Club comparisons...

Colin The Card
Colin The Card Forum Participant Posts: 1
edited May 2021 in Club Membership #1

I suspect a lot of members are also members of other clubs and groups. I'm also a member of the Caravan and Camping Club, the Motor Caravaners Club and our own Owners Group. I was delighted to be informed by the Caravan and Camping Club that they effectively reducing their membership fees this year by 3 months and the site fees do not appear to have increased either. We are attending a wedding near Leek over August bank holiday, so naturally we will be staying over for 3 nights in the motorhome.

Now oddly, both the Caravan and Motorhome Home Club and the Camping and Caravan Club have club sites and are actually adjacent to each other. So naturally we compared costs. Over the 3 nights, the C&CC is over £30 cheaper! Last year I noted something similar at the Sandringham sites. Yes there is a difference in the way the sites are kept maybe, but £10 a night's worth?

I don't know why the "Club" is now doing Temporary Holiday sites when they are in t he £30 a night bracket when the competition offers the same or similar events for between £8 and £12.

I have just paid my membership fees for this year, but I think I'll be going to CLs from now on.

Comments

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 9,383
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    edited May 2021 #2

    Yes CL do seem to be growing in popularity. The pop up sites are expensive because the Club provides electricity but even so they are still expensive for what they are. I can personally go without EHU so instead of the Beaulieu pop up I would use one of the Camping in the Forest sites or even a C&CC's THS. On my next trip out I have two CLs booked, a C&MC non facility site, a C&CC site and finally a C&MC full fat site. A good mix I think. The C&CC site, Sandringham, is £10p.n. cheaper than the adjacent C&MC site for the same type of pitch.

    peedee

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,135 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2021 #3

    It is what it is. We can use whatever sites suit and remain members of whichever club suits. Once they no longer fit our bill, we can walk away. In other words, if it's not what we want, we can go elsewhere. That's really all there is to it and I don't see the point of making comparisons which will achieve nothing.

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,425 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2021 #4

    Isn't a variety of site prices, standards, and facilities a good thing? It would be awful if everything was the same, what might suit me won't suit some else and vice versa.

    Just choose the site and price that gives you what you want for the price you want. 

  • Unknown
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    edited May 2021 #5
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  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,135 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2021 #6

    I said  "…I don't see the point of making comparisons which will achieve nothing"  which isn’t quite the same thing.

    Obviously price comparisons do achieve something for the end user.

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,425 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2021 #7

    And all we have is simple prices, no comparison of facilities, grass or HS, SP or anything else. These things help in deciding if that extra £10 is worth it.

  • Unknown
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    edited May 2021 #8
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  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,425 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2021 #9

    Having not been that way I have no idea if the two sites are the same, even with your analysis, after all we are all different in what we like and see.

    And I'm not sure what your last sentence is trying to say. I merely posted that other things play a part in deciding if something is worth the extra money, not everyone has seen them as you have so my post still stands.

  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited May 2021 #10

    we've been to Leek site .... as my BIL said .... Leek is bleak!

  • Unknown
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    edited May 2021 #11
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  • EmilysDad
    EmilysDad Forum Participant Posts: 8,973
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    edited May 2021 #12

    it was where the phantom leaf blower was apparently practicing her skills during a storm when there wasn't a stray leaf within a mile of the place.

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,299 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2021 #13

    We have yet to stay at a C&CC site, despite being members for over a year, due to covid. So I can’t comment on the quality etc. However, those I have booked for non peak this year are substantially less than standard CAMC prices due to the age related discount. The one we have booked for August when ARD does not apply is slightly more than the average CAMC site. In all cases the prices are for HS with EHU. For us at least it would seem the main difference is the age related discount. Without that there would not be much to choose between them as far as price is concerned.

  • peedee
    peedee Club Member Posts: 9,383
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    edited May 2021 #14

    For us at least it would seem the main difference is the age related discount. Without that there would not be much to choose between them as far as price is concerned.

    Its still cheaper Steve, in rthe case of Sandringham by £5p.n. I am on the home straight for veteran membership so it is going to get even cheaper.

    peedee

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,135 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2021 #15

    Don’t get too excited, PD. Veteran membership only saves £21 or £24 per year depending on the type of membership.😀

  • moulesy
    moulesy Forum Participant Posts: 9,402 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited May 2021 #16

    We were members of both clubs for many years and stayed on all sorts of sites. Primarily, we used C&CC sites for their location in transit, good examples being Wolverley and Kingsbury Water Park. There were others that we used (for short stays) for their own location such as Polstead, Devizes and Cheddar. For longer stays we nearly always chose CAMC sites until discovering some great CLs.

    Location was always the major factor, price hardly ever a factor although, as Steve says the ARD undoubted made C&CC sites slightly cheaper.

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited May 2021 #17

    one of the key differences is the availability of the huge diary of Temp Hol Sites with C&CC, usually requiring no booking and many sites are close or right in town centres (RFC/school sports grounds etc) which are priced from around £9-£12 pupn.

     

  • kenexton
    kenexton Forum Participant Posts: 306
    edited May 2021 #18

    We have been members of the CMC for 32 years and the CCC for 29 years.They are different but both have a range of site types and variations of quality within their offer to Members.We have recently left the CCC Winchcombe site which is a worthy rival to a CMC site in all respects.Our previous site at Moreton in Marsh,although still excellent,is looking slightly tired by comparison.The CMC sites do generally seem to be of a marginally higher standard but,as stated earlier,not universally so.

    The CMC do seem to have a policy of frequent upgrading of most of their sites whereas the CCC do tend to "blitz" a site and then neglect it for several years,until another complete refurb is required,

    "Little and often" by the CMC or "do it up and move on to the next one" by the CCC.

    CL or CS ?No real differences in the analysis-some are good others less so under both flags.

    For us the  CCC does definitely score with their DA's THS offers,we have had some really enjoyable times at them.In 32 years of CMC membership we have only been  to two CMC Rallies and we found them both  to be a bit too "cliquish" for our taste  but I accept that this may be an unfair judgement by us.

    Both Clubs are well worth the relatively small cost of membership,given what they both have to offer.

  • redface
    redface Forum Participant Posts: 1,701
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    edited May 2021 #19

    Just wait another week or two and I have no doubt that you will be able to 'Go Compare'.

    I live in hope!

     

    Before you ask - no it is not a town in kent.

  • allanandjean
    allanandjean Forum Participant Posts: 2,401
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    edited May 2021 #20

    "For us the CCC does definitely score with their DA's THS offers,we have had some really enjoyable times at them.In 32 years of CMC membership we have only been to two CMC Rallies and we found them both to be a bit too "cliquish" for our taste but I accept that this may be an unfair judgement by us."

    We have been members of the club since 1991. We joined to make use of Red Penant and now remain to use a CL a couple of hindered yards from our daughter and to make great savings on ferry costs.

    We were members of ccc once, after we stayed at on of their sites and it was cheaper to join than pay the non members fee. 

    Our closest friends are ccc members, caravanners when we met, we had a tent, and they would camp with their DA most weekends.

    They tell us that it is not how it used to be and that their DA is almost defunct as, like the club, finding people prepared to run rallies is difficult but their description of rallies & THS, often  field/tap/cess pit etc holds no appeal to us.

    We find rallies a great way to stay at decent sites for a reasonable price and get as involved, or not, as we feel and have on a few occasions experienced things being 'cliquish' however, as we almost always camp with friends who knows how others view our little group.

    I would say that our first ever rally nearly put us off with the two stewards and wives dressing in their finery for the Sunday Flagpole and marching, single file, to a gazebo where the sat like royalty but it was so funny that we just laughed it off.

    We have been on two week rallies whre we have hardly any contact and others where it can be almost daily and have never felt pressure to get involved more than we wish to.

    We have considered the ccc a number of times but, at the moment, cant see that it will add anything to our camping.

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited May 2021 #21

    Yesterday I booked my first two sites, both C&CC, of my Scottish tour. At less than £17 per night, CAMC doesn't even come close. They will do what I need. Why would I pay somewhere approaching double that for CAMC "quality"?

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,135 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2021 #22

    Apart from that, there are gaps in CAMC's coverage of Scotland.

    Have you chosen C&CC Dingwall over CAMC Culloden? If so, you'll not regret it. It's what we have nearly always done. The town is on the doorstep via the riverside path.

  • young thomas
    young thomas Forum Participant Posts: 11,356
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    edited May 2021 #23

    "They tell us that it is not how it used to be and that their DA is almost defunct as, like the club, finding people prepared to run rallies is difficult but their description of rallies & THS, often field/tap/cess pit etc holds no appeal to us."

    the 'appeal' is that these sites dont need to be booked and are often allowed in places where a site wouldnt be...Lancing College, 2 sites in Lymington, Exmouth-Weymouth-Wareham RFC, Burton Bradstock, the lovely Ballard School in New Milton to name just a few...

    with a MH with decent water tanks, we only fill once and empty once as that sustains us for five days incl showers...emptying a cassette is no less 'pleasant' (more unpleasant?) at these places than on a club site.

    add in the ease of moving from one to another (with no booking) and you can easily make for a summer long tour at a tenner a night.

    we dont go to 'rally' or 'get involved', merely to make use of very convenient locations that often require no driving but also provide good local walking and cycling..and to visit further afield places, just gomto the next local THS.

    mix these with a few CL and you have (for us) the best of both worlds, when we arent (cant be) in the sun on a full fat 5* site.

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,425 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2021 #24

    Apart from you make it sound as anyone has been urging you to do just that, you echo my point I've made many times, find the site/quality you want and the price you want and go with it. If the CAMC doesn't do that for you, or 'one', then go where it does. 

    Good to know you've made a good start.

  • vbfg
    vbfg Forum Participant Posts: 504
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    edited May 2021 #25

    Some very interesting and informative comments on how the Clubs differ.  I joined CCC a few years ago but for various reasons (including finding out that some sites have a minimum 2 or 3 night stay) only stayed on 2 sites, Windermere and Barrnard Castle so left after one year  I think that if you are available to tour for all or most of the year, then it is worthwhile to join both Clubs, but I was still working at the time so did not find it so.  As Leek has been mentioned in this thread, I was wondering if anyone knows if the dog walk on the CMHC Leek site, is now enclosed.

  • DavidKlyne
    DavidKlyne Club Member Posts: 13,857 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2021 #26

    It would be a bit pointless if both Clubs were identical? We belong to both but its getting on for two years since we stayed at a C&CC site, obviously COVID didn't help. For us it is the location of sites which are important and sometimes CMC site are more convenient and at other times C&CC sites are in better places. Sometimes its a difficult choice in places like Cambridge where I feel the C&CC  site is better than the CMC Cherry Hinton although probably  the latter is marginally better for transport links. I think the CMC achieve a consistently higher standard with general facilities compared to the C&CC. If you are where you want to be does it matter what Club?

    David

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,135 ✭✭✭
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    edited May 2021 #27

    I wonder if the OP has anything to add?