The increase in VAT on accommodation from 9 to 21 percent puts further pressure on margins in the leisure sector. At the same time, the world of online distribution, dynamic pricing, and tour operators is becoming increasingly complex. For holiday parks, this means that professional rental management is becoming more important. Meer Leisure supports leisure companies in this regard and explicitly positions itself alongside the entrepreneur.
Since January 1, 2026, a VAT rate of 21 percent applies to accommodation in the Netherlands. This has made the discussion regarding price, margin, and return even more relevant for many recreation entrepreneurs. Initial signals from the market indicate that prices have risen. This creates a complex balancing act for holiday parks. How much of the higher tax can be passed on to the consumer price? When does an accommodation become too expensive compared to competing parks or a holiday abroad? And how do you ensure that attractive occupancy ultimately yields a sufficient return for both the investor and the park owner?
According to Wouter van der Meer, founder and co-owner of Meer Leisure, that development primarily calls for more insight.
A fully booked property is not automatically a well-rented property. Ultimately, it is about the combination of occupancy, price, and costs. Especially now that margins are under pressure, it becomes more important to know why you are charging a certain price at a particular time.
Wouter van der Meer, founder and co-owner of Meer Leisure
From price list to continuous adjustment
Meer Leisure supports holiday parks, campsites, and other rental organizations with the commercial and operational aspects of rentals. Revenue management forms an important part of this. In addition, the company focuses on tour operator management, automation, guest communication, and strategic issues related to rentals. The company is based in Ermelo and is led by owners Wouter van der Meer, Nick Hallink, and Jochem van de Weg. The team consists of specialists who have gained their experience within various parts of the recreation sector. This practical experience plays an important role in the way rentals are viewed: not only from the perspective of data and systems, but also from the daily practice at a holiday park.
Revenue management within the leisure sector has become much more than simply raising prices during the summer holidays. The time of booking, current occupancy, length of stay, and the difference between a weekend, midweek, and full-week stay all play a role. To address this, Meer Leisure has developed its own Revenue Management System (RMS) that can adjust rates in real-time based on occupancy and work up to 730 days in advance. This explicitly takes into account the typical booking patterns of holiday parks, where a weekend or midweek stay performs differently commercially than a collection of individual nights.
Technology can take over a tremendous amount, but you must first determine what you want to achieve with it. If the foundation of your pricing strategy is incorrect, automation will not solve that problem for you. That is why we prefer to start with questions: who is your guest, when do they book, which periods are lagging behind, and where are you actually making your money?
Nick Hallink, co-owner Meer Leisure
Not every booking is equally valuable.
The growth of online distribution also makes that analysis more relevant. Tour operators, often referred to in practice as OTAs, can give holiday parks access to target groups they struggle to reach independently. This comes with commissions and other conditions. Consequently, the question is not simply through how many channels a park needs to be visible. More important is which channels suit the product and what a booking yields on the bottom line.
A tour operator is neither good nor bad. What matters is the function such a channel serves for your park. Perhaps it helps you reach a new foreign market or fill a difficult period more effectively. In that case, commission can be perfectly justifiable. However, you do need to know what the channel brings you.
Tim Nijman, OTA Performance Manager Meer Leisure
Meer Leisure therefore helps parks not only with the technical connection of distribution channels, but also with their selection and configuration. The goal is to create a mix of direct bookings and external sales channels that aligns with the park's positioning and target groups. To achieve this, Meer Leisure uses Booking Experts as the reservation system. From this central system, availability, pricing, reservations, and various sales channels, among other things, can be managed. This makes it possible to bring revenue management and tour operator management closer to daily rental operations.
Being part of a chain is no longer necessary to rent out professionally.
Meanwhile, another issue arises for independent holiday parks. Rentals are becoming more professional and specialized, whereas larger leisure chains can organize much of that knowledge internally. For an individual park, it is not always feasible to employ revenue managers, distribution specialists, and other commercial experts in-house. Meer Leisure attempts to offer an alternative for this group: utilizing specialized knowledge and economies of scale without having to become part of a chain.
For many recreation entrepreneurs, independence is precisely a key part of their strength. They have their own identity, know their guests, and can make decisions quickly. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to organize all rental-related specialties in-house. In such cases, external expertise can be a more attractive and often more cost-effective alternative than joining a chain. We work closely with the entrepreneur and do not view all parks from the perspective of a single overarching formula. Every park has its own guests, positioning, and challenges. By working on a park-specific basis, we can steer much more specifically towards what works for that entrepreneur, while control and identity remain with the park.
Wouter van der Meer, founder and co-owner of Meer Leisure
In doing so, the company opts for the position of an external rental department and sparring partner rather than that of a party that determines the entire commercial course.
Ultimately, the entrepreneur knows their park, guests, and surroundings better than we do. We bring specialized knowledge and data and monitor rental developments daily. However, in our view, the actual management and guest experience should remain as close to the park as possible. Hospitality cannot be centralized. It is precisely the people on location who know the guest, see what is going on, and make the difference with personal attention. We want to empower those people from the commercial side, not take over their role. In our opinion, that combination—specialized knowledge behind the scenes and genuine hospitality at the park—is much more powerful than trying to manage everything from a single central organization.
Wouter van der Meer, founder and co-owner of Meer Leisure
From tour operator to returning guest
That balance between external sales and direct bookings also becomes more important as acquisition costs rise. A tour operator can be a valuable channel for bringing in a new guest, but the question then arises as to how a park further builds the relationship with that guest.
Therefore, Meer Leisure has developed its own loyalty program connected to Booking Experts. The system monitors the number of stays a guest has made and can automatically send unique discount codes based on this. This way, a guest who has previously booked via an external channel or directly can be encouraged to stay at the park again.
According to Hallink, this is not simply about giving as much discount as possible.
You want to identify who your returning guests are and leverage that in a smart way. A guest who has chosen your park multiple times has a different relationship with your business than someone booking for the first time. By automating this process, you can reward loyalty without employees having to constantly maintain manual lists.
Nick Hallink, co-owner Meer Leisure
It also fits into a broader shift within distribution: not only looking at where a booking comes from, but at the total value of a guest across multiple stays.
VAT increase makes choices clearer
The VAT increase on accommodation makes this issue concrete. Since 2026, accommodation has been subject to 21 percent VAT, while certain separately offered recreational facilities may still qualify for the reduced rate. Moreover, in the case of bundled offers, a proper splitting of different services may be required.
For the commercial strategy, the tax increase primarily means that simply passing on the same net revenue to the guest is not a given in every period.
You cannot automatically say: costs are rising by this percentage, so the selling price goes up by the same amount. During a popular holiday week, the market might allow for that. In a quiet weekend in November, the situation is different. You have to look at what the market accepts for each period and what that means for your margin.
Wouter van der Meer, founder and co-owner of Meer Leisure
That requires data, but just as much knowledge of the park itself. An algorithm can react to changes in occupancy, but does not determine what position a holiday park wants to take in the market or which guest fits that position.
Revenue management should not become a competition to find the absolute highest price for every night. It is about a healthy rental organization in the long term. Sometimes a slightly lower price with the right guest and a good length of stay is commercially more attractive.
Nick Hallink, co-owner Meer Leisure
More specialization, without losing control
Developments regarding VAT, tour operators, dynamic pricing, and guest data are making rentals increasingly specialized. At the same time, the distinguishing strength of many independent holiday parks lies precisely in their unique character and entrepreneurship. According to Meer Leisure, this is where the main challenge for the coming years lies: professionalizing without losing independence.
According to the company, this also means that not every park needs to follow the same commercial approach.
An entrepreneur does not need to manage every system themselves or become a specialist in every field. However, they must be able to understand what is happening and why certain choices are made. In doing so, we look specifically at a park's distinctive capabilities. What are you truly good at, for which guest do you want to be there, and why would that guest choose you specifically? Once you have a clear understanding of this, you can build a strong, unique brand much more effectively. Our role is to empower a park in this regard, not to impose a standard formula on it.
Jochem van de Weg, co-owner Meer Leisure
According to Van de Weg, precisely that distinct profile is becoming more important in a market where consumers can compare a wide range of offerings through an increasing number of channels. Revenue management, distribution, and loyalty should therefore not be separate from the park's positioning, but rather support it. Van der Meer concurs:
We can calculate, analyze, and advise, but it remains the entrepreneur's holiday park. If we do our job well, he will have more control over his rentals, rather than less.
Wouter van der Meer, founder and co-owner of Meer Leisure
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More information
More information via Meer Leisure . Image: Hof van Nassau.