The bungalow tents taken over from the bankrupt travel organization Vacansoleil in Eindhoven are back in Dutch hands. Last month it was announced that the tents would go to the French Homair together with the mobile homes. That company has now decided to resell the tents to the Dutch travel organization Rent-a-Tent.
Vacansoleil went bankrupt last September because the company had too much debt. There was hope for a complete restart, but that did not happen. Instead, the name and customer base were sold to French online travel agency Maeva. A number of employees also moved along.
A few months later it became clear that Homair, another French company, would take over the thousands of caravans, houses and tents. This seemed to give Vacansoleil’s camping empire a second life in French hands. But the Twente company Rent-A-Tent has persuaded Homair to resell a large part of the tents to them.
“We are also trying to get as many Vacansoleil campsites back on the website as possible.”
The French Homair already had a large fleet of mobile homes and does less with tents. “You always have to set it up and take it down,” says Rent-a-Tent director Marieke de Boer. “We are familiar with that and they were interested in someone who wanted to take it off their hands.”
Dutch holidaymakers who previously booked luxury camping holidays with Vacansoleil can therefore still go to a Dutch company. “We are also trying to get as many campsites from the Vacansoleil range back on the website as possible.”
Rent-a-Tent has been around for about 35 years. The Twente company currently has approximately 1,000 tents at campsites throughout Europe. Director De Boer expects that approximately 750 tents will be added. With the acquisition, the company says it will soon become the largest provider of this type of camping holidays in Europe.
In the near future, Rent-a-Tent will approach all campsites at home and abroad for cooperation. The company is also still in discussions with Homair about taking over some of the luxury safari tents.
THIS HAPPENED AFTER VACASOLEIL’S BANKRUPTCY:
Vacansoleil is bankrupt, curators are looking at a possible restart
New owner takes over the name and website of travel organization Vacansoleil
Carin won 10 years of holiday, but now the end of Vacansoleil is in danger: ‘So bummed’