Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2015 | Page 143

ISLAND LIFE MAGAZINE

A birthday success story
W
ith some high profile
partnerships confirmed
in recent months, Wight
Locations, the Island’s leading
cottage holiday company, couldn’t
have planned its 10th anniversary
year any better.
Wightlink’s announcement that
the Wight Locations portfolio would
now be advertised, and available
to book, through their own site
cemented the company’s position
as Island market leader. Add to that,
its selection as THE holiday cottage
company of choice for the Isle of
Wight Festival, and Wight Locations
certainly seems to have thrust itself
into the limelight. These combined
Marketing and PR efforts have seen
an increase in bookings of 20% in
2015, to match an ever-expanding
portfolio of 180 properties to date.
For property owners, Wight
Locations offers a fully managed
service, taking care of Visit England

quality grading, appliance testing
and certification, refuse collections
and cleaning services - plus
quarterly newsletters keeping
owners up to date with sales,
marketing and industry news.
Bucking the current trend of
‘internet only’ holiday cottage
portals, Wight Locations operates
a staffed office in Seaview, with a
friendly sales team on hand to chat
to both owners and guests six days a
week, 52 weeks a year.
Mark Curtis, Managing Director,
says “We’re proud to be able to offer
a service to our guests and owners
that places people at the heart of
booking a holiday. Our commitment
to first class service means we can
talk to our guests about those allimportant details such as how many
steps lead up to a property - as well
as competing in the digital world
with our newly optimised and up-todate website”.

Planning to succeed

B

uilding or extending a
property can be an exciting
and challenging process – but
it always helps to have experienced
professionals on side.
One such professional is
independent planning consultant
Andrew White, a former chartered
town planner with over 25 years of
experience in the development sector.
His background is in working for
local authorities - including for the
Isle of Wight Council, where he
spent the last eight years working
as a manager overseeing a team of
planning officers, and dealing with
a range of planning applications
from home extensions to large scale
residential and commercial schemes.
Now operating as an independent
planning consultant, he is enjoying
being able to use his skills in a
different way.

“Planning is a very complex and
rapidly changing subject and the
legal framework is very extensive,”
he says.
“Clients are naturally reluctant
to spend large sums of money
until they have some certainty
that planning permission will be
granted. For this reason, it’s sensible
to appoint a planning consultant to
help navigate the system and reduce
the risk of failing to obtain planning
permission”.
Andrew can offer a range of
services, including site appraisal,
advice on how and when to seek
planning permission, preparing
planning applications and advice on
planning appeals.
For further information,
contact Andrew on 01983
522281, 07527702108 or aw@
andrewwhiteplanning.co.uk.
www.visitilife.com

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