Incorrect data on site closures
relevant part of my report at the regional meeting
I have also been on on 2 touring holidays and used 13 various club sites and noticed several of these to have many pitches unused during the week days, except for 1 which is a no toilet block site Gwern-y-Bwlch in Wales which is due to close this year, I am bitterly disappointed that the director general often puts messages in the club mag stating we have sites of all types so you can find a pitch to suit all tastes and then promptly closes the ones we (as ralliers) like to go to, none of these sites have been promoted or discounted by the marketing department, which I believe is a deliberate ploy by the marketing department to be able to show they are not used, so they use this data to close them, this need addressing before we lose any more.
We are currently on the Thetford Forest site & just travelled back for this zoom meeting and then returning to site for a few more days, I note this site also has several empty pitches, I note this site also receives no promoting or offers for percentage discounts for autumn etc, it concerns me that having no toilet block, this may well be on next years hit list !!!
I also note in the club mag that some clever marketing trick again shows the club has provided 160,000 additional pitch nights per year for members on large sites, and then comparing non like for like equations as the 5 non toilet block sites being closed are only 250 pitches not the number of pitch nights!! which actually totals 50,597 pitch nights, not wasting my time counting all the pitch nights on various other sites, does this really equates to only 1% pitch night availability lost as stated on sites that long established members (retiree’s) who keep a lot of the sites that most of us like occupied off peek and during the Mon-Thur period.
Garry Pyett
Treasurer
Anglia Region
Caravan and Motorhome Club.
3/9/2024
Comments
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Garry, Why do you think the Thetford Forest site will close.? There are 70 storage pitches @ £500 per year, bringing an income of £35,000 . Any tourist pitches occupied give extra income on top of that. Sounds like enough to cover the staffing costs.
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Thank you for showing an insight into how some of the regional groups are looking at and considering the closures of some of the more basic sites. It’s good to get a perspective that isn’t all from the Club employees, but is at the sharp end of Membership delivery.
I have to agree with a lot of what you state, and I think both you and I, and others like us that have always enjoyed the basic sites are left wondering just how vulnerable the remaining small basic sites are to being on the hit list.6 -
Garry
I wonder if its a case on incomplete data rather than incorrect data? Whether we like it or not the Club have made the decision to close the sites in question. I assume the lack of info on the pitch nights lost doesn't change the decision to close the sites? The Club have not given us any actual monetary figures regarding these sites. Whilst that might be considered confidential it would help with our understanding. On your point about money off discounts for the basic sites, which are already good value. That might be fine if it actually produced more than expected income but the likely consequence would simple see more people on the sites but no extra, in terms of money, on the bottom line. Maybe a question for the AGM?
David
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Whether talking about pitch nights or pitches and what percentage it is really makes no difference, at least to me and to the club I would imagine, they will have done their homework.
The fact remains those sites were simply underperforming and not being used and have been on a downward spiral for a number of years. I'm sure there was a subsidy which perhaps took too much from other more prosperous sites and might have lead to increased prices for all to keep them open.
Those sites were simply costing too much and they were not popular with the current users of club sites who now expect a whole lot more.
Long established members do use certain club sites and keep them occupied quite a lot but when looking at the low occupancy by the club on these sites it is just not cost effective to keep them open. Will other sites be closed, well who knows but when a product doesn't sell well enough it's time to stop selling it. Sites will close if they are not used enough. Harsh but true.
If people want those non facility basic sites to stay open then they have to use them of course, but, far more importantly, they have to get other club members to use them - which is the hard part.
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