Holiday Extras® History
Best Prices, Best Service.. Best Products
| The Apple Barn |
He decided that this was the right time and the right venture. He didn't give up his job immediately but set up a booking system in his spare time.
Holiday Extras® started out as the Apple Booking Company in an office in Bank street Ashford. The office was right up in the eaves of the building - but there was nothing romantic about this attic garrett - the hotel booking business had a game plan and was ready for action. The business shared an office with another business with pre-fix "Apple". There were just two telephone operators working from the office. When the phones were answered the customers were greeted "Apple" - Both businesses could be serviced from the same place.
The other "Apple" concern was run by Anthony Williams and as a team Anthony and Gerry were a winning combination. Gerry's enterprise with planning and the systems needed - and Anthony's sales and marketing flair.
Initially the systems employed were manual but later Anthony developed the software and database for a booking system. The marketing was set up by direct mail (at that time the post office offered 1700 direct mails for nothing) the Apple Booking Company set up a freephone number - which was a major expense - at that time the average call cost to the company was £1.50 which was a massive chip off the profit margin.
Travel Agents - attracted to the idea - would call in and express an interest and then they were sent a booking pack which contained a 3 copy carbon book and freepost envelopes.
The Apple Booking Company offered a small amount of airport hotels at London Gatwick, London Heathrow and Luton airport - with a simple, uncomplicated range of three star hotels, doubles singles or twins. The prices were set at a discounted rate and the products were aimed at the holiday, leisure traveller. Initially hotels were unnamed, hence the really great discounts. Unnamed hotels are a popular product that we have gone back to offering today and they still offer really low prices.
The first hotel suppliers were the Moat house at London Gatwick and Luton Airport and Forte Hotels at London Heathrow. Airport hotels were historically pitched for the business traveller and the rates were set in accordance with what the business community could afford. But this left the hotels with a large proportion of empty rooms and it made sense to fill them up even at a heftily discounted rate. Within a couple of weeks Gerry knew that they had backed a winner, the herald of success was during the second week when one of the girls, Hazel, made 6 bookings in a morning!
The Company on track... The travel agents and the hotels found the new booking arrangement both lucrative and convenient. The hotels realised that customers who were on holiday were spending more at the hotel than their business travelling counterparts. People who were out to enjoy themselves would buy meals and spend an evening at the bar. The trade was mutually beneficial. At first the Apple Booking Company worked solely in a symbiotic partnership with travel agents. The booking system was basic but well planned - the company offered a service that was FREE. The travel agents embraced the opportunity, they could now earn commission in an area were they had struggled to before, and it offered them extra revenue in a difficult trading atmosphere.
| The Insurance Team |
The business continued to flourish and grow - the company realised that if they added 2 star hotels to their product range that it didn't erode the bookings on their 3 star hotels so the range of hotels and room options grew and so did the business. Soon they were dealing with all types of hotels and rooms from luxury to budget.
Continued Growth.. In 1986 the company launched their Travel Insurance and in 1988 Parking - More airports and more suppliers were added top the growing portfolio. The business continued to grow and in the early '90s the company, now rebranded as ABC Holiday Extras, and by now housed in a characterful barn conversion at Smeeth, Nr Ashford, expanded with a brave move into supply.
Holiday Extras had always tried to keep a dependable supply of airport parking but at some airports demand continually outstripped supply. Holiday Extras purchased its first car parking company close to Birmingham airport. Holiday Extras branded this new business. 
Luton Airport Airparks
Airparks Ltd. The supply business offered very different logistic challenges to the booking and contractual side but the business continues to grow. The company now has 5 sites at different Airports with a total of 11,000 car parking spaces on offer - Airparks sites are:
- Birmingham Airport Airparks
- Luton Airport Airparks
- Manchester Airport Airparks
- East Midlands Airport Airparks
- Cardiff Airport Airparks.
Steve Lawrence joined Holiday Extras (then ABC) in 1994 as Marketing Director. Over the following two years he took on responsibility for the insurance business, then the Call Centre and in 1998 he became Managing Director.
The continual growth of the company provided good volumes for all, which helped to maintain and nurture good long term relationships with suppliers. Without these great long term relationships there would be no business and the recognition of this and the incorporation of a flexible attitude towards suppliers is one of the secrets of success. Another aspect that contributed to the continued success and expansion of Holiday Extras was a really good reliable booking system. Holiday Extras have been working with Chauntry reservation systems since 1989 and have invested millions of pounds developing and enhancing its booking systems. 
The Barn Team
The Website.. In April 2000 the website was launched and so with it was the sales to direct customers - This was a brave move as the traditional way to run this sort of business was either to sell through travel agents or to direct customers- not usually with both - but agents soon realised that there was a great opportunity involved for their own businesses. Agents embraced the opportunities to expand their businesses to reach a larger audience and to build their own website businesses. The market place became a different one with the web allowing agents to reach previously untapped areas.
The cost of traditional advertising had made the route to the direct market prohibitive. Only display advertising gave anything like a reasonable cost per booking but the new websites gave many more opportunities. The company's website is now responsible for nearly 80% of bookings.
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| Holiday Extras Website 2000 | Holiday Extras Website 2003 | Holiday Extras Website 2004 |
In 2005 the company, now Holiday Extras, went through a management buy out. The Holiday Extras management team hold 37%; an employee benefit trust holds 16% and the remainder is held for the benefit of the Company’s original founders, the Pack family. With his usual knack for good timing Gerry recognised that not only was the marketplace expanding but the company was ready for this metamorphosis - the company would be re-energised by a group of motivated shareholders and employees - everyone would have a reason to drive the company forward - reinvigorated - energetic.
Acquisitions and growth.. In October 2007 it was announced that Holiday Extras had acquired BCP (formerly British Car Parking) and 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 new marketplaces.. Holiday Extras now operate in a wider and more diverse marketplace, with offices in Germany, and with new core product areas including Theme Park Breaks and Theatre Breaks. From the simplicity of the early beginnings, high on administration, charts and mailed confirmations, the core products have splintered and the company continues to expand into areas of demand for the leisure traveller.
The aim of the company at the start point, as it is now, was to offer the Best. The success of the company has been built through forging great relationships with agents and suppliers through continual investment in people and new products. The team of workers at Holiday Extras are among the top one hundred in the UK most satisfied with their jobs, their prospects and their management (See Our Awards - THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP 100 COMPANIES TO WORK FOR).
Holiday Extras is now housed in a purpose designed building at Newingreen, between Hythe and Ashford in Kent.
Holiday Extras continues to offer Best Choice, Best Price, Best Service and is the UK Market Leader.