Charging for awnings
This is bound to have been discussed at length before now but I am curious to see what other members feel about this. My question is, what is the justification for charging extra for awnings? I have seen several large sites where there are a choice of pitch
sizes and I can understand the reasoning behind that, but I fail to see the justification for CLs charging extra for awnings when the pitch sizes are all the same. Can someone enlighten me?
Comments
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It's generally just a marketing exercise to have a lower 'headline pitch price'. It could be argued that awnings will sometimes create more work in the way of pitch maintainence.
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They or the carpets in them ruin the grass, some people heat them so it's more electric, more space used etc.
Knowing the real damage done by awnings left with ground sheets down for a week I can fully understand a charge being made.
We certainly hate being on or near a ruined pitch of rotting dead grass, and it must make a careing owner with pride in their CL cry.
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OK so awning carpets might damage the grass, but surely no more than motorhomes or caravans and some sites don't allow groundsheets anyway. But lots of pitches are hard standing these days and still charge for awnings. My point is that on a CL pitch in
particular, there is no choice of size of pitch so why charge extra for an awning if used?0 -
because they cause more maintenance....as explained in several posts above...
the CC should go the same way, but first ensure the customer is actually getting a 'better' deal by making awning pitces a little larger (or non-awning a little smaller) in order to justify any differential.....this would negate the posts like yours where
pitches of a similar size are charged differently.i dont have a problem with this, if they do more damage, charge extra....but a (slightly) larger pitch would make the difference easier to understand and to swallow.
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If it does make the careing owner cry then he should consider banning awnings on his pitch. He can't have it both ways.
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OK so awning carpets might damage the grass, but surely no more than motorhomes or caravans and some sites don't allow groundsheets anyway.
That argument is unsound, the damage done by a ground sheet to the grass is in a different league to that done by a caravan or motorhome; the latter do some damage but not kill the grass as a lengthy stay can.
The choice is ours whether we use CLs that charge extra for awnings, and IMO it should be the owners choice what they charge for. If they feel awnings do more damage, and I know some do, then compensating for that is not unreasonable. They might well find
that some others of us will not stay, or return if the pitches offered are rotting grass or muddy soil patchs; a loss of income.And, re not using a ground sheet, I have been asked not too, but I very rarely do and then only to avoid a rotting musty surface in my awning.
Then there will be other owners who see their business model with extra charges, and why should that not be the case as long as you can know of it?
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I suspect some sites charge for awnings as an extra income stream in the same way some charge separately for dogs or electricity. Some will be concerned about the affect on grass pitches. I was on a site recently where they made a charge, but fortunately
not for windout awnings which are put away at night. The interesting thing was that there was very little grass damage no doubt as a result of its policy of charging for awnings.David
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I am not sure it matters wether it is logical or not to charge, as long as the prices are upfront. What I find annoying both with camp sites and other holiday firms, is the very reasonable
from price, trumpeted in large text and lights, which after add ons ends up being significanly more.0 -
The case for charging more as they damage the grass and/or causes more maintenance doesn't apply to hardstandings does it? I can't see a need for the introduction of such a fee for the club as it could be looked on as a perk of paying your membership fee,
also as certain people has complained about the club being so expensive already this will just make it worse?0 -
To answer the OP, there's not really a justification for charging extra for awnings, it's often just a wheeze to enable a low headline fee.
We normally avoid sites that advertise low initial rates then add extra for EHU, awnings, dogs etc, but, having said that, the main thing to check is the total price in comparison to local alternatives. That, for us, is where the CC usually wins over commercials,
especially as we don't tend to stay long enough at one site to use "7 nights for the price of 5" offers or similar inducements.0 -
The case for charging more as they damage the grass and/or causes more maintenance doesn't apply to hardstandings does it? I can't see a need for the introduction of such a fee for the club as it could be looked on as a perk of paying your membership fee,
also as certain people has complained about the club being so expensive already this will just make it worse?agreed.....
but, like the HS issue, as long as there is a differential, folk will accept it....slightly cheaper for non awning, slightly more for awning...slightly cheaper for grass, slightly more for HS.
no need to just ramp up just the premium bits, as you say, it would just make the overall price structure (even) more expensive
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Don't charge for awnings, charge for groundsheets.
We use an awning but have never felt the need for anything more than half a square metre of groundsheet to take the boots off.
Red wine also makes a mess of groundsheets if accidentally kicked over.
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I tend to avoid sites that charge for awnings or dogs. The price charged should be for the pitch. I'm amazed that some on this thread seem to approve of charging for awnings. Turkeys voting for Christmas?
Write your comments here...I do not see why not, a dog will drink water, maybe get hosed down, on CC sites a dog walk is normally supplied along with bins for the mess (so long as owners pick up) so its only reasonable that dog owners pay. Its not like
a shower block where you have a choice if you dont have a dog you cant use it!!Abroad most sites charge for dogs.
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I tend to avoid sites that charge for awnings or dogs. The price charged should be for the pitch. I'm amazed that some on this thread seem to approve of charging for awnings. Turkeys voting for Christmas?
We go to CL/CS sites we like, which could be for various reasons, and we avoid those that we don't. One reason to avoid could well be the package being too expensive in our view. But, we don't feel the 5 van site owner needs to justify their charging structure to us.
Knowing the modest yield most can ever hope to get from having just a 5 van site, we are very grateful they do it and we have that choice. There are fixed overhead cost to running a 5 van site and in many cases, such as farms of any substance, 20 % VAT has to be levied on the takings. As said we are grateful for the remaining ones.
If accepting an owner is free to keep running a site as they chose is "turkeys voting for Christmas", then what is alienating a site owner by requiring they justify their charges to visitors?
I can see that leading to hoards more leaving the system both because they are alienated by the client's attitude and because it might make some do the in detail sums.0 -
I tend to avoid sites that charge for awnings or dogs. The price charged should be for the pitch. I'm amazed that some on this thread seem to approve of charging for awnings. Turkeys voting for Christmas?
Write your comments here...I do not see why not, a dog will drink water, maybe get hosed down, on CC sites a dog walk is normally supplied along with bins for the mess (so long as owners pick up) so its only reasonable that dog owners pay. Its not like
a shower block where you have a choice if you dont have a dog you cant use it!!Abroad most sites charge for dogs.
Write your comments here... I don't know the percentage of caravans that have a dog, let's say 20%. On a site with 100 pitches the site is getting 20 x the dog rate, say £20 per day. Who is gatting paid that money? What are they doing to earn that £140
a week. Surely there is little or no work to be done. Most owners pick up. Dog walks often need no maintenance. Dog showers cost pennies. There is no justification for charging for dogs in my opinion.0 -
There is no justification for charging for dogs in my opinion.
Is not this a method of trying to restrict numbers - admittedly £1 a night will not make much difference but £5 a night certainly would, those with 3 dogs or more would find a cheaper alternative.
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There is no justification for charging for dogs in my opinion.
Is not this a method of trying to restrict numbers - admittedly £1 a night will not make much difference but £5 a night certainly would, those with 3 dogs or more would find a cheaper alternative.
pay for 3 ,and bring the 4th free
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I tend to avoid sites that charge for awnings or dogs. The price charged should be for the pitch. I'm amazed that some on this thread seem to approve of charging for awnings. Turkeys voting for Christmas?
Write your comments here...I do not see why not, a dog will drink water, maybe get hosed down, on CC sites a dog walk is normally supplied along with bins for the mess (so long as owners pick up) so its only reasonable that dog owners pay. Its not like
a shower block where you have a choice if you dont have a dog you cant use it!!Abroad most sites charge for dogs.
Write your comments here... I don't know the percentage of caravans that have a dog, let's say 20%. On a site with 100 pitches the site is getting 20 x the dog rate, say £20 per day. Who is gatting paid that money? What are they doing to earn that £140
a week. Surely there is little or no work to be done. Most owners pick up. Dog walks often need no maintenance. Dog showers cost pennies. There is no justification for charging for dogs in my opinion.Write your comments here...Dog bins need emptying and AFAIK you cannot just dump that in normal rubbish (happy to be corrected), dog walk will require some maintainence not to mention to recoup the cost of setting it up, extra water teh dog drinks etc.
So charge for dogs imho does not have to be a huge amount say 1-2 pounds per dog per night, more if they bark
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Is it not the perogative of business owner to charge what they see fit? If the potential customer does not like the terms and conditions they are free not to buy the service or product.
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Can we just park the charging for dogs etc? The OP asked about making charges for awnings after all.
I've stayed on small sites where it was an extra £2 per night for an awning, no problem as it still kept the total less than £20; my only gripe was the fact the prices were the same for a HS or a grass pitch, and on the grass there was a no groundsheets
rule - and due to the time of year this kind of spoilt some of our enjoyment of the awning due to damp and grass length (probably linked). At least those folk who arrived early managed to get the HS pitches and so could enjoy all the luxuries they seem to
cram in the awning. We still had a good time, but it meant it wasn't quite as enjoyable as it could have been.Personally I like the CC hardstandings as it allows the best use of our awning due to their size, but I have no problem with a grass pitch when necessary and adjust our stay "plan" to accomodate the pitch type and how long we expect to stay.
The more problematic sites are those with a HS for the van and everything else is on the grass ...
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Seems to be two discussion's going on here , rather than charge for dogs & awnings , maybe it would be best to REDUCE the price of pitch fees for those who Do not take dogs and erect an awning
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Don't charge for awnings, charge for groundsheets.
We use an awning but have never felt the need for anything more than half a square metre of groundsheet to take the boots off.
Red wine also makes a mess of groundsheets if accidentally kicked over.
Disgraceful. Anyone kicking over red wine should be charged extra.
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