Holiday extras
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Holiday Extras are the market leaders[1] in UK airport parking and airport hotel packages. They provide airport parking, airport hotels, travel insurance, airport and overseas car hire along with theme park and theatre breaks.
[edit] Company History
Holiday Extras was founded as the Apple Booking Company in Ashford, Kent in 1983 by Gerry Pack to provide an easy way for leisure travellers to book an overnight stay in an airport hotel. The company started with only two telephone operators and shared its offices with another business with the "Apple" pre-fix and both businesses were serviced from the same place. Booking systems were initially manual though software and a database were later developed by Anthony Williams. The Apple Booking Company offered a small amount of hotels at London Gatwick and London Heathrow airports with a simple range of three star hotels.
In 1986 the company launched their travel insurance and in 1988 added UK Airport Parking to their portfolio along with more airports and suppliers. In the early 1990s the company re-branded as ABC Holiday Extras and relocated to a converted barn in Smeeth and, following continual business growth, expanded into supply. ABC Holiday Extras purchased their first car parking company near Birmingham International Airport, branding the business Airparks Ltd. The booking and contractual side of the business continues to grow and the company now has 5 sites at different airports.
In April 2000, ABC Holiday Extras launched their website and began selling direct to customers, the company's website is now responsible for 90% of its bookings. The business rebranded once again to became Holiday Extras in 2004. In 2005 Holiday Extras went through a management buy out. Gerry and Carol Pack, the founders of the company, now own just under half of the Holiday Extras Group. 47 managers within the business also own shares. The remaining 17% of shares are held in an employment benefit trust.
In October 2007 Holiday Extras purchased on of their leading competitors BCP (formerly British Car Parks) and announced it would manage Q-Park's GB off airport car parks at five other airport locations.
In December 2007 Holiday Extras rebranded the Q-Park airport car parks it had acquired at Gatwick, Manchester, Newcastle and Glasgow as Airparks car parks. The move means that Airparks now manages 28,000 parking spaces at nine UK airports.
Holiday Extras now operate in a wider and more diverse marketplace, with offices in Germany, and other product areas including Airport Lounges, Theme Park Breaks and Theatre Breaks. Holiday Extras is now housed in a purpose designed building at Newingreen, between Hythe and Ashford, Kent.
