Hear how a family-run group balances data and instinct. Thomas Scarrott of Vale Holiday Parks on where AI already helps, why real paying guests beat influencer content, and grounded decisions.
Thomas Scarrott is a director of Vale Holiday Parks, a family business that started in 1999 when his family acquired Woodland Vale in Mid Wales. The group has grown to 12 parks, from North Wales down to Cornwall, and is still entirely family-run. His dad is managing director. His brothers, their wives, and the next generation are all involved in the day-to-day.
In this episode Dave and Thomas cover what that structure actually looks like in practice, how Vale has adopted technology over nearly three decades, and where Thomas sees the business needing to go over the next 12 to 18 months.
They talk about the tension between data and instinct, why a Power BI dashboard does not always tell you what a walk around the park does, and how guest behaviour has shifted from 300 people watching a comedian on stage to everyone looking at a phone. There is a good conversation about AI in the real sense, not as something to be excited about but as something that is already part of the working day, whether that is responding to guest enquiries, managing energy costs, or rethinking what visibility even means now that search behaviour is changing.
Thomas is also honest about influencers. He would rather a real guest paid, stayed, and gave an honest review than offer a free stay for curated content. There is a story about his children, a family holiday to Florida, and several trips to Target stores in pursuit of a water bottle they had seen on TikTok that is worth the listen on its own.
A huge thank you to Thomas and Vale Holiday Parks!
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Vale Holiday Parks overview
01:25 What it means to be a fully family-run business
03:50 Data versus instinct: how decisions actually get made
06:43 Technology adoption from 1999 to now
09:38 Digital maturity across the sector
12:00 How guests use technology differently across the parks
18:30 AI in day-to-day operations
20:48 AI, search and the future of direct bookings
23:36 On-device search and the OTA question
25:00 Influencers, social selling and a trip to Target
27:25 Trust and AI-generated content
31:00 Looking ahead: efficiency, sustainability, connectivity
35:00 Energy management and the real cost of running parks
37:00 COVID, technology adoption, and a 102-year-old grandmother
39:45 Closing thoughts
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Related reading: Extreme weather, AI and the loyalty gap, The eXPerience Podcast E07 and our partners and suppliers directory. More episodes are on the Holidaymaker YouTube channel.
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