How Microsoft Dynamics solutions are transforming the holiday home industry

The entire UK holiday home industry, including manufacturers and dealers of holiday homes and lodges, contributes more than £9.3 billion every year to the UK economy. Recent data from Mintel suggests that almost a quarter of UK adults have been on a caravan holiday and the number taken by Brits in 2022 has risen by over half a million to 4.3 million. Why then has such a successful and continuously growing sector been so slow to embrace digitisation?

Believe it or not, there are thousands of parks in this multi-billion-pound industry still running operations on archaic software and spreadsheets. Family-owned parks have seen the same processes followed by each new generation as “that’s the way it has always been done.” It’s not until someone takes the time to demonstrate how to streamline processes and gain efficiencies that holiday park owner operators start to see what is possible.

In the past 12 months, holiday home manufacturers have reported record growth in the wake of a post-pandemic robust UK staycation market. Historically the industry was perceived as not particularly lucrative for investment, but that’s all changed. Holiday parks are now an attractive investment. The market is highly resilient. During pandemics, recessions, and global crises, holiday parks are proven to outperform other sectors. It’s as good as bullet proof. And if global private equity and real estate investment trust companies want a piece of the holiday home industry pie, then the hors d’oeuvre that today’s owners must cook up is accurate data and transparency with great reporting and analysis.

So digital transformation is there for the taking. The holiday park industry, after many years of being left in technological limbo is coming into the light. At Elite Dynamics, we’ve been trying to educate the industry on the benefits of technology and, positively, the appetite is growing.

We entered the market in November 2015 specialising in providing Microsoft Dynamics-based business solutions to holiday parks and resorts. Since then, we have expanded into the holiday marinas and holiday home manufacturer and dealer markets as the appetite to adopt new technology to support growth now exists across the entire wider industry.

And growth is in abundance.

It is probably no surprise then that rapid digitisation of the Global Mobile Home Park Management Software market is expected to grow by 19.2% by 2030.

Around 300 holiday parks, resorts, marinas, manufacturers, and dealers are already benefitting from a Dynamics 365-based solution with Power Apps wrapped around it and the growth potential – both in the UK and overseas – is huge.