Outdoor accommodation specialist Pitchup.com sees growth explosion for fifth anniversary.
Outdoor accommodation specialist Pitchup.com marked its fifth anniversary on 29 July with sales of £100,000 per day and over half a million customers to date, confirming its place as a sector leader. The site saw a 117% increase in total bookings for the first half of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, and confirmed that 58% of traffic now comes via a mobile phone or tablet device subsequent to the launch of its mobile site and apps in October 2013.
Founder Dan Yates said: “We now offer over 5,000 sites across the UK, Ireland and nine other European countries, with over 20,000 individual accommodation units bookable on Pitchup.com. The addition of new destinations such as Poland and Switzerland, the launch of our mobile platforms, and the continued expansion of our team mean we’re well placed for continued growth.”
Over the last year the site recorded 7.5 million visits, overtaking established industry players such as Eurocamp, Parkdean, Park Resorts and Park Holidays.
Awards and key milestones achieved by Pitchup.com over the past five year include Best UK Travel Information Website at the Travolution Awards – beating off competition from TripAdvisor within a year of launch; Best PR Strategic Campaign (Domestic) at the 2012 Travel Marketing Awards; and Best Travel/Leisure/Sports Mobile Strategy/Campaign at the 2014 Marketing on Mobile Awards (MOMAs), outdoing Heathrow and Hotels.com.
Yates states: “Some of the proudest moments for the Pitchup.com team have come from our customer satisfaction scores and feedback: we consistently score 97% on Feefo from and have also accumulated more than 65 testimonials from managers.”
Yates’ vision is to offer more European destinations in addition to expanding the UK portfolio. Now the site is scalable internationally, we’re poised to expand rapidly into new destinations and source markets.
He said: “I very much champion small businesses and have aimed to develop Pitchup.com to support individual site owners as much as larger groups.“
Over 464,000 customers have travelled on a holiday booked via Pitchup.com since launch.
In the past year alone Pitchup.com has seen a growth explosion, recording:
- 152% rise in sales
- Over 20,000 pitches, cabins, pods, glamping tents and static caravans now bookable at 1,063 sites: more than double the number a year ago
- 655% increase in mobile sales.
These impressive figures add to the long list of milestones Pitchup.com has reached since founder Dan Yates set it up on July 29 2009, initially as a searchable directory. Within a year of launching, Pitchup.com launched an availability search with online booking (June 2010).
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
