Price Overkill
Ive just booked Hillhead for next New Year.....I was totally amazed at the price info page.....
there are 51 (yes 51) different price changes displayed throughout the season.....from 17th March to the end of the year, thays a different price every 5.7 days!!
surely someone in EG must realise that this is total overkill, some prices only varying by a tiny amount, some with the adult price the same but the pitch price changing....
also, this doesnt include the MWD or service pitch variants.....
you couldnt make it up, but someone has......
Comments
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The 51 you mention seems to be because it lists every midweek discount period separately. So in that respect it does include them.
I would agree this is unnecessary, just the statement re the periods of MWD and what it includes ( half standard pitch fee) is all that is required.
Also it does seem to include the costs for service pitches.
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It does seem overly complicated, but does it matter? You don't have to work out the overall price for yourself do you?
For myself, I decide where and when I want to go, book on line, and it will tell me the total price before confirming my booking. All I have to do is then decide if I'm willing to pay, which always is yes (so far).
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Corners, i agree with what you say, im really only interested in 'my' price, however anyone doing a bit of casual research on the site (its my first visit) is greeted with a screen (51 elements) or two of listed prices...
bound to be a bit daunting for first timers...
i agree with SteveL, putting the MWD directly into the 'table' either makes it simpler or more complicated, depending on your viewpoint and experience of the 'CC way'...
this might even mean that an open all year sit with mwd could have even more price variences.....
to me (as the OP states) it just looks like overkill...
if the club werent obsessed with having tiny variances in each of the (multitude of) 'seasons' where they feel 'justified in adding 10p here and there, the table would be a lot more friendly to be greeted with.
other 'seasonal' touring organisations manage to come up with a price matrix thats easier to take in...
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Whilst I haven't actually looked at the pricing matrix for Hillhead (or any other site, CC or otherwise come to that) I do agree that it does seem that club have an unnecessarily complicated pricing system. But why would I look at the price matrix? I choose when I want to go to (any) site, enter the dates, look at the price and if it appears OK I'll book. What happens for the remaining 50 odd weeks of the year is completely irrelevant as far as I'm concerned.
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Would have to disagree about the school holidays regarding the club. It is often the cheapest option when comparing to other local sites for families during these times with the club's offer of kids for a pound on many family sites, free dogs (you take them not given away) and no charge for awnings
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Yes, exactly my point.
+1 as we used to say on the old CT
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M, i stumbled upon it whilst trying to find the site layout (which i failed to find on my first attempt), saw the 'prices/details/more info' (or whatever it says), clicked it and got the price matrix...
interestingly, i also fell foul of the same issue i had last year....i tried to book through to the 3rd Jan (from the 30th Dec...) and it just went back to the date screen, telling me i must fill in a departure date....
after a while, i realised this because dates from 3rd onward arent actually released yet...., ye Gods....
...and in reply to your specic point (and Corner's '+1') it may be that some vanner actually have to look at the prices first, to check that they can actually afford the dates they want, and if not, which dates might be a bit cheaper....
for info, the dates i chose were £32.50 per night...plenty, in my view.
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I agree the pricing structure is unnecessarily complicated. I would also love to stay around and have a nice friendly debate about it, as I used to, but (good news for some), I don't find trying to use this website with an iPad particularly rewarding, so I will bow out!
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I certainly can't fathom why there are so many price options, often only varying by 20p between bands. I find it very untidy. Could we not get away with a peak and non-peak pricing structure for each site with the MWD thrown in for certain parts of the season which are less busy? I appreciate that the only price that matters is for the period you want to stay but sometimes, if planning a tour, you might decide to change the order of sites to get the best price. I suppose from the Club perspective is that with fewer price bands it would highlight the greater difference between seasons which in itself would cause some debate.
David
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here's a radical suggestion....
how about 'low/medium/high'
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They can do it at some sites. Morvich for instance only has low and high season, spread across 5 periods between March and November. So why they have to have as many bands at other sites is a mystery.🤔The high season bands are perhaps a bit long, but at £21.50 for a couple, reasonable.
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As I have said before- the clubs first intention is to maintain the huge HO structure, keeping as many people employed thus justifying the £100K+ salaries at the top. Never a thought abount "savings", like getting rid of surplus- no make things complicated between tea breaks. I think its run on the Public sector model.
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BB, I can beat your 51 by 12!! Meathop Fell has MWD, and each week when it is available, is divided into Fri-Sun and Mon-Thurs to reflect the MWD and the non-MWD, a total of 63!! Mind you, I suppose I'm cheating
beacuse Meathop is open all year as opposed to Hillhead.This was discussed a few weeks ago in a thread whose title I can't remember now. I said then that I can't understand why it is necessary anyway to display the price for MWD separately, can't people work out what 50% off the full pitch fee is anymore?
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In the case of Hillhead the kids for a quid is restricted to short periods outside the main family holiday times. i.e. Available from 17 Mar-25 May and 1 Oct-2 Jan inclusive
The sites that have the family friendly kids for a quid at family holiday times are:
Battle, Brecon Beacons, Buford, Chapel Lane, Cirencester Park, Culloden Moor, Dolaucothi Estate, Exebridge Lakeside, Forfar, Lidalia, Putts Corner, Strathclyde, Tewkesbury, The Ranch, Troutbeck Head
That is 15 of 23 sites with the offer that actually is available in family holiday periods. Which reinforces the above view of a greedy organisation that promotes 'Special Offers' & 'Kids Discounts' that upon examination are smoke and mirrors that can only have been designed to fleece people not savvy enough to examine the detail.
As a family in our experience thus far the highest fees for less are at CC sites across the year. The family holiday periods have seen the CC to have an uplift of around 60% against non family holiday periods and for us drives us away unless there is a specific reason for using a particular CC site in the family holiday periods. e.g. last summer we stayed at Chatsworth, a CC site that apparently is impossible to get into in the school summer holidays where we booked 3 weeks prior to arrival, the serviced pitch area we were pitched in had 56% occupancy, the rest of the site 80% and we paid the highest site fees ever, £40.30. The second site in that holiday was £23 for a serviced pitch large enough to drive round to position the caravan without unhitching. We chose that site for it's close proximity to Alton Towers. It had more play facilities for children than Chatsworth too.
I wrote a story illustrating our first years caravanning that recorded the fees we paid for what in that year, and will make it an annual story.
To our mind the CC has a long way to go to be a family friendly holiday choice in family holiday periods, despite the headlines. Our prime driver is site fees. We have an expectation of inflated costs at family holiday times, but exercise our choice and choose not to pay the inflated fees the CC foists upon it's family members.
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On top of this you also have the point I raised recently (and still waiting for my promised response from the club) about peak season being applied apparently randomly a couple of weeks earlier than usual.
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I think that you'll be very lucky if you get a reasoned explanation from HO. They've never given one in the past to similar questions.
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..nor me, Alan, but as i said upthread....there are members who 'have' to check prices before they book and search out the best value as the arent able to be as laissez-faire about site fees as you and i can be...
with 'prices' and the cost of touring being an extremely popular topic on the forum, youd think the club would make things a bit easier to understand and to appear less daunting (and penny pinching).
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The prices are still there to be seen however BB. When I have used commercial sites on occasion their prices have not seemed far removed from CC member prices. Often less than two pound more or sometimes just under two pounds less. Of course some sites give a discount on a full week booking but that is not of interest to me personally.
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With all due respect I think its is you who is using smoke and mirrors !
You are quoting £40 for Chatsworth but that is on a service pitch which on today prices accounts for £4.90 bringing your total down to around £35. In two sites near to Chatsworth, Greenhills and Laneside, a family of 4 would be £35 and £32. Not too different really. However these non club sites will charge extra for dogs, pup tents, and children are only children up to 15, it is 17 in the club.
Also Troutbeck head works out at £33 per night while a few miles away at the Quiet site it will £37 per night for a family of four.
I had a four of four children and the club always worked out cheaper than non club sites for the same standard. Yes there are cheaper sites if you want the reduction in quality. Of course one caravaner's view of quality is different to another's but Chatsworth is a pretty well booked up site.
But really if you knew the cost of the Chatsworth in advance and it was too high , I have to ask why did you go?
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If they have to check prices then that is what they have to do. It's hardly solving a complicated problem, or let the booking system do it for you. You don't confirm your booking till you have seen the price
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I wonder if that's actually true, BB?
Look, I do agree with you that the club pricing structure is unecessarily complicated, but are there really loads of members out there thinking "we'll go to xxxx at the start of June - oh, hang on if we go in the middle of June it'll be 10p cheaper per night".
I just don't think so, but then who actually knows?
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I never choose any campsite by price alone. I decide which area in Britain I want to tour and then I then choose a site which is convenient as a base. It might be a CC site, a C&CC site a CL or CS or even a commercial site like one of those affiliated to either of the two Camping Organisations.
Once I have decided where I will be staying, I don't care to then shop around to find a lesser site just to save a few bob per night. -- I am on holiday after all.
Just pay the going rate for the time you choose, for the site you choose and have a nice holiday.---- Worrying about the minutia of pricing policies is certainly not in my agenda.
But we are all different - Live and let live.
Cheers............................K
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