Business Profile Select Resorts How did the business begin? Company directors Paolo and Pauline Bonanni, started the company over thirty years ago from their home in Bournemouth. The firm has grown and diversified from selling holiday properties in Spain, to now selling holidays, holiday homes and investment properties across the globe. Now, Pauline and Paolo’s daughter Georgina and her husband Michael have joined the firm as directors. Over the last 30 years the company has accumulated a wealth of experience in the industry, representing some of the world’s major property developers. How has it grown since first beginning? The firm has grown from a husband and wife team, to now a team of 16 people. Do you have any plans for expansion into other destinations? The firm has significant expansion plans for 2015, we’re hoping to widen our offering of global properties for sale, for lifestyle, investment and citizenship purposes. Over the last 12 months, we’ve really developed our UK offering of investment properties in new and emerging asset classes – Student
Accommodation, Care Homes, Hotel Rooms and traditional buy-to-lets. What type of clientele do you attract? We work with a global database of those looking to invest in property for a number of different reasons. We work with clients from different continents, and have a Chinese speaking member of staff to specifically work with clients who speak mandarin. If you were to pick one resort where would it be and why? This is a tricky one… For pure lifestyle I’d pick Bay Villas, the sunset views are unparalleled and I love how remote the properties are – plus, because it’s Thailand, the price is so cheap! (From just £226,000) For investment, it would have to be Walsden Care Village. This is a massively expanding asset class, with significant demand. As the country’s population is ageing, the need for purpose built, quality care accommodation is increasing significantly. Walsden Care Village offers properties for purchase from £55,250 and 10% NET returns for 10 years too.
CONTACT Tel: 01202 786490 www.selectresorts.co.uk holidays@selectresorts.co.uk properties@selectresorts.co.uk 1st Floor, 1 Old Generator House, Bourne Valley Road, Poole BH12 1DZ
Do you have a specific criterionathat you follow in regards to what resorts and properties you choose to advertise? We follow a strict due diligence procedure to add any properties to our portfolio. This includes undertaking full background checks on all developers, sites, and offerings. We also provide a full suite of marketing collateral. This is done for every single project that is promoted to our clients, therefore we have confidence in everything we sell. You have won a number of awards. What has been your greatest achievement of these to date? We’ve recently been awarded a Gold award for “Best Agent, Central America” and Silver for “Best Global Agent” from the Overseas Property Professional Awards, 2014. These are the industry’s most reputable awards, and reflect the work we do in the Caribbean, as well as across the globe. It’s a massive accolade for us, as we were up against a number of larger firms, so to win these is fantastic. In comparison to your competitors what makes Select Resorts that bit special? Service. We pride ourselves on offering quality products that we truly believe
in, and would happily invest in ourselves. We’re therefore confident in every product we offer to our clients. Furthermore, we believe we go that extra mile, ensuring that a client is kept up to date with developments and progress on their property, long after they have purchased. We’ve had a number of clients purchase with us multiple times, and strive to offer unrivalled customer service. We’re also the only UK based associate of Savills – one of the oldest and most reputable estate agency firms in the world. This ensures we give clients peace of mind that we’re a reputable firm, selling reputable products. We’re actively expanding our agent network in 2015, to offer our properties out to a wider range of people, we’re developing a fantastic online portal for the agents to be able to access all the information they might need. This is something that not many agencies can offer. We’re also creating a charity association with Stella’s School in the Gambia in 2015, and the team will be doing a number of charity events to fundraise for the school throughout the year.