We need longer days.

Peak season. I've said it before on here. We're busy. Really busy. So busy in fact that Phil M is looking increasingly hen-pecked (the Sales team are relentless in their requests for his knowledge) and Phil H has to keep helping the guys in the warehouse - he's not even had time to work on his beloved website. And while the director's away, the co-ordinator (me) plays - I've been editing pages, added our Twitter feed to the website and highlighted our very much improved FAQ section.

Our most frequently asked question is whether individuals can hire our units. Sadly we are not able to do this - we can sell to everyone but we can only hire or rent our inflatables to UK leisure centres. Hopefully this is now very clear on the website! 

I've also tried to get some interest going in the World Cup which starts today! However. It appears the Airquee team are all rugby fans. I'm sure once the tournament gets going and there are some England games they might pay attention...maybe...

Hope the good weather means good business for the hirers and leisure centres this week! Our latest lorry load from the factory is being inspected and shipped out today, so there will be happy customers with brand new units to use this weekend.

Keep on bouncing!

Energetic Airquee!

Another busy week in the Airquee office!

Kerry the Sales Director has been in the office all week, motivating and confusing everyone. Whilst there's been some stress to deal with, as she says, it is the peak season so you can't expect anything less. She's also been having so much fun with new customers on the phone! I don't know if she's had too much or too little caffeine but she's been bouncing around - yesterday she was trying to get people to join in Green Goddess exercises (apparently it's something from the 80s...?). Today we've got Norman the unofficial mascot in the office, if there's any exercise going on, he will definitely be involved.
Speaking of exercise, I was reading somewhere that there are people that use bouncy castles as part of a cardio regime. Bouncing is fun AND healthy - who knew? Well most people probably. But anyway, I may start a petition to have an "exercise" castle up in the showroom. That would definitely keep everyone alert!

In a calmer part of the office, H has had the ladies clamouring for him. As always, there's a lot on and he's helping to cover for staff absence in the office. When I asked him about his week, apparently he's spent a lot of time talking to Ottilia, Erika or Tilda over in the factory. He likes to pretend he has better things to do, but I think he's enjoying the popularity...

Otherwise, life in Bristol carries on as normal. The sun's come back out, we've been shipping loads of units out to our customers. Hopefully the good weather will stay and all bookings and parties over the weekend will be extra special!

AND we may have a special visitor on Monday - Tune in next week for the full story!

All hands on deck!

As I'm sure you all know, it's the busy season in the inflatable industry! Because we are so fan-flipping-tastic we are of course extremely busy. As some of our customers will know, we've had delays - a shipping strike in Egypt and delays from suppliers have meant that we didn't receive our material shipment on time, and so we've really been up against it in production. However our amazing team in the factory and the Bristol office have been trying our utmost to make sure our customers are still satisfied!

A huge part of the Airquee mentality is making sure we provide excellent customer service and continually deliver the best products, even in the face of adversity! We're always trying to improve and get bigger and better - if you have any suggestions or feedback you'd like to give, just get in touch, we need to know what you think!

As always, the Airquee office has been so busy this week. For those of you that don’t know us, the Airquee office has two settings – full throttle and deceptive. Full throttle is when everyone and their dog (Norman) is in the office – it gets noisy (and sometimes a little silly). Everyone is busy, in and out of meetings, trying to corner the person needed, and the amount of tea and coffee consumed is actually a little worrying...

Deceptive mode is aptly named. This is when the main office is half empty, and a whole lot quieter! But this doesn't mean we’re any less busy, we've just got no time for idle chit chat! Today is a deceptive day, we're all in deep concentration...Or quietly observing the others in deep concentration while writing about them...And then publishing it on the internet...they never read this, it's fine.

Airquee's got a brand new blog...

Hello people! 

From today we will be writing regular blogs to keep you up to date with the activity going on here at Airquee. 

Our first post gives you the story behind our company but in this one we thought we should start with some basic information to introduce the company. If you're feeling curious about us, go and have a nose around our "Meet the Team" page!

2014 is our 11^th year in the inflatable and soft play industry. In this time the company has grown around 20% per year. From beginning with 20 people, manufacturing in Bristol, we now have 139 people in our wholly owned Romanian factory and 13 in our Bristol office and factory. Our inflatables, including bouncy castles, inflatable games, swimming pool inflatables, aqua runs, soft play and inflatable tents are being shipped all over the world.

For the rest of 2014, we will continue our efforts to deliver new and exciting inflatables never seen before! From our extremely well priced range of standard bouncy castles, disco dome and play zones to our giant full wipe-out style obstacles and games, be prepared for many wonderful products throughout 2014.

The story behind Airquee Ltd.

Airquee has gone from humble beginnings as a small sideline to an international manufacturer and supplier of high quality affordable inflatables. 

Back at the beginning it existed as part of another company where designers Ryan and Rob were working. Phil went into partnership with the inflatable side of the business, later buying the owner out, making a fully independent business. Airquee Ltd in its current form has been in existence since 2003, when Phil and Mark became company directors. The company head office moved from Tintern to Bristol, and they continued manufacturing in Bristol.

By 2007 demand had grown in the inflatables market, and while other company’s were struggling to manufacture, Airquee was still going strong - but more people and space were needed. At a time when many other companies were going to China for their products, Airquee wanted to avoid this. By having their own factory Airquee could ensure their high standards were maintained in the manufacturing process, guaranteeing better quality, faster delivery times as well as lower costs to the customers. Through contacts made at exhibitions, Airquee was introduced to the idea of manufacturing in Europe. They were put in touch with contacts in Romania and the rest, as they say, is history!

11 years on and Airquee Ltd has gone from strength to strength. We now have a full office in Bristol, two factories in Romania and 147 employees between both! We’re currently in the peak season for production and the factory is full to the brim!