Should more club sites open all year?
We've been looking for places to visit before most of the sites open in March. What do people think, should more sites now open all year?
Comments
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Yes they should, and there should be more sites. Booking sites is becoming more difficult, not much chance of a last minute get away any more, the decent sites are booked up sometimes within hours of opening day especially at weekends when most of us are
available . Would love to know how many members there are and how many pitches and how it has changed over the last 5 years?0 -
Do they have to be Club sites? If you use the open all year campsite search on UKCampsite.co.uk you will find lists of absolutely hundreds of sites open all year, set out for every county across the UK.
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It's really not that simple, Steve. Often the decision is not CC's to make. Councils grant operating licences for prescribed opening and closing dates. Also, sometimes CC is not the owner of a site so has little or no say in the matter.
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Do they have to be Club sites?
I do often get the impression that many members will only ever consider staying on Club sites. Very strange.
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Yes they should, and there should be more sites. Booking sites is becoming more difficult, not much chance of a last minute get away any more, the decent sites are booked up sometimes within hours of opening day especially at weekends when most of us are available . Would love to know how many members there are and how many pitches and how it has changed over the last 5 years?
We have just come back from a wonderful weekend away at Chatsworth (a Honeypot site) and there were lots of spaces and next weekend have a three days at the weekend in Castleton..
There are lots of spaces available this weekend coming for Southport, Chatsworth and York (all honeypot) and the following weekend at Chatsworth, Southport and Castleton and the weekend after that at Southport and Chatwsorth. I've just checked sites people tend to say they can never get on...
So, as the thread is about open all year, and there is availability at some of the hsrdest to get on and it's at the weekend...I'm confused by your post
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We have to trust the Club to get the balance right. Overheads are likely to be higher in winter and footfall lower so I assume that it feels there is no money in keeping some sites open. I guess it might be rather different if we could guarantee the milder
weather we’ve been enjoying this winter.0 -
There is a difference in occupancy though during the week and at weekends. Having stayed at Meathop Fell last week from Mon-Fri, there were only about 18 units on site on average. Even weekends there aren't fully booked at the moment, this weekend there for example about half booked.
And judging by the Late Availability just now I counted only 4 sites with no pitches for Fr-Sat, the rest of the sites had either a few or lots available. So to me it seems that there is plenty of availability at the moment, and I doubt on those occupancy numbers it would be necessary to open more sites.
As has been said further up thread, if you look at UK Campsite there are quite a lot of all year sites and Cls, in Lancashire, Cheshire, Cumbria, all over the UK!
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Loads of opinions They don't have to be club sites but the advantage of using them is the standard is known. A shame to drive some distance to find a dud of a site I tend to use reviews more these days but have to take some with a "pinch of salt" I'll
check the UKcampsite site that eurotraveller suggests, thanks all0 -
Simple answer YES
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Just returned from 3 days at Lady Margaret.Occupancy was between 8 & 12 outfits on a 73 hard standing site.( 2 of us only went there because the near CL did not reply to e mail booking).Looking at Late availability and there are upwards of 40 pitches available
most week ends.Fixed costs( rent, rates wages etc ) are the same whether full or empty. Why therefore do the club price it so high and not offer any mid week discounts , like other sites. We now look at alternatives, Cls, private sites, especially off season
and we find we rarely use the club sites.We get better prices, at least as good facilities and very often a better all round experience. Its not a case of more sites opening in the winter. its HO thinking outside the box (not just increasing prices) to better
use those sites already open.0 -
Just returned from 3 days at Lady Margaret.Occupancy was between 8 & 12 outfits on a 73 hard standing site.( 2 of us only went there because the near CL did not reply to e mail booking).Looking at Late availability and there are upwards of 40 pitches available
most week ends.Fixed costs( rent, rates wages etc ) are the same whether full or empty. Why therefore do the club price it so high and not offer any mid week discounts , like other sites. We now look at alternatives, Cls, private sites, especially off season
and we find we rarely use the club sites.We get better prices, at least as good facilities and very often a better all round experience. Its not a case of more sites opening in the winter. its HO thinking outside the box (not just increasing prices) to better
use those sites already open.I think you have to factor in the wardens costs here where many small sites have the owners there anyway. This gives them an advantage.
With the amount of electrical equipment on board these days I suspect this is a considrable cost these days.
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We have used LMP many times, we have friends in the area, and it always seems pretty full at weekends, but then we do not usually go away December to February.
I would think the weather this winter has put many off.
I would like to see more sites stay open a little longer, say till the end of November. Last November we had 8 days at Knaresborough and would have liked to break our journey for 3 or 4 nights both going and returning, but there were no CC sites open in
the areas we wanted to visit.0 -
The thread is WINTER opening. If the present sites are so poorly used why open more? The only way is to make them more attractive and cost acceptable. There is so much more competition out there now but the only answer HO has it seems is to increase prices.
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Do they have to be Club sites?
I do often get the impression that many members will only ever consider staying on Club sites. Very strange.
Why is it strange? I think it's strange that you think it is strange.
I tend to use only club sites because you know what you get. In the past I have used commercial sites and had too many bad experiences with noisey over busy sites and pitches too close together. I don't want to be disappointed again so unless a friend recommends
a site to me I will stick with CC sites.0 -
Do they have to be Club sites?
I do often get the impression that many members will only ever consider staying on Club sites. Very strange.
Why is it strange? I think it's strange that you think it is strange.
I tend to use only club sites because you know what you get. In the past I have used commercial sites and had too many bad experiences with noisey over busy sites and pitches too close together. I don't want to be disappointed again so unless a friend recommends
a site to me I will stick with CC sites.Write your comments here...well said sir , I think it's strange to be a CC member & continually knock the very club you're a member of , very strange indeed .
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Its not knocking the club its stating it as it is. There is a lot of competition out
there. We have gone away from brand loyalty.Just see how many compare Insurance quotes, Go to Lidl & Aldi. Those companies (CV included) who stick to the past get left behind. We want a succesful club but at the same time as users we want value for money.
Myself I dont see it any more hence now looking at alternatives every time we go away. Certainly off season we make alternative bookings and have seen no adverse change in quality0 -
Things I have had on various non Club sites - a surprise coffee on arrival and once a bottle of wine, (and there's scones and clotted cream on arrival at a site here in Cornwall), a communal weekend meal twice, sociable shared barbecue pits with seats and tables around, open air and covered swimmng pools frequently, boules/ badminton/ volleyball/ table tennis almost everywhere, cooked meals on offer as well as take away, groups of all ages running together every morning in the woods, a BMX track for children, England v. Holland on TV with 50 watching together instead of all in silence in their own caravans, honey and strawberries and other local produce on sale, a school band playing, a drying room for wet walking clothes, a covered area with washing lines for laundry, free wi fi, open access freezers, a common room with books in five languages, fire pits, fishing, canoeing and bike hire, fresh bread every morning, site owners/ managers who walk around in an evening to ask if all is OK. and whether there is anything more they can do.
Frankly I don't care about winter opening of Club sites. Or summer. I don't go to them any longer. There are others.
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people can be cc members and never use a club site...
however, they might make full use of the CL network and take full advantage of ferry prices or deals on insurance, etc....
i am a member, but having travelled the uk and Europe, and used all types of sites, (CC, CCC, CL, cs, ths, aires, etc) i can categorically state thay there is nothing particularly special about CC (or CCC) sites.....
they are of a comsistent quality, granted....
but they are generally a pitch and a loo/shower....
many uk commercial sites and most continental sites knock CC sites into a cocked hat for quality, facilities and services...
thats not a member knocking cc....thats an objective view having used the comparative competition...
Write your comments here... I am one of those members never stayed on a club site but have used Cls and also insure my van with cc
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During the period of membership when my children were small, I never stayed on club sites either. I do now but only in low season and in the absence of convenient CLs.
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During the period of membership when my children were small, I never stayed on club sites either. I do now but only in low season and in the absence of convenient CLs.
Likewise in part, although we do use the non-facility sites throught the year when they are open.
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people can be cc members and never use a club site...
however, they might make full use of the CL network and take full advantage of ferry prices or deals on insurance, etc....
i am a member, but having travelled the uk and Europe, and used all types of sites, (CC, CCC, CL, cs, ths, aires, etc) i can categorically state thay there is nothing particularly special about CC (or CCC) sites.....
they are of a comsistent quality, granted....
but they are generally a pitch and a loo/shower....
many uk commercial sites and most continental sites knock CC sites into a cocked hat for quality, facilities and services...
thats not a member knocking cc....thats an objective view having used the comparative competition...
Write your comments here...Totaly agree, too many members think the opposite
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One site we use in Jan/Feb/March charges £12.00 a night for a fully serviced pitch! Tried to get in for a weeks time and they are fully booked!
was at Exmoor House just before Christmas and the site was virtually empty and a lot more expensive than that?
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One site we use in Jan/Feb/March charges £12.00 a night for a fully serviced pitch! Tried to get in for a weeks time and they are fully booked!
was at Exmoor House just before Christmas and the site was virtually empty and a lot more expensive than that?
Are you will to name the site, PR1? Might be useful for future reference.
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people can be cc members and never use a club site...
however, they might make full use of the CL network and take full advantage of ferry prices or deals on insurance, etc....
i am a member, but having travelled the uk and Europe, and used all types of sites, (CC, CCC, CL, cs, ths, aires, etc) i can categorically state thay there is nothing particularly special about CC (or CCC) sites.....
they are of a comsistent quality, granted....
but they are generally a pitch and a loo/shower....
many uk commercial sites and most continental sites knock CC sites into a cocked hat for quality, facilities and services...
thats not a member knocking cc....thats an objective view having used the comparative competition...
It depends on what you want from a site in the way of facilities but we find the service and quality of club sites first class and very few sites can beat them on that.
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