Business & Work

In 2001 the foot and mouth outbreak devastated the Brecon Beacon area with travel being curtailed and the whole region locked down. Animals could not be moved and visitor numbers declined which meant that local businesses were badly hit.

Suddenly Faced with a Deluge of Cancellations

Brecon Beacon Holiday Cottages, with about two hundred properties on the books, was no exception as bookings were cancelled and the tourist market dried up. Sadly tough financial decisions had to be made and experienced and trained members of staff needed to be laid off.

Half the properties were on farms and had to be closed down immediately - the other half, unless they were in fairly urban environments, were very reticent about accepting bookings as the government was telling people not to go to the country. This really was a truly dreadful period as the company has always worked so closely with the farming community and knew the difficulties that were being faced.

Financially it was devastating and Elizabeth was strongly advised to become a limited company as the possibility of losing her own property became all too close. Over a period of three weeks it was estimated that Brecon Beacons Holiday Cottages lost at least 1000 visitors to the area. The local economy was near to collapse as the visitors, who spent money in pubs, shops, tourist attractions went elsewhere for their holidays.

Facing the Worst

The farmers’ wives, many of whom were dependent on that income for the school trips, cinema, holidays, activities etc. were really suffering. Farms may be land rich but they are always cash poor and need to diversify to survive in a tough economic climate. The farms had to destroy animals on an unparalleled scale and the emotional hardship was telling. Stress levels rose and some farms knew they would never recover.

Brecon Beacon Holiday Cottages managed to survive through small grants from Welsh Tourist Board for more advertising, a small grant from Powys County Council but mostly just by the fact that the owner’s family home had just been sold and they were able to shore up the business for the next few years. The other option was to go bankrupt and after twenty years of very hard work and they had no intention of letting that happen.

Achieving the Best

But Elizabeth Daniel was not ready to give up. Over the next few years she applied all her business experience to bring her company from the brink and turn it into a thriving healthy company giving customers an exceptional service.

In fact, in 2010 Elizabeth Daniel is rightly proud of the business and her achievements. She has 325 properties in her portfolio with an excellent and very professional award winning brochure specialising in aerial photography; an award winning website and a new booking system. Her company now employs eight full/part-time members of staff all of whom live locally and has an intimate knowledge of the area and the properties. They all have a speciality bringing expertise to the business whether it is languages, accountancy, IT skills, people skills or design.

But this is a lesson learned. Even though the business and the area have recovered Elizabeth is always mindful of the risks that are completely out of your control.

Brecon Beacons Holiday Cottages

Brynoyre, Brecon, Powys LD3 7YS
Tel: 01874 676446
www.breconcottages.com