Butlins launches TV campaign

Butlins is launching a television campaign as part of its repositioning drive to change perceptions of the brand.

The campaign breaks on Boxing Day and focuses on the holiday chain’s contemporary accommodation.

The 30-second TV spot showcases the Ocean Hotel and the Shoreline Hotel, Butlins’ two family hotels at the south coast beach resort Bognor Regis

The creative acknowledges people’s past perceptions of the brand as a holiday camp atmosphere but updates it with a fresh look at the emotions of a family from day to night.



It features a rerecorded version of the 1980s Dead Or Alive track “You Spin Me Round”, which accompanies visuals of the interior and exterior of each hotel.

Jackie Martin, sales and marketing director of Butlins, says: “We’re looking to surprise consumers, especially those who may not have considered Butlins in the past, with our premium beachside accommodation and facilities.”

Butlins to Host Performance from Jedward Next Year

It now seems that the famous X Factor rejects John and Edward Grimes, known as Jedward, are expected to play at Butlins next year to help boost the holiday camp’s bookings. Bosses at the park did confirm that they are already in talks right now with show organizers to host performances by a number of finalists, which does include the two Irish twins.



Other X Factor rejects, like Lucie Jones, have already had gigs and played at Butlins’ Minehead camp in Somerset. The managing director for Butlins, Richard Bates said that he wants all final acts to perform at Butlins.
This news came out as the famous holiday camp noted a 10 percent surge in sales at its three sites. Most of this increase came from a 6 percent rise in prices, which the firm has managed to impose despite the big recession. The guest numbers have remained largely flat at only 1.4 million.



One of the reasons for the increase in prices is to pay for the attention grabbing acts, like Jedward, to entertain the guests at the park. Britain’s Got Talent winners Diversity and father and son sensation Stavros Flatley performed this summer at Butlins as well.

The prices also went up to fund the £100 million investment program over the past five years. This includes the firm’s new £20 million Ocean Hotel at its Bognor Regis camp, which opened up this past August. This ultra modern hotel is running at 89 percent capacity with £1 million of advanced bookings for next year. Richard Bates did go on to reject talks that Butlins would start to suffer once the recession ends and families look for holidays elsewhere.

Hard-working Britons are slow to take 'health breaks'

Britain lags behind continental Europe when it comes to taking health and beauty "wellbeing" breaks, it has been revealed. UK employees work the longest hours in Europe yet few opt to go away simply to recharge their batteries, according to a new survey by holiday website Expedia.co.uk.



While 88% of Britons think they need a recuperation holiday, just 29% of them intend to take a medical, holistic, beauty or spiritual break this year, in contrast to 64% of Italians, 54% of French and 45% of Germans, says the online travel company.

As many as 52% of Britons said such breaks were "too expensive", while many said they were too busy to take such a holiday.



For those Britons keen to enjoy a wellbeing break, 28% would want to do so in their own country, with visits to spas the most popular form of recuperation.

A spokesman for Expedia.co.uk said: "Our research shows a clear desire for people to refresh themselves a little more on a wellbeing break, which is why we believe it is time Brits adopted a more European approach.



"It's a great shame that so many assume this type of break needs to be expensive, when in actual fact a few days away dedicated to mental, physical or spiritual balance can be a very effective way to re-energise yourself."

A little pampering goes a long way,

Relax as you head into Christmas - check out Butlins Ocean Spa in Bognor Regis, Christmas breaks start at £104 per person from December 23 to 27 2009.

Situated in Bognor Regis,the contemporary new Ocean Spa is the perfect place to experience fun and relaxation for the whole family on resort.

The new Ocean Spa is full of surprises - there are disco showers, a snow cave with stalactities and stalagmites and an outdoor hot tub. Or you can lie back in the hydrospa, surrounded by a wall of water and have refreshments brought straight to your lounger.

Butlins revamp pays off as revenues rise

Butlins has left its happy camper image behind and gone upmarket with spa days and a revamp of its resorts.

The modernisation has boosted annual revenues by more than 10pc across its holiday camps, which once helped inspire the BBC sitcom Hi-De-Hi, starring Su Pollard.



The firm, which owns sites in Minehead, Skegness and Bognor Regis, has also announced bookings for next year are up by 11per cent.

Its new Ocean Hotel in Bognor is a far cry from the original rather basic camp Billy Butlin opened in Skegness in 1936.

The new south coast holiday spot is running at 89pc capacity and managing director Richard Bates said: 'The Ocean Hotel has proven to be a big hit with guests and we're looking forward to another bumper year across all three resorts in 2010.'

The hotel has developed a range of spa treatments with an unusual twist.

This includes a Premier League Male Massage which takes place in a room with sporting highlights projected onto the wall, a father and son package, and a marshmallow facial for kids.

The phenomenon of the "staycation", in which cash-strapped Britons supposedly took their 2009 holidays close to home, was largely a myth, the managing director of Butlins said this week.

Richard Bates said that while Butlins's bookings were up by two per cent to about 1.5 million customers, this was largely thanks to the opening in August of the £20 million Ocean Hotel at the company's Bognor Regis resort. That offset a fall in bookings at its other resorts, in Minehead and Skegness.




"There was some talk that people were just going to give up their Tuscan villas for apartments in Skegness, but that clearly wasn't the case," he said. "Overall we've had a good year, but our growth has been largely driven by the new hotel. The staycation idea didn't deserve the hype that it got."

Manny Fontenla-Novoa, chief executive of Thomas Cook, would agree. Earlier this week, he reported that the number of summer holiday bookings made over the past four weeks were up 14 per cent compared with the same period last year. He suggested that the staycation was merely a story put about by British holiday companies.