Open Air Business March 2017
The UK's outdoor hospitality business magazine for function venues, glamping businesses and outdoor event organisers
The UK's outdoor hospitality business magazine for function venues, glamping businesses and outdoor event organisers
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team at Bond. We make all of our<br />
products at our Gloucestershire<br />
factory, hand finish each and every<br />
structure, and I personally oversee<br />
each installation. Quality and<br />
workmanship take centre stage,<br />
and we make the majority of our<br />
tents to order so we can customise<br />
if needed.<br />
Our testimonials speak for<br />
themselves. Kate Tregonning,<br />
owner of Brownscombe Glamping<br />
in Devon, is just one of many happy<br />
clients now running a successful<br />
luxury camping location: “Having<br />
opened with three tents in May<br />
2015, we have now finished two<br />
seasons. Right from the beginning,<br />
Bond were different from other<br />
tent suppliers in the market place.<br />
They were competitive on price, but<br />
what made them stand out was the<br />
customer service - changes were<br />
made to their basic design to suit<br />
my site. The team came to put them<br />
up over two visits and they coped<br />
with the rain and long hours with<br />
good humour.<br />
“We are based in Devon, which<br />
gives us an advantage, however,<br />
we have been really pleased that<br />
our occupancy has gone up from 56<br />
per cent to 86 per cent in the same<br />
period from May to October, and it<br />
is 100 per cent in school holidays.<br />
This was way ahead of our business<br />
plan, as we had budgeted for 70 per<br />
cent. The feedback on the product<br />
has been very positive and I would<br />
highly recommend Bond.”<br />
We are very proud of our<br />
relationships with our customers,<br />
and it is a great joy to watch their<br />
businesses take shape and dreams<br />
come true.<br />
How would you describe the state<br />
of play in the outdoor hospitality<br />
market?<br />
It’s clear that the glamping market<br />
is not just growing, but also<br />
“OUR<br />
CUSTOMER<br />
SERVICE AND<br />
AFTERCARE IS<br />
IMPORTANT<br />
TO US – WE<br />
ARE AT THE<br />
END OF<br />
A PHONE<br />
FOR ANY<br />
EMERGENCIES<br />
OR REPAIRS<br />
AND HAVE<br />
A GREAT<br />
RELATIONSHIP<br />
WITH OUR<br />
CUSTOMERS”<br />
evolving as it does so. We are<br />
seeing a greater demand for our<br />
larger tents, where our customers<br />
can provide beautiful, spacious<br />
interiors to match any experience<br />
normally found in five-star<br />
accommodation, with internal<br />
bathrooms and roll-top baths,<br />
antique furniture and sumptuous<br />
bedding. Of course, the beauty of<br />
our tents is that they are a blank<br />
canvas (no pun intended), so<br />
some clients opt to kit them out<br />
with simple pleasures in mind<br />
while others take it to the height<br />
of luxury. There is room for many<br />
different variations on ‘glamping’<br />
in the marketplace but it certainly<br />
pays to create something unique.<br />
Since Bond also designs and<br />
manufactures marquees too, we<br />
are seeing a similar trend there<br />
also. Fewer customers are looking<br />
for plain white marquees, but<br />
instead looking to create a more<br />
unique look or experience for their<br />
clients. It is an interesting and<br />
exciting business to be involved in<br />
at the moment.<br />
How have you personally<br />
impacted the industry?<br />
We have worked hard these past<br />
few years to develop a range<br />
of safari tents that will stand<br />
up to both the test of time and<br />
the increasing wrath of Mother<br />
Nature. Our customer service and<br />
aftercare is important to us – we<br />
are at the end of a phone for any<br />
emergencies or repairs and have<br />
a great relationship with our<br />
customers. Let’s be honest, there<br />
are quite a few providers of safari<br />
tents in the market right now, and<br />
that is a good thing – competition<br />
is a healthy monster and<br />
customers need to have choices for<br />
both different budgets, aesthetics<br />
and end uses. Currently, we are<br />
not aware of any other safari tents<br />
that have the proven structural<br />
credentials of ours, and we seem<br />
to be attracting clients who are<br />
keen to know and understand<br />
the technical specifications of<br />
the tents, in particular wind<br />
loading (and snow, dependent on<br />
location).<br />
What plans do you have for the<br />
future?<br />
Bond Fabrications will continue<br />
to grow within both the UK and<br />
overseas, yet it is our passion to<br />
remain in control and close to<br />
each and every customer of ours.<br />
We are committed to providing<br />
seriously robust safari tents of the<br />
highest quality, and, of course,<br />
manufactured here in the UK,<br />
along with a personal approach<br />
to each sale. The safari tent range,<br />
with our galvanised steel frames,<br />
has created a new generation of<br />
structures here at Bond, and the<br />
whole team have been involved<br />
in the design and evolution of our<br />
product offering. In the future,<br />
we expect the trend for high-end<br />
luxury offerings to grow both<br />
within the bespoke marquee<br />
market, and also in safari and<br />
glamping structures. We will stick<br />
to our mantra ‘creating quality,<br />
affordable solutions with honesty<br />
and craftsmanship’.<br />
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