Excessive site charges
Comments
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We stayed at Hillhead in about mid October and I thought the prices were a tad expensive, £20 a night. That might not have surprised me until I checked out the prices for half term and there was no increase in price and kids, I think, went for a penny. Certainly not begrudging families a bargain but surprised there was no mid week discount? Only the hard standings were open but it looked as if they were only about half full. My commercial mind suggest that if prices were a bit lower or the mid week discount was in operation then it might encourage more people to use the site so the Club actually gets more income. On the other hand of course it might be that Hillhead is so far from many members that even a fiver a night might not encourage more to travel that far?
David
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Why is it that the club are in partnership with camping cheques and yet they don't see a benefit of using them on their sites. Just a thought.
Interestingly I have just booked four nights at Castleton on mid week rates for £59. Now thats more like it for this time of year and incidentally that is just about the same price as camping cheques
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Does not seem to be any immagination shown by the CC in attracting off peak users like us.Our nearest site Lady Margaret does not even have Mid week discounts (Last Jan only 8 vans on site but with 80 odd Hard standings) Seems the club just churns out the
same old structure year in year out with increases and extended peak times. We are looking for a break next week and were considering Hawes.Plenty of availability and again no effort to attract mid weekers.Now looking on Internet for alternatives in the area
to compare prices. What do the expensive "directors" do to earn their high salaries?0 -
Does not seem to be any immagination shown by the CC in attracting off peak users like us.Our nearest site Lady Margaret does not even have Mid week discounts (Last Jan only 8 vans on site but with 80 odd Hard standings) Seems the club just churns out the
same old structure year in year out with increases and extended peak times. We are looking for a break next week and were considering Hawes.Plenty of availability and again no effort to attract mid weekers.Now looking on Internet for alternatives in the area
to compare prices. What do the expensive "directors" do to earn their high salaries?With 375,000 members, I would say that the majority of members are working folk. I would also estimate that potentially 60 thousand are retired. Therefore, if everyone of the 60,000 were to go on site at the same time there would still be lots of pitches
available because there are not enough members to fill up all of the sites..Midweek discount does work obviously but let us be somewhat more realistic in terms of occupancy......0 -
What do the expensive "directors" do to earn their high salaries?
As Ian so rightly says...Not a lot...
It seems to me that they think themselves above us and don't think us worthy of a constructive comment
I know my place, but I don't look up to "Them".....
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What do the expensive "directors" do to earn their high salaries?
As Ian so rightly says...Not a lot...
It seems to me that they think themselves above us and don't think us worthy of a constructive comment
I know my place, but I don't look up to "Them".....
Write your comments here... The directors are volunteers and are not paid a salary. Big salaries are not a feature of the club.
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yes was going to ask what their salaries are?
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With 375,000 members, I would say that the majority of members are working folk. I would also estimate that potentially 60 thousand are retired. Therefore, if everyone of the 60,000 were to go on site at the same time there would still be lots of pitches
available because there are not enough members to fill up all of the sites..Midweek discount does work obviously but let us be somewhat more realistic in terms of occupancy......16% of members retired? I would imagine it's probably nearer 35-40% if not higher BICBW. That gives potentially an awful lot more mid-week out of season users.
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Does not seem to be any immagination shown by the CC in attracting off peak users like us.Our nearest site Lady Margaret does not even have Mid week discounts (Last Jan only 8 vans on site but with 80 odd Hard standings) Seems the club just churns out the same old structure year in year out with increases and extended peak times. We are looking for a break next week and were considering Hawes.Plenty of availability and again no effort to attract mid weekers.Now looking on Internet for alternatives in the area to compare prices. What do the expensive "directors" do to earn their high salaries?
With 375,000 members, I would say that the majority of members are working folk. I would also estimate that potentially 60 thousand are retired. Therefore, if everyone of the 60,000 were to go on site at the same time there would still be lots of pitches available because there are not enough members to fill up all of the sites..Midweek discount does work obviously but let us be somewhat more realistic in terms of occupancy......
Write your comments here...Obviously we all have different ideas of the proportion of retired members to those who are still employed using CC campsites.
What real statistics do you have to back up your estimate. ???
IMO from what is seen on CC sites there is a much higher proportion of the Aged members to Younger members than you are claiming.
K
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I would agrre with CC having a higher number of retired/older members than stated. However I don't frequent the sites during school holidays but in the off seasons I would say the sites are almost full and are predominetly elderly, although its getting harder
to tell these days who is or isn't retired. Some folk retire early at 55 or 60, while some are keen to carry on working well into their 70's.To get back on thread, site fees will always rise when its a school holiday somewhere in the UK, in Scotland the prices went up at the end of June when the children broke up but they didn't go back down when the children returned in August, presumably because
the English and Welsh children were still on holiday. This year we have seen the price bands extended at both ends with the CC trying to encompass each and every holiday/area to grab as much money as they can, sometimes the price changes as little as 10p how
ridiculous is that. Its about time we reverted to High/Med/Low bands and mid-week discounts for ALL but the honeypot sites, this would fill sites and make it worthwhile the wardens being there.0 -
BB most families travelling together do not need all parties to be members. As long as the member is there the rest of the group are covered whether they are related or not. Family membership is only required when a son or daughter uses the LV without the
parent there.Might affect the calcs. I doubt there are that many family members in the club but have no way of knowing
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Observations form our most recent two week trip away. First site was an excellent adults only site but they have a policy of one price all year, £23.50 a night more if you want a serviced pitch. Midweek early October only 20% full. We moved on to the Club
site at Minehead, about £18 a night and virtually full for our five night stay. Apart for a few children at the weekend the customers were virtually all 50+ age wise. From there we moved onto Hillhead for another five nights at £20 a night. Of the 111 hardstanding
pitches (grass ones closed) only about half of the available pitches occupied. Age profile the same as Minehead. Our final stop was at the C&CC site at Moreton £17 a night. Only one young child in evidence (over a weekend) and the rest of the occupants same
profile as above. Site less than half full. So from my point of view the age group of people who use sites at that time of year is almost exclusively the over 50's. It would be interesting to some age occupancy figures over the course of the year. I suspect
that the older age group occupy far more site nights over a year than families?David
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Mid week discounts mean nothing much to me. Aren't they just Tues Wed, Thur? So if I am awy for a number of weeks it might mean (at best) that I may recieve a discount on 3 nights per week eqivelant to half the pitch fee. At the times that I tour may be
as much as £10 a week discount. Hardly makes any real difference in usage. If the discount was removal of all pitch fees during 3 days of the week I would not tor more - just pay less!0 -
The easiest and fairest way for the CC to implement mid week discounts during non- peak season would be to only charge per person and have no charge for the pitch fee. That would mean a great deal to those who are on a reduced retirement income and ensure
that the sites would derive more income during periods of low occupancy.Midweek comprises of Monday night through to Thursday night -- 4 nights in total.
K
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A typical price for two at a site with Mid week discount, between Jan 4 & March 17 was £15.60 and Nov 7 & Dec 21 is £14.8 - £15.95. I don't think these prices are unreasonable, particularly as the CC has no other way of obtaining your money whilst on site.
Also given that if cold we are likely to consume at least £5 worth of electricity and possibly much more. The prices in the off peak periods outside of these times are perhaps arguable, however the prices for almost 4 months of the year are very good value.0 -
Why not mid week discounts at all sites as a trial to see if it increases occupancy. How they decide what quakifies as Mid week discount site is a mystery. Surely Lady Mrgaret with such low mid week occupancy should qualify Again there does not seem to be
any immagination at HO to try and increase occcupancy, just the easy option.0 -
5 nights at Brighton from the 13 November standard pitch £105 5 nights sandyballs from 13 November fully serviced pitch £50 plus I get 10% discount brings it down to £45.Only 4 pitches left any members that now the site now how many pitches there are
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The level of occupancy being reported currently would worry me if I was in charge of the purse strings
As I'm still tied to school holidays for our main holiday I prefer the CC pricing which is generally very much lower than commercial alternatives for us. However I appreciate the fact that there are still a relatively large number of CC sites open through
the winter and I think it would be a shame if lack of occupancy saw them close.This year's price increases brought more squealing than any other in recent years. I'd like to think that the powers that be will take these two points into account
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5 nights at Brighton from the 13 November standard pitch £105 5 nights sandyballs from 13 November fully serviced pitch £50 plus I get 10% discount brings it down to £45.Only 4 pitches left any members that now the site now how many pitches there are
I would agree with Fisherman the mid week discount should be extended to all sites. That would then make Brighton £87.75. A fair price, as unlike SB they have no other ways of extracting money from those on site. Yes I know you do not have to use the bar / club etc. However, enough who stay will and that along with income from statics makes it a totally different operation.
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With 375,000 members, I would say that the majority of members are working folk. I would also estimate that potentially 60 thousand are retired. Therefore, if everyone of the 60,000 were to go on site at the same time there would still be lots of pitches available because there are not enough members to fill up all of the sites..Midweek discount does work obviously but let us be somewhat more realistic in terms of occupancy......
16% of members retired? I would imagine it's probably nearer 35-40% if not higher BICBW. That gives potentially an awful lot more mid-week out of season users.
I guess we also need to remember that non members may also stay on some CC sites.
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Isit also possible that with living getting harder, more "old timers" will be caravaners in future.Wonder if the age of caravan/M H owners has increased over say the last 5 years and is it likely to continue. The CC needs to be carerful who they are alienating
with their price structure.0 -
This got awfully complicated in the end but my point was - that I think that at the very end of October (Hardly high season) £22 per night seemed an awful lot of money. Especially as the site was less than half full, and other nearby commercial sites were
much fuller!TF
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Fact is, the CC need to see reality and charge far more in school holidays (when there is competition for pitches) and less in off peak times, to try to fill those empty pitches (80% empty, as reported by some, is just nor viable).
I would start by charging full price for children. They use the facilities just as much as an adult......more people should cost more money.
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