So what did the Club ever do for Motorcaravanners?
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Why do they choose to stay here when there's a perfectly good campsite three miles inland? Answer is those three miles. And many Club sites and most CLs are in the wrong place for motorhomers. This Club could get land and cater for them (and free up pitches on the real sites) but I'm betting this Club won't.
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Now that is a car park
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except that a lot of people stay on club sites and think the same as you?
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very good post +1
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What parts would you change to make it up market?
So you want to take out car parks (for MH to use), take out EHU (for MH), have smaller pitches (for MH only), remove safety spacing and cram more outfits in.
Apart from the MH only agenda, which of those make a site more upmarket?
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How full was the motorhome park, was there any space available? Apart from the lack of space many motorhome owners, me included, will stay on a full facility site and probably use the EHU if staying for more than just a few nights. That could account for why you see quite a few on Club sites plus the fact there is always a need for the ablutions at some point while on tour.
peedee
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Club sites are only quality in their class, they are hardly quality in the overall market, so in that respect I agree with DD.
Going back to your analogy, the Club changed its name to make it more appealing to a different clientele, the Hilton is still the Hilton it hasn't tried to attract a wider customer base by a change of name.. If the Club really wants to attract and keep motorhome owners and encourage existing motorhome owning members to use their facilities more, I think it has to change some more.
peedee
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There is room on that site during December and for a few months for at least 30 to 40 vans spaced out. I suspect that EHU is limited to those booked for its usage down one row of probably 10 vans. There is usually room to space out well. In peak summer I believe stop over is free if buying admission to the funfair.
T o give an idea here are some Google Earth snips. Maybe gives a false impression as there seems to have been a rally in the Park behind the CC site on June 29 2018
Picas are the MH park, CC site and The rally.
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no they are multi functional, so if a MH arrives on site and there are only non EHU available they are more likely to take it than somebody with a caravan, but if a MH arrives on site and there are only EHU available they are still likely as not to take it even if they dont need it and have to pay for it , so if you make them all EHU you cater more fully for both customers needs, might seem like a crook deal for the MH but the percentages for the club making money are much greater.
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The question was what has this club done for motorhomers. My question is what is meant by motorhomers? Thing is not all motorhomers require or wish for the same thing and it would be wrong to assume we do. I for one, and I suspect many others, would not wish our club to go down the route of providing aire type pitches at the expense of other forms of pitches on any of the network. I believe this to be a very different business model to that offered by the club and should be left to those providers who could do it best. After all, the club does offer us, all types of units, just that one night booking.
The notion of using LNAs, where available, not all sites have them, for this purpose is also flawed in my opinion as this would impinge on their proper use. After all we could all fall foul of that unexpected event which means an unplanned late arrival. Given that we can arrive up until 8:00pm then the staff may not know if an LNA is free until that very last member arrives at site. I for one would not be happy following a stressfull event and having informed the staff just prior to 8:00pm of my late arrival if I was then told that no LNA bays were now vacant. If the choice is between LNA bays or Aires my vote goes with those LNAs.
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We are at our second home and not one LV is not connected to a bollard, and according to the site staff .when we were talking/joking about this thread ,they have not, in their years with the club been asked for a non electric pitch and they have been on two sites that they were available
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I think owning and using a campervan has always been popular, we were in our early 20’s for example, but this current trend in MH ownership does appear to be driven by older generation, let’s say 50 plus. Some people are retiring early, have access to a lump sum of money or savings, want something perceived as slightly easier to use and tour with rather than a caravan. Particularly if they are not coming from a camping/caravanning background, and the baggage that might go with that down the years. It’s a rare caravanner that tours stopping only one or two nights at a site, outside of travelling to a longer stay somewhere. Some folks are switching to MHs from caravans. The wise ones are taking a good look at how they want to tour, and with luck finding an appropriately sized outfit to cope with UK, rather than buying a MH that replicates the space they might have had in a caravan, and finding out that in this country, it’s easier to tour in something smaller, so they are using a bus pass or trying to cycle everywhere! Club is doing what it can, where it can to put drive over waste points in rather than the lid lifting back busters that were previously provided. That’s just health and safety moving in line with current trends.
How long will it last? 20 years is a very long time in terms of holiday trends, so hopefully, it will see us out fine, and the current crop of new MH owners. Youngsters might prefer touring space by then, so it is all wait and see. What is becoming more predictable is that they won’t have anything like the savings, pensions, spending power of my generation, so electric or not, MHs possibly won’t be as popular anyway. They will be working until they are 70, saving to try and give their children a start and probably won’t have the time because caring for grandchildren will come first. A tad cynical, but that’s the way life in this country is heading. Saving to most is a luxury that might if they are lucky get them a couple of trips abroad in a year, or half a dozen weekend trips if that’s preferred. Most can’t afford to have a mortgage, (if they choose) let alone a MH. That’s if they are still in any kind of long term workplace.
This country has a very long way to go before fully electric car ownership becomes mainstream for all but local journeys. I will start to worry about diesel when HGVs are electric, planes are electric, 🤣and the Government has worked out how it is going to replace tax revenues on petrol and diesel sales. Those with electric vehicles are hopefully enjoying very cheap motoring at the moment, after initial purchase costs, but those tax revenues will be clawed back from us somehow, of that I am certain. That’s why we aren’t currently diving into the world of electric motoring. (I do recall the withdrawal of leaded petrol predicting the end of classic car motoring, but our MG still manages to get from A to B quickly!)
I don’t compare living in this country with anywhere else, because I cannot influence things enough, and besides which, OH and I are not your typical ageing couple. We have seven siblings between us, and not one of them enjoys the lifestyle we do, for a variety of reasons. If I take a holiday somewhere overseas, I am happy to live within that culture and make the most of it. Likewise if I holiday here, it’s because it suits, I can work with the budget and the infrastructure.
Predicting trends is extraordinarily difficult, just ask any high street shopping chain. A huge extra spanner has been thrown into our current lives at the moment, we don’t even know what is down the line in a month’s time, let alone another ten years. But I predict it isn’t going to be as good as it has been.
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The only common sense answer to that statement is “ don’t bl**dy join then!”
Only if you have a big MH. And are used to the Continent, and want to tour on the cheap. For those like us, Club membership is currently giving us most of what we need and want.😂
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" .... many Club sites and most CLs are in the wrong place for motorhomers."
Again another example of stereotyping motorhomers which attributes us all with the same requirements, wishes and needs. I've yet to turn up at a club site or CL to find it in the wrong place!
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I generally know where sites are well before I arrive. Wrong place? Have wheels, will travel.
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They do not have nightclubs, fairgrounds, football pitches, and other centres of raucous behaviour.
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surely the members' vehicles are on the members' pitch next to their caravan?
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last week I was talking to a friend of our camping neighbours who was interested in changing to a MH...he mentioned cost...and then calmly told me his current outfit (Range rover and top line Swift) was 'around £90k'...so don't kid anyone caravanning isn't (or can't be) as significant an investment as a MH...
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well, I agree with DD, they certainly aren't at the top end....
more middle of the road, but consistently middle of the road, and that is the club strength....all sites are pretty well of equal standard...
where each member puts that standard, only they can know.
even in third world Portugal last week, Turiscampo knocks any club site I've been on into a cocked hat for quality of the toilet/shower facilities alone....never mind the additionally provided amenities, etc.
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now M, you know I like all types of sites...the actual reply you quoted was to address the misguided perception that cub sites are near the top of the camping quality tree...
I'm afraid that anyone who has been on a decent quality site will know they're pretty much basic but clean and consistent in what they offer.
this doesn't make them poor (JVB) it just means they aren't the dogs doodaah's when it comes to campsites...
just my opinion of course....but an equally valid one as anyone else's.
again, we are having a one nighter in Gibraltar (after a three nighter at Cadiz) and don't require any facilities at all (we have power, water and grey/black emptied this morning) so just a parking place.
i (along with about 30 other MHs) am looking out in the setting sun onto millions of pounds worth of yachts, in one of Europe's most exclusive marinas...to park tonight €12...
now I'd happily pay that to park, no leccy, transit pitch etc, on a club site in a place I wish to be....
perhaps the simple pitch concept should bea long snake, where no side to side 6m spacing is required, only 3m front to rear...and cars/caravans most welcome....after all, it's an inclusive club.
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what are 'members add cars' in English?
why should any member have two cars with them?
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Despite what we see here on CT, caravanners (whether towing or motorised) are sociable animals and have friends and relatives who come to visit.
There is also the anomoly of the motor caravans that have more bunks than legal travel seats.
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