UK seaside rendezvous where fun meets business

CMW meets UK resort Butlin’s national sales manager, Dan Elliott (pictured) How did you first get into the events business and what was your first role? I got into the events business after spending a number of years in the travel industry. I started in events when I joined Center Parcs as a national account manager in 2015 where I was responsible for driving direct client corporate business to all the villages across the UK. What brought you to Butlin’s and what was your first major sale? After seven incredible years at Center Parcs I was ready for a new challenge. What attracted me was the volume of space on the resort and when I was down for my interview, I looked around Studio 36 and knew straight away that would be a game changer for the business and the brand. Alongside Studio 36 another big reason I wanted to come and work at Butlin’s was the option of Exclusive Hire. The fact that a client can take over one of our resorts and the whole team is there to run that event really got me excited. Plus, I love being by the coast! How has the Butlin’s offer grown during your time with the company? These are exciting times as we look to the future in a Conference and Events world. Seeing things like the upgrade of Studio 36 and SKYPARK playground, both at Skegness; Skyline Eats at Bognor and the upgrade of all the fairgrounds has been incredible to witness. With our new Premium Lodges coming to Skegness and PLAYXPERIENCE coming to Bognor in 2024, there’s lots of exciting things happening to wow clients, agents and delegates who attend events on resort. Tell us about the evolution of the business events brand and how it has grown alongside the famous leisure brand that is Butlin’s We are famous for fun and entertainment and that is what people have known us for since 1936. So, for business events we are looking to bring that same energy to the industry. We are offering a venue that is multipurpose, that has everything all in one location, with fun and entertainment at the heart of what we do. Clients and agents that come to us are not looking for boring, stuffy corporate venues, they are looking for something different and they want their delegates to enjoy themselves. With a venue like Studio 36 used for the main plenary on large scale conferences, it frees up the other venues and parts of the resort as hubs for fun and entertainment. We’ve seen clients do some incredible things with our spaces at their conferences. How has the company weathered the Covid time and would you say business is approaching the 2019 level again yet? The company has come through the Covid years by sticking to its core values and proposition. By having Studio 36 built during Covid and investing by having one on each resort, we were able to continue to offer our famous entertainment for our holiday guests, but then for Conference & Events we were able to offer that space to clients and agents. There are events that have been with us for decades and their organisers wanted to come back to us as soon as they were able to, and in some cases these events have grown since Covid. Then there’s all the new clients we are working with and have used Butlin’s for a resort takeover. What is your major challenge today in the role you have? Budgets? Logistics? Marketing the brand? Our number one challenge is that we get a large volume of enquires that are looking to host a conference or event over the weekend and due to the growth of our Big Weekender breaks we can’t take them. We offer something different to the typical conference venue so when marketing the brand we need to make sure this pulls through. This way prospective clients can see the space and picture where their employees can come and have fun. Agents are now more than ever are being tasked to find ‘quirk’  and ‘unique’ venues and we tick those boxes. Our marketing showcases everything we offer and focuses on our key selling points of everything being in one place and incredible venues that can be transformed however a client wishes. Your aim for end of year and beyond both professionally and personally? My aim professionally for the rest of the year is to get us in a place where we are going to hit the ground running in 2024. We have had an incredible 2023. We now have to replicate that and some for 2024. Personally, it’s important for me to get out and see the teams on resort. I enjoy being on resort and speaking with clients and agents. The wife and I booked for our break this year to see Fatboy Slim at his ‘All back to Minehead’ Weekend and I have always wanted to see the great work Cream do at Minehead. These big arena breaks in Minehead really help showcase how our resorts can be transformed, so I will head down to see what different breaks do to certain venues. Tell us a little about the variety of the offer for events at the three separate destinations. Each resort, while they have the same venues, have three different markets. Bognor Regis is very much the home of the corporate market. It’s on the south coast, not far from London and with three hotels offering over 600 rooms between them, it’s the perfect fit for large scale conferences. Excitingly, next year we have PLAYXPERIENCE opening in Bognor which is our new £15m indoor activity centre. I’m sure this will really appeal to clients and agents looking to book their conferences. Minehead is extremely popular when it comes to resort takeover for large scale events. It is the home of our arena breaks like the PDC Darts, All Back to Minehead and Cream because we can clear everything out of the Skyline and turn it into a huge arena, with other venues like Centre Stage, Reds and Studio 36 right next to it. Finally, Skegness is the home of our dance events which is the core business we have at this resort, and they run throughout the year. Have you had much event business from international corporates or from abroad? No, as we appeal predominantly to UK clients, but it’s something we are looking at. We have had delegates in the past that have flown into Gatwick and Southampton to come to events at Bognor. On those events we have had our Redcoats waiting for the delegates and the airport. We are looking more at this, for example in France the feedback I have had from one of our French clients is that there is nothing like Butlin’s over there. US clients they say the fact we have been in business since 1936 would really appeal to the US market.