Half term & empty pitches
Just had a few days at Chatsworth which is a regular half term site. I’ve never known so many free pitches including super pitches. It was full over the bank holiday weekend but no more than two thirds full the rest of the week. I’ve never known this happen before. I suspect lots of people are tightening belts and it is an expensive site. Anyone else been away this half term and noticed a difference?
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Nothing different here at Melrose, site has full or very close to it but the only children are English due to not being half term here
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Had a walk around the CC's Blackmore site today, a Saturday during a school holiday week, and the site is just about 1/3 full, 70 units including seasonals, on a site of 206 pitches. This compares to the C&CC's site next door which has around 100 units on a site of 190 pitches, so 50 %+ full. Could this be because the CC site is so much more expensive?
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We have gone to Chatsworth many times, ands getting in was not normally a problem, and excluding the weekend there was always empty pitchs
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I was at Chatsworth around this time last year, I believe it was about £28 per night, It has gone up in price this year by more than 100%, no wonder there are empty pitches!
I have defected to the other club this year, I have always stayed at Malvern Hills site on the way down south & again on the return journey however, that was £23 last year per night but that is now over £30 per night, again there were many empty pitches, I wonder why! I stayed this time at the C&CC site next door & with my over 60s discount only paid £24.70 & if I had pitched on the grass I could have saved another 30% - why would I use the CC site again ?
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Looking at the prices of cc sites this half term, we decided to head to France for a week , the cost of the ferry off set with the out of season site fees in France plus the bonus of swimming pools made it an easy decision.
I’m a proud member of the club but with the prices at the moment, sadly sites are an expensive treat for the odd weekend away.1 -
The options for younger people are so wide and it’s no wonder they aren’t looking at UK campsites. A 50 year old in the family earns a good amount but wouldn’t think of tying up money in a caravan or motorhome so has just flown out for a few days in Dubrovnik.- £160 return with British Airways - which compares with £240 return on a train when she comes here. Caravanning is dying and doomed in her opinion and the empty pitches on sites are starting to reveal it.
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Similar to ourselves, LS. I have just done a comparison between the two sites for 3 nights next weekend, and for the two of us, pensioners, the costs came out at £66:30 on the C&CC site compared to £93:90 for the CC. Quite a difference!
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It is expensive, £34.00 just for one person as at yesterday morning, however, the new booking site with deposits only started around September last year so perhaps some pitches may still be booked but not cancelled nor used, by previous, speculative bookers. That may have stopped other people who wanted to stay there from booking there, so they would have booked elsewhere instead.
I do think as well, that the Club have shot themsleves in the foot, as many people may not have been happy about deposits but would have accepted them, but they are very, very unhappy about the new booking website and the numerous problems that it has had, so pitches may be empty for a number of reasons.
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I think you're right...for some customers they see this as the perfect storm... club prices rising, feeling the pinch at home, deposits to be found, far poorer cancellation terms, and a strange booking system that still has enough problems to catch out the less familiar users.
however, the latest magazine reports that everything is wonderful, quoting meaningless numbers about nights booked/sold but discussion on real world reaction to to prices, the terms and the vagaries of the new system don't get a mention.
as others have said, the club are really only looking at bookings....but these aren't sales and can still be cancelled. The jungle drums seem to reporting that actual numbers of bums on seats, even through these popular times, haven't been good.
Obviously the club is watching this too a discount schemes have been hastily rolled out to try and entice customers onto pitches...but has the stable door already closed, even for previously loyal customers?
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My wife and I have discussed options other than club sites and, whilst we will remain members, we have decided that we will look at the other club and commercial sites in 2024 for holidays.
We go regularly to Chatsworth as it's one of our nearest sites and it's a break away from home. I must admit we've never not got a pitch even at short notice but the number of empty pitches in a half term holiday was particularly noticeable.
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A good point there PD. It was four years since a normal Half term?
Although it was half term unless one is blessed with the 'holidays' of a teacher and have children of course it's unlikely to be a main holiday week for most, the school summer holidays with it's probably better weather would be more of a draw.
For those without children, it's cheaper to go in term time and looking at the bookings for June alone it's looking pretty good with a good proportion of full and looks like all lows on all pitch types with maybe one single exception (Just a quick scan)
so not too much for the club to worry about? And even in the probably unlikely event of mass cancellations in the next three weeks all that considerable deposit money will be kept, and interest earned on any given back after that?
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I am of the opinion that all is not rosy in terms of Club Site pitch take up, but Chatsworth isn’t really what I would think of as an exciting destination for children anyway, so won’t read too much into the empty pitches. We passed Castleton last Tuesday, and from the roadside, it looked fairly busy, but Laneside, a tad further out was heaving. A lot more for families to do around Castleton, but the village wasn’t busy.
We are looking at getting our passports in the future. Can’t do long breaks at the moment, but we might be able to manage three nights away, so places like Paris, Florence, Belfast, Dublin etc…. Look a whole lot more enticing for a short break.
Our next MH outing, heading to an NT garden near Leek will probably involve a pub stopover and a CL stop. Estimate is around £20 for pitch fees, but if we do two pub stops, it could be zero + a meal instead😁
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Of course people should look at the widest possible choice of campsites, no point just restricting oneself to CMC sites, especially if other campsites are nearer to things you want to see and do. However I would add that the Club booking T&C's, are at least the equal and probably better than many other options as I have found out to my own cost.
David
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On a CL at the moment on Angelsey, which tends to be more expensive to stay than some other areas that we have recently been to.
Am paying £25 per night, more than is normal for me on a CL, but the club site 1 mile down the road want almost double that. For my £25 I get a hardstanding serviced pitch, a shower and toilet, free WiFi and bigger space between each pitch. The site is full, no surprise there. Have I chosen wisely? In my view Yep. Why pay double?
Edit - Forgot to mention - No deposit required when booking.
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