C&CC closing sites
Comments
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You're right David, but the French (or the Spanish, Germans etc) don't pay for a ferry crossing or insurance to enjoy the 'non minimalist' sites they have and expect in their own country at the price levels you mention.
Whilst many do have a family involvement this has little bearing on how the service ethic is approached with dedicated staff manning different elements of the business...
also, it's certainly not always family members who 'run the desk' at many large sites. As AD suggests, some (like our destination site for January) have several staff (man and women) manning the desk all day from 8am till 10pm dealing with all manner of queries, holiday/pitch booking changings, organising excursions, bus tours, restaurant bookings, help with doctors, dentists et al....all in multiple languages.
As ET mentions, these aren't cheap family members who are 'helping out' to keep costs down, but young professionals folk doing a top class job, hopefully for a decent wage.
It would certainly open some folks eyes to see a busy top class continental site's reception area in full swing.
also, I wonder how 'the children's play area' mentioned above compares to some Ive seen with basketball, football, boules, table tennis, tennis, many others even including golf and archery!
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We have similar non club sites here, popular with those who like big sites and amenities. UK sites have to provide more indoor facilities to cope with our weather. Expenses increase pro rata.
However I agree with Euror that the club employment model isn't working as well as it did and this is the sticking point regarding keeping sites open and attracting staff.
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There are EasyT, sadly, the Club is gradually losing most of its minimalist offerings. Or they are the first to be closed (Nunnykirk, Marazion) if staffing is an issue, or they aren’t raking in the money like other Sites.☹️
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I know what I regard as ”minimalist” in terms of UK. A pitch, a tap, a waste point, refuse recycling area and CDP. I’d include a hook up of 6-10amps nowadays. Any landscaping would be a bonus, and there are indeed such lovely Sites all over the UK. From a Club point of view, it will have minimal staff looking after things, and generally being around to manage the Site. Think Marazion, Bromyard Downs, Notgrove. Basically, staffed CLs with more pitches.
Beyond this provision, you are into the realms of extras, toilet blocks, showers, drive over waste points, taps at every pitch, greater ampage at hook ups, playgrounds, swimming pools, on site cafes, drive over waste points. Actual Sites will vary in terms of what extras they provide. All will have more staff on Site.
Beyond this and it gets larger and more commercial like.
Nothing wrong with any of the provision, there are devotees of all kinds enjoying themselves.
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It’s good to know Peedee. We are looking at simple overnight pull ins for our Winter tour. Just somewhere legal and safe to sleep, as we move around from places of interest.
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Did you not say "How do you know that club sites are run on a shoestring?" All I was suggesting was that for what the Club provides it is done at a minimal cost. BTW I have no objection to that as it provides campsites I like using and in many ways its good that they do because it keeps prices down. Club sites with no facilities are run with a warden couple small and medium sites with facilities are run with two warden couples and bigger sites get a corresponding increase in staff. We are currently on a Club site, 81 pitches. Next door is a commercial site with probably more pitches but it has a very nice cafe and shop which we used yesterday very nice it was to. I don't know where you buy your Costa coffee? Usual price £2.50/£3.00 depending on size. It's a long time since I last purchased coffee in Europe but it was certainly similar price to the UK and smaller cups!!!
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I do not think you can say that most Club sites are like the one you have just visited.
In our experience, very few have games rooms, many have only a minimal play area, often only suitable for toddlers. Our toddler was bored after he had used the small slide a few times, and there was not much else provided. All have disabled facilities, but some could do with improvement, as could quite a few of the facility blocks, and plenty do not have family or toddler rooms.
Serviced pitches......plenty of sites do not have those, and those that do usually only have 5-10 such pitches. I have yet to see an electric tractor on a site.
If younger members with small children are to be attracted, there does need to be more provision of good play areas and suitable facilities.
Our daughter has now joined us, with her 2 little ones, a few times, and they have borrowed our van twice now. None of the Club sites within a reasonable driving distance of our home, where a family might want to go, have a good play area, or improved facility blocks, or serviced pitches, so not much to attract families with toddlers.
Older children you can take out and about more easily, but with toddlers you do tend to spend a bit more time on the site.
The 2 trips they have done unaccompanied have been to commercial sites with great play areas and serviced pitches, and the one they are on at present has superb facility blocks. Prices have been equivalent to Club sites, or less, as serviced pitches come in at only £2 extra. One had large pitches, well spaced, the current one is less spacious in parts, and not helped by some units not being sited as directed.
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I never think of Club Sites as a holiday destination to be honest, so perhaps am out of touch with what families require. To me they are just somewhere to site mobile accommodation, primarily to sleep in, wash in, maybe eat in, after a day off the Site exploring the surrounding area. Surely this is what most families do when on holiday? Visit parkland, a swimming pool, a play park, the beach, the zoo, go cycling, go walking, go pony trekking, Go Ape etc.......
If Club Sites have to provide lots and lots of extra amenities actually on the Site, the fees are going to be quite high. This is more Center Parc’s, Butlins territory I would have thought? Some Club Sites are ideal for other activities, such as Yellowcraig near the beach, Clumber inside the NT parkland, Ferry Meadows in Nene Country Park etc....
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Prices will go up, no doubt about it due to rising costs everywhere. Will everyone want to pay higher costs whilst seeing their income being stretched at home is another matter. Recruitment will get harder, incentives probably aren't very good. Where can the tourist leisure industry cut costs?
It looks as though sites large and small in both clubs are affected by the latest staff shortages.
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Well most of the sites I've used have been like that, and that's a lot, you probably use different sites due to your own cost limitations?
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I think you perhaps don't understand what run on a shoestring means? I don't see what the club provides as being that?
In any case do you have any actual costs to support your case?
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Just had an email to say Alderstead heath is closing from Nov til Jan due to staff shortages ,and to cancel my booking and to book Brighton or Abbey wood. I then went on to check Gatwick as I am booked on there for Xmas , this is also closed til Jan due to staff shortages as well as Wyatt covert. I am disappointed that all are closed you would think they would have left one open . As my family life in Crawley and we were visiting beg of dec and Xmas I have now booked a commercial site . Feel that it is bad planning by cmhc.
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I understand your disappointment but I’m not quite sure what the club is meant to do if staff leave or go long term sick, for instance. They can’t magic up replacement wardens from thin air to keep even one site open if such people either don’t exist or aren’t willing to work.
I hope you enjoy the alternative site.
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If that is true, I find it utterly shocking. If I had real evidence to support this claim my letter would be winging its way to HQ immediately.
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Run on a shoestring means that it is run using very little money.
I agree entirely with Cornersteady that club sites are surely far from that. I dread to think of the costs involved staffing sites, paying for waste clearance, buying cleaning products and other consumables, computers, internet, telephone, stationery, repairs, grass and grounds maintenance, machinery, machinery maintenance, electricity and lots more I have not yet thought of.
I think there is confusion here. CMC sites (or most of them anyway) have no fancy facilities like cafés or bars or restaurants or swimming pools and such like. (And all the better for that in my view.) They are essentially basic, but they are of good quality. Being basic, but of good quality is absolutely not the same as being run on a shoestring.
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