Toilets and Showers on CLs

BirchHillFarmCL
BirchHillFarmCL Forum Participant Posts: 187
Photogenic
edited January 2014 in Certificated Locations #1

Ours is a basic, old-fashioned CL, albeit with electric hook-ups and optional hard-standings (and soon to add Wi-Fi).  Looking-after our guests is good for business:  we aim to make you welcome so that you:

  • have a nice time,
  • find plenty of things of interest,
  • stay longer,
  • come again and
  • recommend us to your friends.
     

Having said that, we sometimes lose bookings because we do not have toilets or showers.  Ever seeking to improve, we have given this a lot of consideration but cannot justify building a shower block for two reasons:

  • the capital outlay to build it,
  • the ongoing costs of keeping it clean.

My wife and I both have full-time jobs.  I work from home, but am sometimes away on business for several days.  We also like to have the occasional caravan holiday ourselves.  This means that if we have a toilet / shower block, we would need to employ a cleaner.  A cleaner is unlikely to want to work for less than an hour’s pay per day.  With the adult (21+) national minimum wage set @ £6.31 per hour, this would take a huge proportion of the income from our CL.  We are open all year and do not insist on advance bookings.  This means that we would need a cleaner to attend every day, regardless of the number of vans on site. 

Caravan Club staff tell us that the biggest source of complaints received is about dirty toilet / shower blocks.  Having visited many, I am very impressed with the standards and feel that the complaints can only be redressed by very frequent checking of the facilities, perhaps hourly.  Minutes after a place is cleaned, someone washing their dog in the site shower can spread enough muddy water to spoil things for others.  This means that if we employed a cleaner for an hour in the morning, we would still need to check the facilities later in the day and we are simply not available to do that level of checking and re-cleaning.

We genuinely enjoy having Club members as our guests, and try to concentrate on good customer service within the limits of our abilities.  We can manage hard-standings, electrics, exclusivity,  panoramic views and a nice dog walk, but you will have to bring your own toilet (and shower if you are of that persuasion Wink).

 

Ian Kelly
01691 622951
Caravan@BirchHill.co.uk
www.BirchHill.co.uk

 

Birch Hill Farm - an award-winning caravan site in the beautiful lake-lands of Shropshire - exclusively for members of the Caravan Club


 

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