Gran Dorado was a holiday villages company based in the Netherlands. Until the merger in 2002, it was the biggest holiday villages company of Europe. Today's owner is the French company Pierre et Vacances, and is merged with the Center Parcs company.
History
Gran Dorado Resorts was originally found by the owner of the Dutch chain store company Vendex, famous for the Vroom & Dreesmann company. Therefore, the first name of the company was Vendorado. Vendorado Leisure N.V. was founded in 1980, in 1989, the name was changed to Gran Dorado Lesure N.V.
At the beginning of 1996, the company had 6 big holiday villages. In the same year, Gran Dorado took over another Dutch holiday villages company, called Creatief Vakantieparken. The company immediately grew to a company with 40 holiday villages and around 7500 bungalows, and was by then the biggest holiday villages company of Europe. The two companies were operating 2 years under the name Gran Dorado/Creatief, in 1998 the company acquired the new name Gran Dorado N.V.
Merger with Center Parcs
At the beginning of 2002, Pierre & Vacances became the overall owner of the Gran Dorado company. Shortly after, P&V took over the Center Parcs-chain from Scottisch & Newcastle. By that time, the two largest holiday villages companies were in the same hands. Halfway through the year, Center Parcs and Gran Dorado merged. The Netherlands Competition Authority did not allow a merger with all 40 holiday villages, so the following was decided: