2015-current
In 2015, Parkdean Holidays merged with Park Resorts to create Parkdean Resorts. [16] [17] The new company continued to operate under its two brands, "Parkdean Holidays" and "Park Resorts", with dual head offices in Newcastle and Hemel Hempstead, throughout 2016 before launching a new website and rebranding all the parks as Parkdean Resorts. [18] [19] [16]
In December 2016, Canadian private equity company Onex Corporation purchased Parkdean Resorts from Epiris (formerly Electra Partners) [20] and Alchemy Partners for £1.35 billion. [21] The sale was completed in March 2017, and Onex Partners and certain co-investors made an equity investment of $627 million in the newly acquired company. [22]
In early 2017, Parkdean introduced the result of the merger's new mascots, known as The Starland Krew. The lineup consists of Sparky the rabbit, Sid the seagull, Lizzie the lizard, Sparkle the rabbit, Naarky the aardvark and Pipsqueak the mouse. Sparky, Sparkle, Naarky and Pipsqueak weren't redesigned as they were already redesigned in 2014, however Sid and Lizzie were redesigned for the new group formation.
In June 2019, John Waterworth, who had been the CEO of Parkdean Holidays and then Parkdean Resorts for nearly 20 years, retired. Steve Richards, then CEO of Casual Dining Group, became CEO of Parkdean Resorts. [23]
As of early 2020, Parkdean Resorts had 20,000 owners of on-site private caravans and lodges, and in its previous peak season of August 2019 had 120,000 people staying at its parks attended by 8,000 employees. [24]
During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Parkdean was criticized for not shutting down its travel parks during a time when the government was advising citizens to avoid non-essential travel. On 20 March 2020, Parkdean shut down all restaurants, pools, and other facilities in response to a nationwide Government order. [25]
At the time, Parkdean stated to the press that the caravans are standalone and separate from each other with 70% privately owned, saying there is "no instruction or logic to evicting people who are enjoying the fresh air in their own space." [26] People in multiple locations concerned that the parks staying open would place pressure on sparsely populated areas that are already struggling to obtain food supplies [27] and that it would further spread the virus from metropolitan areas to remote rural areas that were poorly equipped to deal with it. [28] [29] On 23 March 2020, when the UK government announced a nationwide lockdown, the company closed its parks to the public, and announced plans to re-open to the public on 6 July. [30]
In 2021 and 2022, Parkdean announced a number of park investments, for a total of £140 million. The investment plan included "850 new caravans and lodges," and developments at 16 parks. At the time, Parkdean said advance bookings were at "record levels" and that it was recruiting over 7,000 seasonal workers. [7]
In the spring of 2021, Parkdean announced it would hire 6,500 seasonal staff for the summer. [31] [32] In early 2022, 13 different parks underwent some form of development, [33] with Parkdean continuing to partner with brands such as Bear Grylls’ Survival Academy, Milkshake! and Nickelodeon. [7] With its head office in Gosforth, Newcastle, [7] Parkdean has 66 parks [1] and a reported 3 million visitors per year. [34] The company's holiday resorts include caravans, lodges, cabins, glamping and camping over 3,500 acres of land [31] and 31,000 camping pitches. [34]
In May 2025, it was announced that the company was seeking to fundraise £250 million to grow its footprint in the UK. [35]
