Potentially misleading information
I don't know whether its just me or whether other members are finding that increasingly the club is using somewhat dubious marketing techniques in the way its presents offers and pricing information to its members, For example I recently spotted a 50% off midweek sticker only to find that the only portion of the fee that was discounted was the basic pitch fee so in essence for a unit with two adults the real reduction on the nightly fee was more like 10% rather than the 50% the headline conjured up. Also I find the initial presentation of site costs based on 1adult is also grossly misleading for most members who travel as a single unit with at least two adults. Although I understand the club must compete for members and site bookings it seems to me that its obligation to present clear factual information to its members is more important. Interested to hear others thoughts on the subject.
Comments
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MWD has always been just off the pitch fee.
The 'from' price has referred to only one person for a few years now and it does say it’s only for one. There are old threads about it - if you can find them🙄
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I agree with you WR. As TW has said in his post there has been discussions about it before and I seem to recall that the majority of posters felt the same way as yourself on headline pricing or offers, although MWD has always been just pitch price. They should make it more obvious though as it's aimed and used mostly by members not the general public.
The club in general is very poor in the communication department, not just for pricing but also for keeping members fully informed. It's been this way for quite some time now.
ps you may find this post moved into one of the more specific sections, probably the club one, as it's aimed specifically at the club.
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TW I note the points you make but I cannot find any reasonable or necessary reason to present a "from" price to a membership where most members can not buy at that price because they travel as a couple. In the same way why present an apparent 50% discount when it is not in all reality anywhere near such. The strapline under the 50% off midweek banner says "Stay midweek and save 50% on all standard fees"
Would it not be better to establish what the club median is in terms of unit composition and present a "guide" price based on that as it will, by definition, be achievable by most club members.
I may be wrong but there also seems to be a tone of "its always been this way so its not going to change" in your reply which I also find troubling because if we as members can not influence "corporate decision making" then who can?
I don't want to be treated as a mere "punter" but rather as a valued member" with respect to the headline pricing information and discount information that is provided to me.
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Hey, I’m not disagreeing with you, WR, and neither am I dismissing your points as "it’s always been this way…". I was just pointing out a few facts.
In reality, I can’t get excited about it and don’t see the point in getting worked up over it and raising my BP unnecessarily. The club will do what the club wants to do and we either accept it, take them to task at an AGM, or walk away.
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Best to go thru life with the-‘don’t believe anything you hear & only half of what you see’👍🏻. There are just no commercial enterprises that has never used creative advertising, the few that did have gone bust🤷🏻♂️
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The “from” price is a direct legacy of the Club’s complicated pricing policy. It’s so bad nowadays, it requires a separate document as it would add so many pages to the Handbook. Or you simply do without a paper trail and rely solely upon the website.
I wouldn’t fret too hard about the MWD issue either. Sure I saw information not so long ago about it not happening for much longer, or certainly not at as many Sites🤔
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I raised this "deliberate obfuscation" issue with CAMC a couple of years back. This coupled with the absence of actual prices in the handbook does appear to be a concerted attempt to hide what is the true cost of staying on a club site. Moulesy's "rule of thumb" is about right. The price you pay will be at least double the one in the book and possibly considerably more in high season and anywhere within a few weeks of school/bank holidays.
As for the multiple date ranges, I despair. Practically every other campsite operate a "high/mid/low" season pricing band yet we see within CAMC the beancounter approach of squeezing every last drop of cash out of pitch fees.
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Some interesting points made so far. Whilst I agree that Moulsey's rule of at least doubling up generally gets you pretty close to the mark I still find it difficult to accept that such "creative marketing" as R2B puts it, is actually necessary or productive for an organisation marketing to its members.
If, as Cyberyacht suspects, the club are employing obfuscation techniques then it is actually and actively engaged in attempting to mislead its members and prospective members. My only question here is, Why? The usual reason for hiding the truth is because of a fear that the truth would adversely affect the desired goal, in this case it would be a fear of a reduction in membership levels and or site bookings and therefore a shortfall in revenue. Would the "truth" really dissuade us from joining or using the club sites?
When I examine my own reasons for joining the club it actually came down to access to the CL's as the prime reason so as long as the CL's continue so will my membership I suspect but my interest in using club sites and CL's is adversely affected when I discover that I can. not buy at or very close to the headline price presented.
At the end of the day The Caravan Club Ltd (the legal entity) does not have shareholders and does not therefore share profits amongst them, essentially it is a not for profit organisation run for the benefit of its members. I would suggest it reviews it polices and rids itself of the suspicion of obfuscation in these pricing matters.
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