NEWS — SPECIAL REPORT
Novasol offers 40,000 properties in 27 countries
The Wyndham Vacation Rentals brand has appointed former James Villas chief Malcolm Hoad as UK general manager. LUCY HUXLEY reports
The former boss of James Villas and Villas4You has re-emerged at the helm of another Wyndham Vacation Rentals-owned company to spearhead its expansion into the UK market.
Malcolm Hoad, who worked for James Villas for nine years, the last five on the board, left the self- catering company last summer. He is now UK general manager for Danish-based company Novasol, a provider of mass-market self-catering accommodation in Europe. Hoad said the company had 40,000 exclusive holiday homes in 27 countries on its books. More than 10,000 of the properties are in Denmark, plus 6,500 in Croatia, 4,000 in France, 4,000 in Italy, 3,000 in Sweden, 2,000 in Norway and 2,000 in Spain. Novasol carried 1.5 million customers in 2014, which equated to about 2.5 million bednights. About 60% of bookings come from Germany, with 30% from Denmark and the rest from the Netherlands and other markets.
UK appeal Hoad says he is confident the product will appeal to UK holidaymakers and is counting on travel agents to help him make significant inroads in the market. “I don’t believe there is
anyone that UK consumers currently think of for self-catering homes in central and northern Europe,” he says. “There is a huge
opportunity for Novasol to fill that void for the UK market – and agents will be key to that.” Last year Novasol took about 2,000 bookings from the UK, half of which came direct, with the rest via the trade and online travel agents.
Huge potential But Hoad (pictured) says many of the trade bookings were made by one Nordic specialist based in Dorset, so there is huge potential to engage and educate more retailers and grow the UK market. He plans to work with multiples and independents. Villas4You has, to date, only ever targeted independents. Hoad is keen to sign up the big
groups such as Hays Travel and Travel Counsellors, as well as the consortia and OTAs such as Travel Republic and Lowcostholidays. He says UK holidaymakers are becoming increasingly confident
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travelweekly.co.uk — 29 January 2015
about venturing away from the most popular holiday hotspots, such as Majorca and Greece. Hoad
points out that anyone
taking a city break could be sold a holiday home
just outside the city, rather than an expensive hotel in the downtown area. He is convinced that being part of the Wyndham group, which includes established brands such as Hoseasons, Villas4You, James Villa Holidays and Cottages4you, should give the trade and customers confidence to sell a new product such as Novasol. The Novasol range is more mainstream than Villas4you’s four and five-star portfolio, for which every property is personally checked by the UK team, according to Hoad. “Novasol does have a good number of four to five-star properties with pools, but mostly it is three to four-star accommodation, such as the gîtes we have in France or coastal homes in Denmark,” he says. But Novasol owns all its
contracts with property owners, meaning it chooses where each is advertised. “They are all on our site, but
if we choose to then promote some through
Booking.com, for example, then that is our decision,” says Hoad. “The owner cannot just put their property up on
Booking.com; they have to sign exclusively with us.” The first step for Hoad in expanding Novasol’s UK operations is hiring two sales and marketing executives to support him from the Wyndham offices in Hammersmith, west London. He is also rewriting parts of the
UK website, which need better translation and more detailed descriptions of each property.
Accommodation-only Hoad says the name Novasol, while clearly European, will, in time, become familiar in the UK. “Companies such as Kuoni give me hope, as they have succeeded with a non-British name,” he says. Hoad plans for Novasol to join
Abta and, in future, to look for airline and car hire partners. “We won’t sell packages, only accommodation, but we will recommend flying and car rental partners on our website,” he says. Agents keen to know more about Novasol should email
malcolm.hoad@novasol.com.
SPECIAL REPORT
Self-catering firm Novasol targets UK
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