The increasingly poor reputation of the UK’s holiday park industry must be addressed, according to a Yorkshire holiday park owner who is concerned by the cynical behaviour of some operators.

Mark Goodson, who runs the family-owned Wayside Holiday Park at Wrelton, near Pickering, has spoken out about what he describes as the dubious behaviour of certain park owners towards the public. Issues highlighted in recent media coverage include pitch fee rises, inappropriate permanent occupation of holiday homes, and the low-value repurchase of customers’ properties.

Mark Goodson commented: “The holiday park industry has taken a kicking of late. It troubles me to say it, but this bad reputation gained by the industry has been, in some cases, well deserved. This is because some park owners, both large and small, have acted in a way that doesn’t represent the vast majority, who have been caught in the crossfire.”

Mr Goodson cited the practice of enticing customers with low introductory pitch fees, only to increase them sharply in subsequent years. “We have seen the introductory offer of an attractive pitch fee to initially entice the customer, only to see it cranked up well above inflation in the following years,” he said. “This is sometimes justified as the parks have been upgraded and modernised, which is fair enough, but sometimes they have not.”

He offered his own park’s approach as a contrast, noting that Wayside has invested £1.5 million over the last 10 years, but states that their annual pitch fee increases have been by inflation only, and were kept at the same level as 2024 this year in response to the cost-of-living crisis.

Another major complaint, he noted, involves parks buying back holiday homes from owners at “ridiculously low prices.” When owners decide to sell up—often after only a short period of ownership—they may be compelled to sell back to the park operator, who then re-sells the property at a price close to the original purchase price, making a second significant profit.

“At Wayside we do things differently. When a customer decides to sell, we act as a facilitator of the sale only, which means we agree a mutual price with the owner, put it up on our website with a brief description along with photos of the holiday home for sale,” Mr Goodson explained. “We then show any prospective customers around the holiday home and, if sold, we deal with all the payments between the purchaser and vendor and organise paperwork which concludes the transaction. For this service we charge a commission of 10% +VAT on the sale price. At no time during the sale do we own the holiday home. Doing it this way means that the price that the customer gets for his holiday home is dictated by the market. If it is too high, it does not sell, if it is priced sensibly, it will sell relatively quickly.”

He also highlighted the practice of suggesting to an owner that they can live on the park permanently as a “disgraceful practice” used by rogue operators. This is used to entice a new owner to buy and sell their existing home, even when the park is not licensed for permanent residential use. A holiday licence permits only holiday breaks, not permanent residence.

Mr Goodson concluded: “As a three-generation family business, we never forget that we need you as a customer more than you need us. Buying a holiday home is meant to be a joyous experience, not an assault course of the Spanish Practices highlighted above. This great industry is full of hard-working and honest people who provide tremendous holiday experiences and good value for their customers.”