The HistoryDuring the nineteenfifties there was a huge increase in the car industry - not least in Germany, where many families soon became car owners. The increase in the mobility soon gave many German families the opportunity of exploring new horizons, and the short distance to Denmark, as well as the attractive coasts with dunes, beaches and clean water soon became one of the main targets for the self-catering holidays of the Germans. In the mid-fifties the Danish Tourist Board had the first requests for rental of Danish holiday homes.
Denmark's first Rental agency As time went by, the Danish Tourist Board had so many calls that they were unable to manage with the work load on their own. So in 1957 they contacted 3 professionals, active in the travel business, and shortly after they established the company "The Danish Central Agency for Holiday Home Rental". Denmark's first rental agency was born.
The development speeds upDuring the first couple of years, this office was in charge of the rental of Danish holiday homes for a number of tourist agencies, but as the number of holiday homes for rent increased, the need for creating a more professional organisation increased as well, and in consequence of this, in 1971 Kurt Holmsted, 26 years old, was appointed managing director. 15 years later, in 1986, Kurt Holmsted bought his own workplace entirely, and at the same time the company changed its name to DanCenter A/S.
More agencies appear After about 10 years from the opening of "The Danish Central Agency for Holiday Home Rental" another rental agency was born. After another ten years two more agencies appeared, and since then a long series of small, local agencies has appeared in rapid succession.
Increasing demands on the holiday homes. Throughout the eighties the tourists' wishes for a more active holiday were constantly increasing, also more than the always changing Danish weather was able to satisfy, and so new high quality houses with better possibilities for indoor activities were developed. The first big ?jump? was made in 1985 when constructing four luxury holiday homes with indoor swimming pools at the west coast of Jutland.
It became an enormous success, and soon you could find a lot of houses with pools all over the holiday home areas. In consequence the total holiday home rental business today offers about 2,000 luxury holiday homes with swimming pool. Soon a big number of whirlpool houses followed - in other words, the business was making "product development" all the time, and you can only try to guess where the development will take us. However, one thing is sure: the German families and their dreams about going by car to the beach, dune and sea have developed throughout the years turning into a big and important item on the Danish balance of payments.
Continuous expansion The German families are not going on holiday in Denmark each summer, so the next natural step was to go northwards where also many Scandinavians chose to spend their holiday each year, and during the nineties also Norwegian and Swedish holiday homes were placed at the disposal of the people going on holiday in their own car. During the last years the rental business has consolidated its importance making numerous purchases and mergers. That is why the companies within the holiday home business have grown bigger and more international.
As to DanCenter this development means that we are not only establishing contact between owner and customer as to Danish holiday homes, but we can also offer the rental of castles and holiday centre apartments. In fact DanCenter with its 21 centres - spread all over Denmark - is the biggest Danish intermediary of holiday centre apartments - many of them with aqualand. In 2002 DanCenter expanded again, this time towards the south, offering rental of holiday homes in Germany, France, Italy and Spain. In other words: the whole business and DanCenter as well have developed from local rental agencies into geographically wide-ranging companies offering a lot a different types of overnight accommodations - from the traditional holiday home/holiday cottage, which was the start of it all, to castles like the ones in the fairy-tales.
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