The EuroParcs family business

Family businesses are the cornerstone of the economy. From parent to child, they demonstrate development from the past. At the same time, as companies of the long haul, they look far ahead. In this series, MASTERS portrays family businesses with a story. This episode focuses on EuroParcs, which over the years has developed from trading in caravans to developing and managing vacation parks. MASTERS visits the fourth generation at its headquarters in Hoenderloo: brothers Wim (1984) and Wouter (1991). "We got in when we were born."

The family business has its origins in the 1960s. Where did it begin?

Wim: "My great-grandfather started selling simple caravans, to be used for vacations on the Veluwe, for example. My grandfather continued the trade and my father was the first to also start building chalets, say luxury mobile homes, for sale. He did that in Otterlo, on the spot where we now have park De Wije Werelt."

Where do your memories of the business begin?

Wim: "As little boys we could always be found at the caravan company in Otterlo during the holidays and vacations, where we played and romped but also helped with answering the phone, mowing the lawn, selling ice cream and showing customers around. That's how we grew into the business from a young age."

Did you never feel pressure from the family to succeed Wim Vos sr.?

Wouter: "No, that went naturally, very smoothly." Wim: "We got in when we were born."

Wouter: "Besides growing up in recreation, we were also raised with horses. Wim and I both had careers in horse jumping and have been Dutch and European champions several times. Jeroen Dubbeldam and Gerco Schröder were our examples. From our youth we were involved with equestrian sports. That gave us a certain discipline: working and training hard to get the maximum out of it, but also dealing with setbacks. We now also benefit from this in the business world. We always go for the medals, we want to win. Also in business: you set a goal and want to achieve it. You can't do it by halves, you have to go for it full force. Our children get it in turn as well: they are now in equestrian sports." Wim: "My youngest of nine has already become Dutch champion twice."
Wouter: "We continued until we were twenty-one. We always knew that we would stop then and take over the baton from our father."
Wim: "That has never been a discussion. I also notice it in my children; they say, 'Dad, I want to work on the campsite later too.' That's already starting now."
Wouter: "The day after my last competition I was sitting with my father at coffee in the morning: 'Dad, it's done.'"

What did we used to talk about at the kitchen table?

Wim: "About horses and making money."
Wouter: "That's no different now, haha."
Wim: "After this interview, I am going with my oldest of twelve to the Dutch Championships to fourteen, in which she is competing. Just like my father used to do with us, I am on the road about two days a week to take the kids to trainings and competitions."

What did you learn from your father?

Wouter: "He always said, 'Problems don't exist, only solutions.' And what he was really king at: he made sure everyone went for him unconditionally. People always wanted to prove themselves to him. He just approached his employees very well. If he called someone on something, he would always first tell them what they did right. He still comes here for coffee regularly, stays involved, but he leaves the business to us."

What do you do differently from your father?

Wim: "Over the years we have left more to the people around us. There was no other way, because the company has grown very fast. When we founded EuroParcs in 2003, we did everything with ten people. In such a small team, you can do a lot yourself. Now we have to let go a lot more and leave it to the specialists in the organization and the people on site."

You have made the move to vacation parks.

Wim: "Since 2000, we already had estate Ruighenrode in Lochem. There you could camp with tents and caravans. My father started building bungalows and Finnish houses around the water there. When I entered the business, we started renting out the first properties there. That was completely new. That required a different organization. We chose the name EuroParcs, because we knew even then that one day we would expand beyond the borders."

How did this growth come about?

Wim: "In Limburg I could buy about thirty or forty mobile homes. I went there. It turned out that the campground there not only had to be emptied, but also came up for sale. I called my father. He thought Limburg was much too far away. 'Don't you know how far that drive is?' he asked. 'Yes I do, because I'm there now. You really have to come here.' The location in question was on Brunssumer Heath. You have never seen such a mess: half burnt down caravans, garbage... The alderman wanted to have a beautiful park there. We won the tender, which resulted in our first expansion park. The next park soon followed in Susteren, also in Limburg. First I drove back and forth every day for a year. Finally, I lived there for five years with my wife, building the park. I did all the work outside, my wife did everything inside: reception, marketing, website..."
Wouter: "Back then we still had the vacation brochure every year that was sent to five to six thousand addresses. We were very commercial and shouty back then: discount offers, popping pictures, kids with ice cream ... While the marketing department already wanted to put more emphasis on nature and experience. They were probably right in hindsight, haha." Wim: "Times have changed, say. Our database is a lot larger now, with about two million addresses. They receive our newsletter twice a week. We went from paper to digital very quickly. We didn't even have laptops back then. Think back to that! My wife had ordered my first laptop. 'What am I going to do with that thing, kid?' was my reaction."

As brothers, how did you divide the work?

Wouter: "We used to simply split up the parks. At the end of the year we looked at who had earned what. The one who 'won' paid the hotel bill at Christmas, haha. We were the ones who thought of everything and then enthused everyone. A good idea was a good idea. Nowadays we have to deal with a management team that questions our ideas. 'Good idea, but ... did you also think about here and here?' For us, that sometimes takes some getting used to, but in the end it makes your company better."
Wim: "Until the takeover of Droomparken in 2020, we did it this way. Then we went from eighteen to thirty parks in one go, and several other acquisitions soon followed."

Wouter: "That was the moment to expand the team. In our management team we only had a financial director; for the rest Wim and I did everything ourselves. We managed the operational managers. Now we have a director for every function. We have invested enormously in this; we have attracted the best people from the market. For example, our rental director came from Corendon. That company has also experienced tremendous growth, somewhat similar culture and dynamics. Within our four-headed group management board, Wim is the point of contact in the field of acquisition, development and sales, the whole front, so to speak, and the directors who deal with the operation on the park, from maintenance to checking in guests, rentals, marketing and all back office matters report to me."

MASTERS MAGAZINE

Want to read more of this interview? In the summer edition of MASTERS, an interview with Sven Kramer, a driving impression of the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport and an examination of Max's Effect. But above all, it features people who bring light into the darkness. Like Henk Jan Beltman, who took over Tony's Chocolonely because with a business you can make the world a more beautiful place. Chef Emile van der Staak, who has the ambition to change our food culture and therefore cooks with plants and vegetables sourced from the food forest. Designer Nienke Hoogvliet, who has introduced natural seaweed paint as an alternative to harmful textile dyes. And Anna Nooshin, who denounces the current social media culture of pretty pictures. In her documentary, she also shares the less beautiful aspects of her life. All of them people who ask questions, present mirrors, make steps. Steps toward a healthier world and more understanding society.

MASTERS #50