Travelling Solo with the Holiday Property Bond
120 people found this feature helpful
The Holiday Property Bond offers exclusive access to over 1,400 properties to its 42,000 investors across more than 30 locations.
You can read about the Bond Companions Club, but first a brief explanation about the Holiday Property Bond.
A. How can I holiday better?
Invest from £5,000 in the Holiday Property
Bond for exclusive access to a portfolio of over 1,400 top quality villas,
cottages and apartments in over 30 locations across the UK and Europe. For each
£1 invested you will receive one Holiday Point each year which you can use to
book the properties. And when staying in them you do not pay a commercial rent,
just a no-profit user charge covering actual running, maintenance and
refurbishment costs. This charge is level throughout the year so there are no
high season premiums. For a studio for two the charge averages about £300 a
week, for a two bedroom property sleeping up to six around £460 a week. And
there are larger properties available. This no-profit user charge is only
payable when you want to go on holiday. Your only ongoing commitment is a
quarterly fee of just over £30 – that is around £125 a year.
B. Will there be more properties in the future?
As we attract more investors the more
properties we will add to the portfolio – increasing your holiday choice still
further.
C. How long can I holiday with HPB?
For life if you wish – the holiday benefits
last as long as you hold the Bond. In due course you can pass it and the
holiday benefits to your children and grandchildren, as many of our earlier
investors have already done. If, however, at some point you and your family no
longer wish to holiday with us you can surrender your Bond back to the company
after two years or more (subject to deferral in exceptional circumstances). You
will not get back the full amount you invested, although we would hope that you
will have had some wonderful holidays. What you do get back will reflect
initial charges (25%) taken before your money is invested in the HPB fund of
holiday properties and securities. The fund itself also pays annual charges of
around 2.5% and other overheads. The value of
the fund’s properties and securities can also go up or down and so, like most
investments, your capital is at risk.
Travelling Solo with the Holiday Property Bond
The
BCC is designed for those Bondholders who, for whatever reason, may be wishing
to holiday with HPB by themselves, but would prefer not to go it alone. It is a
way for like-minded Bondholders to enjoy the wonders of the Bond and all its
incredible locations together, and so far over 1,200 members are enjoying the
benefits!
However,
over the years separate ‘mini-BCCs’ have sprung up here and there; members meet other
members on a BCC Weekend away, discover they live near one another, and arrange
to meet on a regular basis – for lunch, outings, or whatever. There are now more than
30 local groups of BCC members who get together across the UK on a regular
basis, meeting up, going for lunches and attending other social events.
East of England
“The East of England Group was formed by myself, Linda
Chapman, and co-organiser Alan Rogers following a meeting at the Arundel Hotel
in Cambridge in 2007.
BCC
Co-ordinator Liza Moore asked for volunteers to get a local group going in the
eastern region. Alan and I hadn’t met before but we were both keen to get involved! We
now have approximately 120 members on our mailing list for lunches and they
come from all over East Anglia.
With
such a large geographical area it isn’t always possible for members to attend all the
lunches. But we try to be as inclusive as possible, varying the days we hold
meetings and rotating the venue around the region, providing as much
opportunity as we can.
The
venues are usually places recommended by members, and we have certainly visited
some lovely pubs over the years! Our lunches are approximately every six weeks.
Alan sends a mailing out well in advance and I add the notification to the HPB
website, so all members can see it. We mostly get a good mix of ‘regulars’ and new faces with, on occasion, BCC members from
other clubs too if they happen to be in the area. It’s all very welcoming and friendly and there can be
anywhere between 15 and 25 people at any lunch.
It’s lovely to see the members in our region form such
close friendships, socialising regularly and arranging holidays together. We
like to think that a regional lunch, especially one as welcoming as the East of
England’s, is
a great starting place to forge those friendships.”
In
one or two cases it would be no exaggeration to say that these sub-BCCs are
little short of a lifeline. Of course, BCC Members who don’t live on the UK mainland have access to the same
range of events as those who do; but cost and logistical implications sometimes
mean that they can’t
take advantage of the opportunities quite so easily.
Northern Ireland
Hugo
Ritchie, from the small town of Donaghadee in Northern Ireland, faced just such
an impasse. Hugo, in his mid-60s, invested in HPB two or three years ago –
and joined the BCC at the same
time. “My
wife had passed away,” he says. “I’d been aware of the Bond for a while, and went along
to a local open event, where I discovered the BCC, what it was and what it did.
Being on your own is not much fun – as anyone who’s in a similar situation will tell you. Here was a
solution.”
Hugo
decided to set up a local group while on his first BCC Holiday, at Tigh Mor
Trossachs, last year. “I
was struck by how my fellow Companions knew each other so well –
it couldn’t just be down to meeting up on Holidays and Weekends,
surely? And it turned out it wasn’t – many Members were getting together on a regular basis,
having set something up for themselves. I decided to do the same in Northern
Ireland.”
There
are 10 BCC-ers in Northern Ireland. “So far, we’ve met up for lunch a couple of times,”
says Hugo. “Enjoyable occasions, both – we have yet to explore whether or not we would like to
do more; organising our own holidays, maybe, or excursions. If the will is
there – and I’m sure it is – we can forge friendships, and have fun, on a local
level.”
Hugo is keen to stress, however, that he is in no way in competition with the BCC. “Good grief, no! Margaret and Liza are brilliant organisers, backed by the well-oiled machine that is HPB. We couldn’t compete, even if we wanted to. Which we don’t. All we’re trying to do is to complement the fantastic opportunities we already enjoy, with a few more, closer to home.”
You can enjoy holidays like this too
Find out more about how you can take your pick from over 1,400 holiday properties at more than 30 stunning locations in the UK and throughout Europe. Click here for your free HPB information pack, with full colour brochure and introductory DVD.
Important Information
This advertisement is issued by HPB Management Limited (HPBM) registered at HPB House, Newmarket,
Suffolk, CB8 8EH. HPBM is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct
Authority and is the main UK agent and the property manager for HPB, issued by
HPB Assurance Limited (HPBA) registered in the Isle of Man and authorised by
the Financial Services Authority there. The Trustee of HPB is HSBC Trustee
(C.I.) Limited registered at HSBC House, Esplanade, St Helier, Jersey, JE1 1GT.
The Securities Manager is Stanhope Capital LLP of 35 Portman Square, London,
W1H 6LR.
HPBM promotes only
HPB and is not independent of HPBA. Holders of policies issued by HPBA will not
be protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if the company
becomes unable to meet its liabilities to them but Isle of Man compensation
arrangements apply to new policies.
Silver Travel Advisor recommends Holiday Property Bond.
You may also find interesting:
- Celebrating Holiday Property Bond's Differences
- Confidence in the Holiday Property Bond is greater than ever
- Discovering more about HPB is easier than you think
- Holiday Property Bond Winter Sunshine Breaks
- Holidays with a difference
- Holidays with Holiday Property Bond: headache-free!
- One Bond, two weddings and a lifetime of family holidays
- Over 100 glorious holidays with Holiday Property Bond
- Spreading the word about HPB
- Bringing families together
- How a single holiday home became countless holidays
- How far can your Holiday Points go?
- It’s a Dog’s Life
120 people found this feature helpful
Read more
What are your thoughts?
To leave a comment, please Sign in