As we approach the summer holidays (and keep our fingers crossed for some sunshine) I wanted to thank you for being part of our ownership community here at Hoburne Devon Bay and for your continued commitment to us.
This booklet highlights the wide range of projects we have invested in at Hoburne Devon Bay this year. We are incredibly proud of all the improvements we have made and couldn’t have achieved these without your valued support.
We know that your time, and your family time, is precious. We hope that the improvements we have made will enhance the quality time you spend with us.
Best wishes,
OUR INVESTMENTS
Our investments at Hoburne Devon Bay this year cover three main areas, all of which will enhance the time you spend with us:
Angle-Right Communication and connectivity
Angle-Right Our team
Angle-Right Your experience on park
NEW FREE ACTIVITIES FOR OWNERS
This year we’ve made our Kayak, Nerf Challenge, Wet ’n’ Wild and Adventure Golf sessions free for owners. We hope you’ll be out there enjoying them this summer.
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COMMUNICATION
To improve communication between the Hoburne team and yourselves we have employed a new Operations Manger, Simon Antill and Sue Hunt the new Customer Experience Manager. We have also implemented owner listening sessions, which are held several times a year and open to all our Hoburne Devon Bay owners.
CONNECTIVITY
We have now completed our WiFi project at Hoburne Devon Bay to provide your holiday home with improved WiFi access. We have implemented GPON technology, which ensures faster, more reliable internet access directly to your accommodation.
This upgrade means you can now enjoy seamless streaming, browsing, and connectivity with improved speeds and enhanced service.
OUR TEAM
At Hoburne we pride ourselves on the calibre and quality of the team members we employ. We know how important it is to have a strong team looking after you, and the management changes we’ve implemented ensure a focus on service, communication and fresh ideas for the future.
Other team appointments include:
Angle-Right Paul Canham, in charge of grounds and maintenance. Paul plans to bring smoother operations, processes, and improved standards of work to the whole park, with concentration on owner’s needs
Angle-Right New grounds team members to help to continue to improve the upkeep our beautiful park grounds
Angle-Right Richard Broster, who heads up our new-look sales department and James Knight who will be in charge of all owners after sales. Both come with many years of experience.
YOUR EXPERIENCE I�v�s� ��g �n...
We’re very proud of our newly refurbished facilities, all completed to provide you with the best experience for you and your family.
THE PIER HOUSE
We’re delighted that so many of you have been choosing to spend time here and enjoying the new facilities. We’re loving the new look, especially the LED backdrop – which is a Hoburne first! We’re working hard to ensure the levels of service and standards that we all expect are reached and exceeded.
LEISURE IMPROVEMENTS
We have a new poolside flooring and LED underwater lighting, have refurbished our outdoor Tiki Bar and added extra owners’ swims and fun swims. We have also created new leisure activities for 2024.
ADDITIONAL CHANGES
Angle-Right More planned owners’ events following your feedback
Angle-Right We have extended our partnership with the hop bus offering transportation around the local area at competitive prices.
OWNER BENEFITS
We’ve improved the benefits you receive when on park by increasing your owner reward accrual from 10% to 15% and introducing friends and family reward cards.
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OF DEVON BAY WIFI
WHY DID WE DO IT?
Owner and holidaymaker dissatisfaction with the quality of WiFi provision had been growing at Hoburne Devon Bay for a while. Owners rated the old system very badly. Use of the internet has grown massively over the last few years, the speed we expect has also grown, and our old legacy system just couldn’t keep up with this increased demand. So, we knew we would have to do something significant to meet needs now – let alone in the future as our demand for capacity continues to grow.
WHY HAVE WE GONE FOR FIBRE OPTIC CABLING?
We spent several months looking at alternative solutions, helped by an independent IT consultant. We could have gone for a cheaper upgrade of our current ‘through the window’ system, but it just wasn’t going to keep up. We also looked at a satellite system, but it was very expensive and still to be fully proven. So, we opted for fibre optic cabling – the same approach we have taken on our recent new developments. While cabling requires a lot of work to get it in, it is very future proof in that it can deliver increased capacity without much more additional investment.
WHAT IMPROVEMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE?
It’s been a multi-layered project. First, we had to upgrade the park electrical distribution to cope with the new WiFi and other increasing demands on electricity (e.g. air fryers!) We then had to install and upgrade the core network around the park – the perimeter cabling and the kit at ground level. It is this work that enables us to deliver greater WiFi capacity to all areas of the park, meaning that whether you already had fibre optic broadband or whether it is new to your holiday home, the internet service will be more stable. We have also improved the signal in our central facilities, so you can be confident of using WiFi in The Pier House or in the café, etc.
At a single pitch level, we have either laid new cable to your holiday home and installed a new router, or, if you already had fibre optic we have upgraded the router. On Mallard Rise we haven’t laid cables to pitches, but we are bringing more capacity into the area which will then be distributed by a new mast.
WHAT BENEFITS MIGHT I EXPECT?
All owners will now be receiving higher capacity and speeds than they did before. If you’ve had new cabling laid to your pitch you should now be getting at least 30mbps compared to the 2mbps you might have been getting before. The signal should also be much more stable. If you already had broadband, the increase in speed will be from 16mbps to 30mbps. Mallard Rise is still a work in progress – while the impact won’t be as significant it should be better!
WHAT SERVICE LEVEL MIGHT I EXPECT?
We’ve been installing fibre optic cabling throughout our parks for about 3 years now. We’re proud that we are one of the few park operators to take such a leap to provide modern-day quality WiFi. With each install we’ve been able to improve how the work has been done and the end result achieved. For example, we will be remotely updating your routers having discovered a better way of configuring them in our most recent installation at Hoburne Blue Anchor. We’re delighted with how smoothly the Hoburne Devon Bay installation went and confident that we now have a great set-up for owners and holidaymakers. We hope you agree!
WHAT IF I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MY WIFI?
However good an install we do, the WiFi is a ‘live system’ which will always have a low level of issues occurring – just as most of our WiFi at home does. Usually, our monitoring picks up problems and things can be solved remotely. Sometimes you may never be aware that there was a problem. Occasionally that may not be the case – if so, please contact our service provider Fluid One on 02038 307058. Normally the problem can be identified and solved remotely, but sometimes the ‘first fix’ might not work and a visit and/or a part might be needed.
WILL HOBURNE BE INVESTING IN IT AGAIN ANYTIME SOON?
Our intention in using fibre optic cabling was to create a set-up that might last 10 or even 20 years. What this means is that we don’t expect to again be doing the expensive work of trenching and laying cable for a very long time. What is likely to happen is that every few years, technology will have taken a leap forward, and usage will have increased, so we may need to upgrade the ‘kit on the end of the cable’…but that will be a relatively small cost now the major infrastructure is in place.
So, we hope that you can just lie back and enjoy the new and improved WiFi – whether that be the latest Netflix addiction, WhatsApp calls to loved ones, your kids playing their games, or that shiny new Sky Glass set-up!
