Deposits?
Comments
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That difference in providers is good in my opinion but heaven help us should specific pitch booking and minimum night appear for our touring club.
That's what C&CC have but as I generally stay 5 nights and their longest minimum booking is 5 nights it works for me in that regard
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With due regard, that about sums this discussion up ET about minimum nights, 'it works for me'! The current system also works for me but at the end of the day, sites like YRP will always be full regardless of adopted system. These HP sites are full of people staying any number of nights! Yes some may have wanted a few more nights but at least It is fair to all us tourers. Afterall the club is a network of sites and not just one site.
As the saying goes, you can't please everyone all the time.
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Deposits ? I really hope not.
Things as they are, are just fine.
After a years membership of 'the other club' i wont be renewing my membership, deposits, being 'allocated a pitch' a year of bad experiences. So, no deposits.....please.
We dont book 'just in case' we book because we are definately coming, usually as part of a tour.
Seldom go to 'honeypot' sites, unless by necessity ( Chatsworth this year....we wont be back...too busy and crowded).
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Just using Pentewan as an example, re deposits/booking pitch etc, in response to other posts....There are many others we have used which require a deposit, it is after all a sensible business plan...and whilst some still regard CaMC as a 'club'..it is fact a business which will require the directors to review and update any current 'business plan'....which may or may not include deposits for future site bookings.
As for cost of club sites....I think a 2.8% increase (if my limited costing exercise is correct..see a previous post)...is perfectly justifiable. Any more and i would ask questions.
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why make the assumption there's a direct link between flexibility and cost?
sites can be flexible yet maintain reasonable prices, can't they.
having a minimum booking period of a week is a condition stipulated by PS in certain periods....does every site that allows pitch number booking have this condition? and are they all 'expensive'?
and would the club have to introduce something like this of the extended their selection process to include HS/non?
i would say 'no'.
...or even for pitch number selection (don't see it happening BTW...)
other sites we've used don't have draconian booking period rules or huge added expense in order to accommodate a flexible pitch selection process.
commercials tend to have more flexibility than the 'club wide' systems anyway.....3 for 2, 7 for 6, really low (much lower than club sites) off peak prices...
i agree, peak at most of these will be high (even higher than club prices) but this is the 'commercial pricing model' (which many can exploit profitably) but it is a seperate thing from flexibility....which is (generally) just another 'commercial difference/advantage'...
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I agree Steve, predictions are tricky, however service suppliers need to be able to get their stock position as accurate as possible...
offering a full complement of grass pitches and then (inevitibly) withdrawing some (the most vulnerable) from stock would drive most customer nuts, as alan pointed out...
adoptinga more pragmatic (conservative) approach would remove over booking (and the pain of enforced cancellations) yet also give the opportunity to release stock (pitches) back into the marketplace should the weather be better than 'normal'...
a bonus for customers rather than a kick in the backside?
i was always for trying to exceed my customers' expectations
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All the evidence I can see is that where sites (predominantly the sort of holiday camp sites which we wouldn't use but lots of families would) offer pitch selection it comes with additional costs and restrictive booking conditions.
Special out of season offers at these sites may well seem attractive but are little use to families looking to go at peak times - the sort of "hard working families" which I seem to recall you arguing strongly on behalf of when the subject of club site prices has been raised in the past, BB.
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The latest C&CC reports show they are on a roll right now. The CMC must be asking themselves why. It is probably true the former is more attractive to families but the minimum booking periods at selected sites must be helping their profitability and the CMC would be silly to at least not be considering it.
Here is what they say as to why they do it:
"Most of our Club Sites currently operate a minimum stay of 2 nights during High Season and on Friday and Saturday nights, with some specific sites operating different minimum stay periods due to site demand.
The reason minimum bookings periods are applied to advanced bookings is to ensure optimum use of a limited inventory of pitches and to mitigate against campers booking short stays that consequently prevent us booking someone on to a pitch for a longer period. For example, if someone is booked on to a pitch for one night, a Tuesday, that could then prevent someone booking it for a longer period, such as a week.
Our approach in turn helps reduce the number of empty pitches on site and keeps pitch fees constrained due to the greater pitch night occupancy. Without the higher occupancy, overheads and development costs would otherwise have to be met by higher nightly pricing on a lower number of nights camped.
The policy is decided through the analysis of camping patterns and demand for pitches, and involves input from the Site Managers who will understand local issues, the Area Manager and other senior managers at Headquarters. They take into account all factors that would concern Members. These recommendations are approved and agreed by the UK Club Sites Director together with elected Voluntary Officers who are members that sit on the Sites Committee"
peedee
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...but we all know how the commercial pricing model works, it's been highlighted plenty of times....
my point is that sites can allow pitch booking without necessarily going hand in hand with booking restrictions.
on my last visit to Crealy (for example) I chose my pitch...I only stayed one night....
in fact, I arrived really early (11 am) was welcomed (not chastised) and allowed straight onto my chosen pitch...
we spent the day in the theme park...
next day, we left the pitch at 10:30 (park opening time) and moved the van to the car park and enjoyed a second full day in the park...
so, we chose the specific pitch, only stayed one night and paid about £20 for three of us to camp.....welcoming flexibility at a reasonable price.
it is available out there...
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There is very sort of site out there- not just "holiday camps" - and every sort of site management
The nearest site to me is an award winning former CS, which grew up into a proper campsite, and gets top scores on all the review websites. The prices are standard and level throughout their season - Easter to the end of October - with no school holiday increase. If you ask for two pitches together, Catherine says Yes of course. But she charges a flat , non refundable £50 deposit for every booking. Sensible lady.
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Special out of season offers at these sites may well seem attractive but are little use to families looking to go at peak times - the sort of "hard working families" which I seem to recall you arguing strongly on behalf of when the subject of club site prices has been raised in the past, BB.
No use to me either. Apart for a two week break over Christmas, my touring is from mid April to start of October. I have no interest in marketing such as 7 nights for 5 as I want 5. It matters not how great an offer is anyway if it is not where I want to be or suitably located on my tour route.
I see a great incentive to booking CC sites in their flexible booking system and lack of deposit where CC sites are suited to my tour route as it leaves wriggle room if I wish to move on earlier, extend stay and reduce on the next site or miss a site out. All of which I have done at some time. Remove that flexibility from a supplier with so many sites in their chain and you remove the desirability to book mainly CC sites to a degree.
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Talking of accomadating and appealing to as many members as possible I use these statistics for illumination purposes only!
An always full site (like YRP) with 98 pitches with a restriction of a minimum of 7 nights booking employed can only ever 'satisfy' 98 customers per week.
However, If it was full all week with one nighters that would be a whopping 686 happy customers.
Admittedly with the current no minimum nights policy the truth is somewhere between the two extremes but at the end of the day that always full HP site, like all others, should be about meeting the needs of as many members as is possible and being as fair to all as possible. Keep as is for me and for this reason!😍
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No idea what the percentage increase works out overall, as some sites had prices frozen. However many sites had an initial 2 / 3% rise from 2018 prices and have now been subject to a further 2% on December 5th. So nearer a 5% increase in these cases.
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on my last visit to Crealy (for example) I chose my pitch...I only stayed one night....
so, we chose the specific pitch, only stayed one night and paid about £20 for three of us to camp.....welcoming flexibility at a reasonable price.
That must have been a while ago BB, as I've just looked at their pricing and for a grass pitch in mid May for 2 persons they were quoting £25 pn on a grass pitch & £35 pn on a Super pitch. Those prices jump to £38 & £48 respectively in high season.
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no, a few months back, end October, just before they closed.......just over £20 I seem to recall....you're looking at 2019 prices, no doubt?
we had a grass pitch (they all have water) and our GD may well have been free...
perhaps its gone up a couple of quid, perhaps they have a CC pricing system?
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Nellie,
Disputing BB's quotes/ Opinions/ Advice? May you be forgiven
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surely not?
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end October, just before they closed.
Strange that a site with all those super pitches should be closed to tourers from then till the last week in March. Perhaps with the high peak season prices they make so much that they can afford to ignore the winter trade.
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The reason I joined the CMC many moons ago is because it is a 'Touring site club' and not a residential or semi- residential site business, as many privately run sites are....hence the steady advance of 'Lodges' and less touring pitches on many private sites. Even some CMC affiliated ones (Wagtail Park).
Being able to book 1 night stays is essential for distance touring, minimum 2 or 3 night stays is another reason that the C&CC wont be keeping me as a member next year, that and the £25 deposits required to book.
Are we a Touring Site Club or not ?
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" a few months back, end October, just before they closed.......just over £20 I seem to recall."
So do you think you could have prebooked a specific pitch for a 1 night stay at that price any time between, say, May and September? I don't know Crealy but if it was so near the end of season (and midweek?) maybe there was ample availability which might not always be the case
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But really £70 a night to camp!!!
