Flight, Accommodation, Holiday Nanny

The desire of luxury travel and children's holiday companies to add tailor-made extras on to their holidays has led to a for holiday nannies.

Many holidaymakers view the extra pair of hands as an essential element and one that can help to create a real holiday for parents and prevent it being an extension of the chores of life at home.

Elegant Resorts, Cadogan Holidays and Kuoni World Travel are among a large number of firms that have linked with Holiday Nanny founded last year by former Goldman Sachs investment banker Nicola Grant.

Over the winter and early spring, the company's nannies have travelled with families to the United States, the Caribbean, South America, northern and southern Africa, the Middle East, as well as extensively in the British Isles.

That's led to more than a fourfold increase in business for the Home Counties-based company.  Last summer, it had 20 nannies on its books; now there are 70.

Ray Steward, at Kids in the Med, said: "One of our most popular 'extras' is the Holiday Nanny service.  Many families say the service starts as a luxury but becomes an integral part of the holiday."

Dan Thompson, at Quality Villas, said: "Holiday Nanny affords that ultimate luxury, an opportunity for parents not only to experience the pleasure of travelling with their children, but also to sit back, relax and know that someone else is there, an experienced professional, for them."

Sandra Smith, at Tinytotsaway.com, said: "Holiday Nanny and ourselves compliment each other perfectly."

Mother Caroline Roast, from Maidenhead, said: "We were a little sceptical as to how our 'terrible two year old' would take to a stranger but it wasn't a problem at all.  Our holiday nanny Jess was a pleasure to have about and struck the right balance between giving us a helping hand and stepping back at the right time to allow us space as a family."

Nicola Grant, 39, founded the Holiday Nanny business after she and her husband Edward went through the time-consuming process of finding a nanny independently when they went on holiday following the birth of their second child.

"We finally found a gem of a nanny, and she made our holiday a proper holiday for us," said Nicola.  "Many people asked about her when we were in Spain, how we got her, and was there an agency?  There wasn't; we decided there should be; and so Holiday Nanny was founded."

The company's 70 nannies include a number of primary and nursery school teachers, maternity nurses and fully qualified nannies, some of them with particular talents, so Holiday Nanny can offer 'sporty nanny' or 'artistic nanny'.

The Buckinghamshire agency, which is also booked by families coming to Europe on holiday from the United States and Australia, goes out of its way to find nannies who bring an extra dimension.

Explained Nicola: "When a family contacts us, we find out about them and their holiday plans, exactly the kind of help they want and how they would like the arrangement to work.  We then match them up with the most suitable nanny.  After speaking on the telephone with the prospective nanny, they then have the option to meet to ensure they are happy before anything is confirmed."

All the nannies with Holiday Nanny must live in Britain and speak fluent
English.  They must have childcare qualifications and a minimum of one year's experience, a paediatric first aid certificate, will have been checked through the Criminal Records Bureau, and will sign a confidentiality agreement.

Holiday Nanny offers standard or tailor-made packages.  The standard cost is £425 for one week, or £795 for a fortnight, to include 45 hours per week on a six/seven-day week, plus 14 hours of evening babysitting spread over four nights.  Hours and nights are formalised between the nanny and the family, with no day beginning before 7am and no finish later than 7pm with the exception of babysitting.

More information is available at www.holidaynanny.org 
Telephone 01494 772400.

10 April 2008