Center Parcs

thumb|200px|The former church at CP Het Vennenbos. Because Derksen was a Catholic, he decided to build small churches at his parks. There was a similar church at Sherwood Forest which has since been converted into a Starbucks.
Center ParcsThe spelling Center Parcs, the official name, is incorrect in every language. In British English it would be Centre Parks, in American English Center Parks (see spelling differences), and in French Centre Parcs. is a European network of holiday villages incorporating a UK-based company, Center Parcs UK, which runs holiday villages in the United Kingdom and a sister enterprise, Center Parcs Europe, that operates in numerous locations in continental Europe. In 2009 Center Parcs Europe divided its Parks into two brands: "Center Parcs", which includes the 5 star parks, and "Sunparks", which includes the 3 or 4 star parks.
==Background==
A Dutch entrepreneur, Piet Derksen started a sporting goods shop in 1953 at the Lijnbaan in Rotterdam. Its name was 'Sporthuis Centrum', 'Sport House Centre'. It succeeded and Derksen expanded into 17 outfits across the Netherlands. He added camping articles to his range.
In 1968, Piet Derksen purchased woodland near Reuver so staff and customers could relax in small tents. The park, De Lommerbergen, was successful, the tents were quickly replaced by bungalows.
There are now 26 resorts in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany and the UK.
Accommodation in Center Parcs is in villas or bungalows. These are clustered in a park and surrounded by trees and bushes. An exception is Park Zandvoort, set among sand dunes. Certain resorts also provide hotel rooms.
The facilities available at Center Parcs vary. All offer a swimming pool which are named Subtropical Swimming Paradise in UK resorts and Aqua Mundo in European resorts. A range of sporting activities is available, with restaurants, spas, saunas, and massage.
==Facilities==
No two villages are identical. All have the basics. The dome arrived in 1980. The first village had features that have stayed popular like the swimming pool and shops and restaurants.Gradually the facilities change as time progresses.
==UK ownership==
In 2001, Scottish and Newcastle sold the UK side of Center Parcs to venture capitalists. It was announced on 4 December 2003 that the owners, Mid Ocean, would sell the UK resorts to Arbor for £285 million. Arbor was set up to purchase Center Parcs and float it on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market.
In May 2006 Center Parcs UK Group PLC was sold to Blackstone Group, an American private investment company. Subsequently Center Parcs was re-registered as a private company, a subsidiary of Blackstone Group. The chief executive, Martin Dalby, said that the company might add a fifth village. Late in 2004 it was announced it would be built near Woburn in Bedfordshire. Planning permission was initially turned down but Center Parcs won on appeal.BBC article from September 2007 detailing the granting of planning permission
Whinfell parc, originally was built and operated by the Rank Organisation, as the sole competition to Center Parcs in the UK, however, after a short period of a few years, Oasis, as Rank had named it, was sold to Center Parcs. Whinfell then is not of the same build type as the traditional CenterParcs actiecode . Whinfell villas are mainly two storey and many are set in clusters, rather than off-set terraces. This means guests in a cluster have direct view of adjacent villas, they have less privacy. Center Parcs have updated many Whinfell villas and continue to add new villas of a identicle style to new villas at their other UK parcs, so now there are also many villas at Whinfell the same style as you can find at Sherwood, Elevden or Longleat.
Many of the UK villas are now showing their age, and while they have all been rebranded as Comfort or Comfort+, these are now many years old, and some still, as at 2011, have not been refitted since built. First time guests would be advised to book New Style villa/Lodge to obtain best first impression.Some injection of cash has been made but as is often the case priorities vary from site to site.some refurbishment has taken place but the juggling act of staying open all year long and refurbishing is not always popular.Also the occupancy rate is high all year long and so there are not the slack period as might be expected.
Location can be important, check for adjacent pathways or dog toilets, avoiding these can mean more privacy. Parc maps on website. Elveden is very flat, Longleat has steep hills. Villas closer to centre buildings are charged at a premium. Villas near water features tend to have more wildlife living on your patio - Sherwood includes large swans, which can while beautiful, be of concern to child safety, as would be the water feature, which are unfenced.
All activities, at all parcs, except swiming and playgrounds, are charged, per use, ranging from £5 to £80+ per person. The opening hours for these activities also vary.
==Corporate Ownership==
CenterParcs Europe is owned by a French company called Pierre et Vacances.Pierre-et-vacances.co.uk Centerparcs EuropeCenterparcs.com and Centerparcs UK share only history, name and logo.
In 2003 Scottish & Newcastle sold the European branch to a joint venture of Pierre et Vacances (P&V) and DBCP, a German investment group. This was given the name CenterParcs Europe (CPE). P&V owned Europe's largest (in terms of bed-count) bungalow-vacation-supplier, Gran Dorado Resorts, a Dutch former joint venture of Vendex,Maxeda.com Algemeen Burgerlijk Pensioenfonds, GAK and Philips Rentefonds. P&V brought Gran Dorado in the joint venture. CPE was based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and the Dutch and European Commercial Competition AuthorityEuropa.eu did not approve of combining Gran Dorado and CenterParcs. The would almost control the European market. The authority demanded fewer beds. This resulted in sale of all but six Gran Dorado Resorts to Dutch Landal GreenParks.Landal.nl The remaining six parks were added to the CenterParcs. These were Loohorst (NL), Port Zelande (NL), Zandvoort (NL), Weerterbergen (NL), Hochsauerland (D) and Heilbachsee (D).
After the sale, the Gran Dorado flag flew at Gran Dorado Resorts until January 1, 2003. By this date, all sold parks were rebranded Landal and five of the six remaining parks were rebranded Sea Spirit from Center Parcs or Free Life from Center Parcs. All original Center Parcs resorts in the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Germany were sub-branded CP Original. The Weerterbergen-Resort was sold to RoompotRoompot.nl in 2002 because of the cost of bringing it to standard be. From 1 January 2003, Gran Dorado Resorts-Brand was no longer used.
In 2003, Deutsche Bank Capital Partners (DBCP) was bought out of the joint venture by Pierre & Vacances. The French are now sole owners of Center Parcs Europe.
The sub-branding ended in 2006 with another rebranding. From 2006 season, all resorts were branded Center Parcs. 
In January 2009, Sunparks launched alongside Center Parcs in Europe.The sites improved and had the Sunparks brand applied. Sunparks is a low-cost version. A number of the former Gran Dorado resorts are now under this umbrella.
==New UK site==
In December 2004, Center Parcs identified a fifth UK site, at Warren Wood near Flitwick, Bedfordshire. It had signed a lease from its owner, the Duke of Bedford. The project was expected to cost £160 million, including construction of accommodation, indoor and outdoor facilities, swimming complex, restaurants and a spa. It is expected to take three to four years to complete. Planning permission was granted on 5 September 2007 although the price has risen to £230 million. Construction was due to start in early 2009 and the village scheduled to open by the end of 2010. Due to objections by protesters, construction will now not start until late 2010/early 2011.It's possible that this will be the last new village in the UK as the process has been far more complicated and taken far longer than the project to build Longleat Forest.Images.google.com
==All resorts==
Center Parcs UK and Center Parcs Europe consist of 26 resorts: 18 Center Parcs Parks, and 8 Sunparks parks. Besides there are four parks in development and one park will be taken over from Landal Greenparks.
Country 	Resort 	City / Village 	Region/County 	Year opened 	Added to portfolio 	Details
 	Het Meerdal 	America 	Limburg 	1971 	- 	
 	De Huttenheugte 	Dalen 	Drenthe 	1972 	- 	
 	De Eemhof 	Zeewolde 	Flevoland 	1980 	- 	The first Center Parcs resort to contain a Subtropical Swimming Paradise. Closed in May 2000 after a fire ravaged the Parc Plaza and swimming pool. Re-opened in March 2002 with a major re-design with the plaza being replaced with an outdoor Market Square.
 	De Kempervennen 	Westerhoven 	North Brabant 	1983 	- 	
 	Het Heijderbos 	Heijen 	Limburg 	1986 	- 	
 	Port Zélande 	Ouddorp 	South Holland 	1990 	2002 	
 	Erperheide 	Peer 	Limburg 	1981 	- 	
 	De Vossemeren 	Lommel 	Limburg 	1987 	- 	
 	Park Hochsauerland 	Medebach 	North Rhine-Westphalia 	1994 	2002 	
 	Bispinger Heide 	Bispingen 	Lower Saxony 	1995 	- 	
 	Les Bois-Francs 	Verneuil-sur-Avre 	Haute-Normandie 	1988 	- 	
 	Les Hauts de Bruyères 	Chaumont-sur-Tharonne 	Centre 	1993 	- 	
 	Le Lac d'Ailette 	Chamouille 	Picardy 	2007 	- 	
 	Le Trois Forêts 	Hattigny 	Lorraine 	2010 	- 	
 	Sherwood Forest 	Rufford 	Nottinghamshire 	1987 	- 	
 	Elveden Forest 	Brandon 	Suffolk 	1989 	- 	Closed in April 2002 after a fire destroyed the plaza area. However the glass dome of the subtropical swimming paradise and the swimming pool itself were relatively unharmed. Re-opened again in July 2003 after a major re-build to the village square which separates the new Piazza and Sports Plaza.
 	Longleat Forest 	Warminster 	Wiltshire 	1994 	- 	
 	Whinfell Forest 	Penrith 	Cumbria 	1997 	2002 	
Parks from the Sunparks Brand	Parks from the Sunparks Brand	Parks from the Sunparks Brand	Parks from the Sunparks Brand	Parks from the Sunparks Brand	Parks from the Sunparks Brand	Parks from the Sunparks Brand
 	Sunparks Limburgse Peel 	America 	Limburg 	1980 	2002 	Formerly Center Parcs Park Loohorst
 	Sunparks Zandvoort aan zee 	Zandvoort 	North Holland 	1989 	2002 	Formerly Center Parcs Park Zandvoort
 	Sunparks Sandur Drenthe 	Emmen 	Drenthe 	1999 	2011 	Taken over from Landal Greenparks
 	Sunparks Oostduinkerke 	Oostduinkerke 	West Flanders 	1981 	2007 	
 	Sunparks De Haan 	De Haan 	West Flanders 	1989 	2007 	
 	Sunparks Ardennen 	Vielsalm 	Luxembourg 	1992 	2007 	Formerly Sunparks Vielsalm
 	Sunparks Kempense Meren 	Mol 	Antwerpen 	1994 	2007 	
 	Sunparks Eifel 	Gunderath 	Rhineland-Palatinate 	1979 	2002 	Formerly Center Parcs Park Heilbachsee
 	Sunparks Nordsee Küste 	Tossens 	Lower Saxony 	1992 	2002 	Formerly Center Parcs Butjadinger Küste
Parks in development 	Parks in development 	Parks in development 	Parks in development 	Parks in development 	Parks in development 	Parks in development
 	Sunparks Bostalsee 	Nohfelden 	Saarland 	2011 	- 	
 	Allgau 	Leutkirch 	Baden Württemberg 	2013 	- 	
 	La Forêt de Chambaran 	Roybon 	Rhône-Alpes 	2013 	- 	
 	Warren Woods Forest 	Millbrook 	Bedfordshire 	2013 	- 	
* In case of the former Gran Dorado Resorts, the 2002 "Added to portfolio"-date refers to the year these resorts were brought into the joint venture, although they were not re-branded as Center Parcs until 2003.
Three former Center Parcs sites were sold because they could not be expanded. They are now part of the Landal greenparks operation,they still continue to be used and have had some refurbishment:
Country	Resort 	City / Village	Region/County	Year opened	Year Sold
 	De Lommerbergen	Reuver 	Limburg 	1968 	1996
 	Het Vennenbos 	Hapert 	North Brabant	1970 	1994
 	De Berkenhorst 	Kootwijk 	Gelderland 	1975 	1990
==Name differences==
UK Resorts 	European Resorts
Subtropical Swimming Paradise 	Aqua Mundo
Jardin Des Sports/Sports Plaza 	Sports Hall
Plaza/Piazza/Village Square 	Market Dome
Villas 	Cottages
Wild Water Rapids 	Wild River
Flumes and Slides 	Tobbogans
Leisure Bowl 	Bowling
Parc Market 	Market
Lakeview Hotel (Elveden Forest)	Hotel du Lac (Les Bois-Francs)
Aqua Sana 	The Spa
The Pancake House 	Pancake Shop
==Notes==
==External links==
*Center Parcs UK official website
*Center Parcs Europe official website
*Aqua Sana, the self-contained spa at Center Parcs
*Timeline of the History of Center Parcs
*History of Center Parcs from 2001 onwards
de:Center Parcs
fr:Center Parcs
nl:Center Parcs
Category:Hotel chains
Category:Private equity portfolio companies