FBM Holidays Press Releases

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Spring 2009. FBM HOLIDAYS are delighted to announce that in their ever-increasing search to make matters easier and more convenient for our customers, Google mapping has been introduced to the FBM Holidays website. Now customers can not only see the area where their holiday accommodation is, but can also find attractions, theme parks, beaches and local sites nearby and also have the facility to map the easiest route from home to the door of their holiday accommodation. This will certainly add to our mutual customers' enjoyment of their holiday. FBM Holidays are always striving to introduce new and innovative ideas to their West Wales web and are constantly upgrading and refining the FBM Holidays website in order to make booking a holiday in Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and The Gower as simple as reading a newspaper.  

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 1st September 2008.              NEW APPPOINTMENT

 

FBM Holidays are very pleased to welcome new  member of staff, Steve Maytum to the department. Steve joined the department on the 1^st September to take up his new position of Property Consultant. Steve will join Hazel Garrod, also a Property Consultant, to assist in further promoting the already very successful FBM Holidays.  Steve is no stranger to FBM having joined the Estates office in 2005 and has worked as a Sales Negotiator in our Pembroke office, many may also remember him from the days when he was running the Castle Inn in Manorbier. We all wish Steve every success in his new job role. Hazel and Steve are currently looking for new holiday letting properties in Pembrokeshire to join our expanding portfolio. Contact Hazel on 01834849278 or Steve on 01834849280.

Pictured are: Tim Brace (Partner), Hazel Garrod  & Steve Maytum.

http://www.tenby-today.co.uk/tn/News.cfm?id=17458

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^{_{From  The Times Online
August 29, 2008}}

Tenby resists the property bust

The Welsh coastal town is riding high and property prices are buoyant

Norman Miller

It's hard to say what makes the biggest impression as you arrive in Tenby: the dazzling sweep of the town's North Beach curving round to a little picture-book harbour by South Beach, the high medieval walls encircling the old town lanes or simply the variety of colour on the buildings.

Tenby's multicoloured façades - yellows, pinks, blues and reds - lend this Pembrokeshire resort a lively air. This is one of the hotspots riding high on Wales's cultural renaissance, epitomised by Duffy's storming of the charts and the TV awards and audiences being hoovered up by Gavin and Stacey, Torchwood and Doctor Who. Here, I spot posters for various festivals: folk last weekend, an arts festival next month (headed this year by Julian Lloyd Webber), and blues in November. A winter carnival livens up December, while the De Valence Pavilion will shortly offer work by Ibsen, Shakespeare and Dylan Thomas, who lived near by in Laugharne.

Style-conscious buyers are flocking to Wales's seaside resorts, and the influx of money is helping to restrict falls in property values - prices are down just 6 per cent across the Principality, compared with 10 per cent for the rest of the UK, according to the agent Knight Frank. Already, signs abound that there is plenty of money as well as culture in these parts - if the number of £20 dishes on local menus are anything to go by.

I get a deeper insight into Tenby's heritage at the museum perched among ruined fortifications overlooking Castle Beach, which chronicles strong links forged with the West Country ports just across the Bristol Channel - reason perhaps why Pembrokeshire remains arguably the most “English” of Welsh counties.

Background
A Regency Gothic pile in Wales for £3.25m
The house where Dylan Thomas stayed
Cardiff gets some city living
Focus on property in Wrexham
Related Links
Property market report: Wales
The parallels I'm drawing, though, are to the West Country - only with fewer Home Counties types and lower prices for equally desirable houses. Pastel-hued Georgian townhouses perch around the harbour, including one whose view inspired the young George Eliot. Colourful cottages line the lanes around Tudor Square, while Edwardian semis sit behind the Esplanade, five minutes' walk from the golf course, the breathtaking South Beach and a railway station that links the town to Swansea and Cardiff.

FBM on the high street is both Tenby's leading holiday rentals agency and one of its principal estate agents. Its head, Tim Brace, says that buyers often fall for the place on holiday then move there. Tenby remains relatively affordable: the average selling price rose from £215,000 to £237,000 in the year to June, a rise of 10 per cent, Land Registry figures show, although the number of sales has levelled out. Brace says that prices are holding steady: “Houses tend to be immaculate - a lot of money has been spent on property in Tenby.” Prices start as low as £75,000 for a one-bedroom flat, although £120,000 is typical for larger one-bedroom flats in the old town. Two-bedroom flats on the edge of town start at £130,000, although more central ones range from £150,000 to £230,000.

At the top end, FBM has a sixbedroom period house overlooking South Beach on the market for £895,000. Brace says: “But a lot of people come with a budget of £250,000 and find what they want.”

As well as people taking early retirement, there is a growing number of younger buyers who are attracted by good schools, such as Greenhill (junior and primary), decent facilities (leisure centre with pool, health centre) and the town's relaxed atmosphere. Brace says: “Fifteen years ago Tenby hotels shut in winter. Now they're busy year-round with weekenders and walkers. And it's not just tourism: conferences are also providing continuity of employment.” Large oil/gas engineering projects at nearby Milford Haven have also brought workers and wealth pouring in.

There's also a pleasing compactness to Tenby, with almost everything concentrated within or just beyond the medieval walls. Tenby's rise as a resort as well as working port came in Victorian times, when the town's waters and beautiful natural setting became a watchword as balms for both body and soul.

You can seek deeper spiritual solace at the Cistercian monastery on Caldey Island, just offshore. Most, however, come to see the building, buy some of the monastery-made chocolate and perfume, then explore the island from its wood-backed beach by the landing quay to the sea cliff paths along the southern side.

Walkers are frequent sights in Tenby too, pausing on sojourns through the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. One of the best places to relax is Caffe Vista at the top of Crackwell Street. Opened last year, this conversion of a rundown Georgian house exemplifies Tenby's appeal: stylish modern updating of a generous 19th-century space, fine Greek dishes alongside fabulous cakes, plus the friendly cosmopolitan young owners,Yanni and Claudia, and a view from the balcony that perks you up as much as the top-notch coffee.

There's a poem in the Tenby Museum, dating to the 9th century, that sings the praises of the town, from its fine fortifications to the way “hoarse seabirds haunt the crest of the crag”. The fortifications are still fine, as are Tenby's prospects.

FBM: 01834 842207, frankmason.co.uk

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1st August 2008.

FBM Holidays are pleased to announce that following the retirement of David Sangster, David Harris, (pictured right) has been appointed Customer Services Manager. David has over 4 years experience with the company and FBM Holidays are delighted that the same enthusiastic commitment to both owners and customers will continue unabated.

 

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FBM Holidays were short-listed as 1 of 3 finalists for the Western Mail Business Awards for Wales 2008, in the category, 'Excellence in e-commerce' Reproduced below is the Western Mail Interview

 Company: FBM Holidays.

May 7 2008 by Sion Barry, Western Mail

  Company: FBM Holidays.

Location: Tenby, Pembrokeshire.

Turnover/profits: £3m turnover. £651k gross profit.

What does your company do? Self-catering holidays letting agent.

Percentage of business conducted online? 50% of holiday bookings.

Percentage of staff with access to the Internet and e-mail? 100%

Do you have broadband? Yes

Do you have a website? Yes – www.fbmholidays.co.uk

Percentage of turnover invested in IT: 1.33%, or £40,000.

What investment will you be making in technology over the next year? £60,000.

Do you believe businesses in Wales are generally below, on par, or ahead of competitors in other western countries in embracing IT? In general the quality of IT and in particular website design and marketing in Wales compares favourably with that of other European countries on a like-for-like basis.

However 32% of the population of Wales are employed in micro-businesses ranging from sole traders to those employing fewer than 10 staff. These businesses are typically located in rural areas and due to their geographic isolation, mountainous terrain and low population density, suffer from poor Broadband deployment when compared with the rest of the UK.

It has been our experience that to compete with the larger holiday market that exists in the UK and Europe, then a high degree of specialised knowledge is required to achieve a fully integrated website.

Given the capital investment that has been required to integrate our website with our reservation and property management software and the specialised knowledge needed to achieve a high search engine ranking, then it is difficult for the smaller businesses to compete with organisations that are able to employ their own in house IT experts.

Small businesses will continue to struggle in Wales where lack of broadband availability prevents them from competing in the e-commerce world.

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2008 Blues Festival Launch Event

April 4, 2008