Motorhome users abandoned by the Club
The club is still ignorant of the difference between caravan use and motorhome use.
Caravan users book ahead, set up and stay for a week or longer, and use a car to travel about. Motorhome users go where the wind takes them, do not tend book ahead, often find the only site in the area is fully booked on arrival.
If the "Caravan Club" deserves its new name of "Caravan and Motorhome Club" a change of policy such as the following is required:
"On arriving at a site without a booking, if a pitch is available the member is expected to book and pay for the pitch. If there are no pitches available the club is expected to allow the member to empty & fill their tanks for a nominal fee circa £5.00.
This is a fair approach.
The club's current policy of "refuse to help and turn members away" is attrocious. The club says it has this policy to deter from promoting wild camping. If the sites are fully booked, there is no choice but to wild camp. If the club refuses to allow members to empty and fill their tanks in a safe environment, the club is promoting fly tipping of tank waste.
Come on CaMC its 2020 not 1920, the world has changed, you are missing out on an opportunity because you really do not understand the new 50% of your market.
Create aires.
Moderator Edit:
As this topic has been discussed numerous times in the past, I'm locking it.
If you aren't happy with this club's policies, you need to contact the club direct, as members of this forum aren't able to do anything other than express an opinion.
Comments
-
Create aires? That’s laughable. Where are you going to find the space and the funding?
The club's stance on allowing folk not booked on site to use the service points has been made clear and I’m afraid starting yet another discussion about it on the forum won't change their view.
Have you tried C&CC? You can do what you suggest on their sites for around £7.
2 -
This MHer has never felt abandoned. We tour our on a whim, hopping from Site to Site, sometimes only a single night, sometimes more. We mix up our Sites, Club, CL, small private. Not an issue.
3 -
Motorhome users go where the wind takes them, do not tend book ahead, often find the only site in the area is fully booked on arrival.
We certainly adopt that approach when we go to France. However, with reference to CAMC sites, they are popular particularly at weekends, so we book. The CAMC have a very good policy in this respect with no minimum number of nights. As a member you have the same chance as anyone else of getting a booking.
If you choose not to book and the site is full you will have to look elsewhere, but don't blame them for not allowing you to fill with water. They have a clear policy in that regard. I am unclear why you bring up dumping waste, as surely you would have done that before you left the previous site.
2 -
I'm sorry, but where to you get your information from? Motorhome members book ahead just like caravan owners, Try being a member wanting to stay somewhere for a week and all the weekends are booked out therefore you can only stay for a few days. On the sites I would like to stay on I can get a full week in October!
1 -
Edg1e
As a seemingly new member to this forum you may be unaware that this has been discussed quite a few times before. I think to convince you would have to accompany your suggestion with some sort of business plan to justify the change. The CMC provide campsites for , in the main, caravanners and motorhomers that wish to stay on site. There are all sorts of logistical reasons why non staying motorhomes should not be allowed on site to empty and refill. One being that it would increase the traffic on the site as most emptying points are not accessible near to site entrances. It would also mean that Reception would have to be manned for more hours. I suppose there is another aspect in that should the Club be encouraging people to use their motorhomes for wild camping when in most circumstances that is not legal? Whether Aires are provided (not the responsibility of the Club) is really to do with local authorities and many still remain unconvinced they should provide parking for motorhomes let along designated parking areas. There are a few notable exceptions.
David
0 -
I'm not a Motorhome owner but I have some sympathy for Edg1e's post. I admit that the sites I know best are overseas (and there will be squeals about me posting in this UK section) but many overseas sites have responded to the different needs of Motorhomers in a way that Club sites have not.
The sites I use overseas are very often divided into different sections -with an area of wide pitches for car + caravan + awning + aquarolls, but a separate area of narrow pitches for motorhomes who don't need or want that width - and of course the smaller pitches carry smaller prices.
This Club has not adapted its sites in that way, but has doggedly stuck to a one size fits all policy. So motorhomes and caravans get the same standardised spacing whether they need it, or want it, or not. If there were separate Motorhome sections on a site then well designed waste water emptying grids could be placed in that area where they are needed- and motorhomes could come and go as Edg1e said, and without disturbing the rest of the site.
But even where the Club is embarking on a complete redesign of a site this sort of separate Motorhome provision is not being properly considered. I can understand the frustration which Motorhome members express.
0
