Best Practice - Case Study: Sandcastle Waterpark

Case Study: Sandcastle Waterpark A multi-award winning visitor attraction that positions excellence in customer service at the heart of everything it does.

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Sandcastle Waterpark A multi-award winning visitor attraction that positions excellence in customer service at the heart of everything it does.

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Case Study: Sandcastle Waterpark

Setting the scene Sandcastle Waterpark is the UK’s largest indoor waterpark. A multi-award winning visitor attraction, it features over 18 water slides and facilities including fun pools, wave machine, water chutes, burger bars, snack bars, arcades and swim shop. Growing from a simple leisure pool in the 1980’s to a fully-fledged waterpark, the attraction enjoys average dwell times of 4-5 hours, high levels of repeat visitors and is supported by a team of 130 staff during peak season, boasting strong staff retention.

Sandcastle Waterpark’s ethos, to deliver excellent customer service, sees the business place visitor experience at the heart of everything it does. From recruiting and training its staff, welcoming and engaging visitors, monitoring and responding to customer feedback and adapting its offer for disabled guests, to sharing knowledge and best practice with operators around the globe.

The attraction’s long-term commitment to being accessible to all is reinforced by its unwavering support for local

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charities and community groups.

Faced by challenges associated with not having enough physical space to expand a growing attraction, dealing with misconceptions about accessibility and overcoming people’s fears of interacting with disabled guests, Sandcastle Waterpark has worked hard to embed accessibility into its standard business practice and as a result, is highly commended by customers and industry.

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Approach CREATING A WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT FOR ALL From the moment visitors enter Sandcastle Waterpark they are met with a colourful, fun welcome. The tropical theme is enhanced by murals on the walls and a giant waterfall in reception; there is lots of signage, seating and a café. The attraction makes a conscious effort to open its doors to everyone, regardless of whether they are paying visitors or not, encouraging the use of its café and toilets straight off the promenade. Sandcastle Waterpark is one of very few attractions in the region to have a ‘changing places’ wet room for guests with disabilities and it permits anyone to access this facility, meaning that visitors can extend their day at the waterpark and in Blackpool as a whole.

“We are a lifeline for people with disabilities who can use our facilities instead of cutting their day short.”

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE IN CUSTOMER SERVICE Tourism businesses, like any other must get their product right and alongside this, customer service is critical. Sandcastle Waterpark is heavily committed to guest service, sighting it as being worth a quarter of the business, and its philosophy is simple - never say no. Of course that doesn’t mean that a small child gets to go on the biggest water slide, but rather instead of just saying no, staff explain what they can safely access. The same applies to visitors with disabilities; the team considers individual safety requirements and works to ensure that everyone can enjoy the facilities on offer.

Sandcastle Waterpark encourages its staff to smile and interact with visitors, ensuring that ‘nothing is too much trouble.’ The business understands that a visit is about ‘memory building’ and that’s not just having a good time on the slide, interaction with staff is an important part of this as well. As a result of its strong customer service, the attraction enjoys great feedback, a high level of returning customers and word-of-mouth advertising.

“Guest service for us is worth a quarter of our business.”

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Case Study: Sandcastle Waterpark

MONITORING AND IMPROVING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Sandcastle Waterpark constantly monitors how its team delivers guest service and makes changes accordingly.

Managers regularly hold meetings with staff to assess their customer skills and the Managing Director watches how individuals interact with visitors. Sandcastle Waterpark ensures that whenever there is an opportunity to talk about guest service it does, and shares feedback, good and bad, with its team via a noticeboard in the staff room.

The business has taken the decision not to respond to reviewers comments on TripAdvisor taking the ‘Disney approach’ that it cannot make every reply unique and that sometimes a negative experience is the result of an individual’s perceptions. It does however look at TripAdvisor feedback, guest feedback forms, exit surveys and survey monkey results collected via its online booking system, to listen to its visitors and adapt its offer accordingly. Any letter of complaint is passed to the Managing Director and Sandcastle Waterpark responds, and where appropriate invites the person back to have a more positive.

“Do we get it right 100% of the time, no, but we make sure we learn from it.”

RECRUITING THE RIGHT STAFF Attracting the right people to come and work at Sandcastle Waterpark is essential for delivering and maintaining a high level of guest service. The business ethos is woven into every stage of its recruitment process, from the initial advert and application form, through to the interview. Once employed, individuals take part in induction training, guest service training, training on post and are mentored by a supervisor and monitored by a manager - all focus on providing excellent customer service.

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“We want to work with people that are good with guests; we can teach them the rest.”

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TRAINING AND MENTORING STAFF

ADAPTING FACILITIES FOR DISABLED GUESTS

To achieve its goals of excellent customer service, Sandcastle Waterpark is committed to training and mentoring its staff and has achieved the prestigious Investors in People Gold Award in recognition of its efforts. Sandcastle Waterpark takes pride in moulding its young members of staff, giving them the opportunity to increase their education through for example NVQs, teaching them about customer service and how to treat guests with disabilities. It is hoped that if they do move on in the future, they take with them these transferable skills and a state of mind that is good for Blackpool as a whole.

Sandcastle Waterpark demonstrates its commitment to welcoming all guests by hosting dedicated nights for children with disabilities and their families, allowing them to access the slides with their own life guard. Instead of ‘hiding behind insurance and health and safety’ as the attraction puts it, the team considers ways and means to accommodate visitors and respond to their individual needs. If a member of staff recognises a person with a disability in the queue for example, they take them to another desk so they are comfortable and don’t have to wait.

As a result of its focus on its people and creating an engaging and enjoyable environment to work in, the attraction enjoys high staff retention - it is very rare that a manager or supervisor leaves.

From April 2015 Sandcastle Waterpark became a living wage employer for individuals aged 18 years and over. Not only did this make a big difference to its employees, it boosted the local economy as many live in Blackpool.

“We look at ways and means of not hiding behind insurance and health and safety, to see how we can assist individuals.”

“Sustainability is deeply important to us – we always wanted to have a business that was rooted in the heart of the community.”

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Case Study: Sandcastle Waterpark

SUPPORTING LOCAL CHARITIES Sandcastle Waterpark’s passion for community and charity originates right at the top with its Managing Director John Child who, since the age of 14, has worked with people with disabilities.

Recognising that charities needed help, the business encouraged all its members of staff to donate one week of their wages annually to a local charity and in one year raised £21,000 for Blackpool disabled children’s charity Aiming Higher. The initiative now forms part of the employee contract and is strongly supported by all staff. In the last 14 months Sandcastle Waterpark has raised over £60,000 through wage donations and booking fees from its online booking system which are channelled into its own charity - Sandcastle Waterpark Splash Foundation that in turn supports local charities and community groups.

SHARING KNOWLEDGE AND EDUCATING OTHERS Committed to sharing its ‘accessible to all’ philosophy far and wide, Sandcastle Waterpark works with other likeminded businesses with the aim of introducing change around the UK. It has linked up with Euan’s Guide, a website that features disabled access reviews from disabled people and their friends and families. Managing Director, John Child recently participated in an article for Amusement Business , talking about disability and the importance of embracing it. He sits on the World Waterpark Association board that represents waterparks around the world and is continually pushing for more to be done in terms of accessibility. Sandcastle Waterpark also actively encourages operators from across the globe to come and see its product and understand how it works.

ESTABLISHING CHAMPIONS Although it is crucial that the business ethos originates and radiates from the top, Sandcastle Waterpark recognises the importance of succession planning and promoting champions throughout the organisation to ensure it builds a legacy. As an example,five years ago an existing member of staff was promoted to a new role as Guest Services and Inclusion Manager and part of her job is to welcome guests with disabilities and show them the facilities on offer. In recognition of the importance of this position and the passion employee Sue Copp brought to it, Sandcastle Waterpark nominated her for the VisitEngland Tourism Superstar award in 2015, for which she won third place.

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“Operators from across the global come and see how we do things, looking at the products and the way we operate.”

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Results CONGRATULATIONS!!

Multi-award winning visitor attraction!

Including VisitEngland Access for All Award Silver (2015) and Gold (2014) and Investors in People Gold Award

High staff retention

Over 11,000 Twitter followers

£ £££Raised over££

Over 43,000 likes on Facebook (in excess of 47,000 check ins)

£60,000 for local charities in the last 14 months

25th

%

Best waterpark in the world last year on Tripadvisor No other indoor waterpark acheived higher!

High percentage of repeat visits

130

Members of staff, during peak season

=

60 / 70 full time positions (equivalent)

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Case Study: Sandcastle Waterpark

Challenges and lessons learnt

4-5hrs Average dwell time

(with some visitors staying all day in summer)

900

‘Excellent’ reviews on TripAdvisor

Gold

VisitEngland visitor attraction 9

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SECURING THE SPACE TO GROW Opened in 1986 as a leisure pool with a couple of slides, Sandcastle Waterpark has expanded to become a fullyfledged waterpark and in hindsight wishes it had retained its dry area which was used for shows and conferences, but later rented to a casino. Now, in the ‘golden age of the waterpark,’ Sandcastle Waterpark has grown in stature and in the summer people can queue over 2 hours for entry. To enhance its capacity, the attraction is looking at the feasibility of expansion, but is quite landlocked in its current position.

“It really is the golden age of the waterpark and Sandcastle has grown in stature.”

AN ON-GOING COMMITMENT TO ACCESSIBILITY Sandcastle Waterpark recognises that to become an accessible tourism business it must continue to learn and adapt. It understands that too often there is a common misconception that just installing a ramp or a lift is enough.

Whereas actually for a disabled person, this is more of a given as it is the environment itself - the steps - that have restricted them and caused an issue in the first place.

Sandcastle Waterpark partners with local organisations such as Aiming Higher, inviting them to the attraction and learning what’s needed to make it easier for disabled visitors.

OVERCOMING THE FEAR FACTOR Ignorance towards people with disabilities can often be the result of fear or misunderstanding about what is required.

Sandcastle Waterpark ensures staff members are fully trained and able to interact with all its guests, encouraging them to look beyond the disability and talk to the individual.

The attraction hosts sessions with local charities who explain to staff what it means for disabled people and their families to come and visit and how complex their needs can be at times. Building relationships with Blackpool organisations such as Aiming Higher and local schools develops a mutual benefit as the business learns from these experiences and can in return offer opportunities. At present Sandcastle Waterpark has welcomed a student with severe learning disabilities to take part in work experience, providing the chance for him to see how the attraction runs and interact with team members.

“There is a common misconception that if you put a ramp or a lift in that is it.”

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Case Study: Sandcastle Waterpark

Top tips 1.

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Your people are your most important asset when it comes to running a sustainable business - ensure they understand the ethos and can communicate it to guests and local people.

Engage your local community - regardless of the size of your business, or how long it has been established, community engagement is vital. Not only does it open up new lines of business, such as local functions, it develops pride amongst your staff, making them feel differently about the way they work and it encourages goodwill and positive word-of-mouth, which in the age of social media is vital.

Maintain your integrity throughout - customers see through ‘green wash’ even if they are not particularly interested in sustainable thinking. They will notice if you are trying to cut costs by not washing towels as often under the pretences of being environmentally friendly, but then do not offer recycling facilities or leave heaters on all night. The key at the heart of a truly sustainable business is brand integrity, this is how you develop loyalty and customers that understand your values, they will approach you in a different way as a result.

Buying locally makes you different, stand out amongst the competition and develop a sustainable approach by sourcing your produce from local suppliers.

A sustainable building can help cut energy output - a big outlay for any tourism business. The Scarlet Hotel costs less than half the energy bill of a similar sized non-sustainable hotel - a huge saving.

When considering sustainability, thinking small will make a big difference - don’t get overwhelmed by change, instead focus on one little thing at a time. For example look at your breakfast table, next at the bathroom and then how your staff travel to work. Start with the small things and this is what your guests will notice.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SANDCASTLE WATERPARK Contact: Jane Kelly Marketing and Business Development Manager, Sandcastle Waterpark Email: jkelly@sandcastle-waterpark.co.uk Website: www.sandcastle-waterpark.co.uk

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