A New Home for the Great Holiday Home Show

The Great Holiday Home Show has been staged for the first time at the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate.

Our Willerby Village showcased more than 20 models, including our stunning new Ellerton, Buxton and New Holland units. We also introduced our innovative new All-E all-electric specification.

Here, Willerby CEO Peter Munk and Chief Commercial Officer Darren Black discuss the importance of the show …

So exciting to display our range and meet Willerby owners

Peter:
We were so excited to be able to showcase almost the full range of Willerby models at The Great Holiday Home Show, including our three new designs.

The show gave us the opportunity to see for ourselves the live reaction from consumers, which was absolutely brilliant.

All our models are designed and manufactured based on the feedback we receive from our existing owners, including the 10,000 members of the Willerby Owners Club.

People can obviously visit one of our own showgrounds throughout the year to view our models, but it was particularly satisfying to see so many owners who’ve played a crucial role in these designs at the show to see them for themselves.

A platform to display our models, all in one place

Darren:
The show was a great chance for us to get some really good in-person feedback from consumers and trade customers. They were delighted with the new designs, which are very modern and on-trend.

Consumers these days come to us armed with more information than ever before. They want options, and rightly so.

They can come to visit our showground to view our models, but the show gave us the platform to showcase almost our entire range, side by side, all in one place.

Sustainability is so important to holiday home owners

Peter:
Darren makes a very good point – consumers these days are very well informed, and that’s what we want. The better informed they are about what’s available to them, the better job we can do to make sure they secure their perfect holiday home or lodge.

Consumers are also better informed about the environment, and sustainability is very important to them – as it is to us. We launched our Willerby GreEN Standard last year and we’re now building on that with the launch of the All-E.

One of the best conversations I had at the show was with a woman in her 80s who is determined to have an all-electric holiday home for her and her family. When I showed her the All-E, she said ‘about time!’ I think that’s brilliant.

Building a trusted relationship with the Willerby team

Darren:
The Great Holiday Home Show was the first big outdoor show we’ve had since the lockdown period. Before that, shows such as this were crucial to both consumers and trade customers – and they will be again.

Consumers like to come to events like this because they can make a day of it. They can view our homes at their leisure, enjoy the entertainment, have a bite to eat and relax with the family. They are a real celebration of our industry too.

For us, it’s really important that consumers not only view our range of products, but also that they meet our team. It’s about building up a trusted relationship, so they know we genuinely have their best interests at heart.

A huge success … roll on next year!

Peter:
It was a big decision to move the show from its previous location in Cottingham, East Yorkshire, where it had been held for more than 40 years.

But one of the big reasons for the move was to make it more accessible to more people. Harrogate is a much better location, because it draws people from both the East and the West, from the Lake District and the Midlands, and that’s better for the whole industry.

I really think holiday homes are best displayed to consumers outside. The Great Holiday Home Show gave ourselves and other manufacturers an incredible platform to do that and it was a huge success.

We’re already looking forward to coming back next year.