Email regarding price increases
Comments
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Is this price increase exclusively for this club.?
people plan ahead for holidays they budget for what they can afford.If you have planned your holiday budget and have already booked it’s not ideal to have a price increase.
I am also a member of The Caravan and camping club and as far as I am aware they have no price increase
I agree a price increase for new bookings but not if you have planned and booked already.😭😭😭😭
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The Club has previous form for upping its prices from those originally given. It happened two years in a row in the past. Bookings made at the old price (the first given) were honoured though, as we had booked for an event six months into a new year, and got the old price in the September when we arrived on Site, the staff knew all about it, and it was quickly re calculated for us. Not sure if this is the case this time around, not that clear from Email. Substantially greater increase as well.
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Is this price increase exclusively for this club.?
If the C&CC increase their prices it will not be so visible because they operate a bit like the airlines, prices vary according to demand.
A commercial site I use regularly (2/3 times a year) which opened on the 1st March has not so far increased its prices. However a CL I use has but I was advised at the time of booking what the new price would be.
I don't see many sites not taking the opportunity to raise prices. With the rise in energy costs, most of us expect it.
peedee
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Lots of folks saying they "rarely use club sites anyway", interested to know what other benefits are reaped from being a paid up member if not "perceived" savings on the non-member price of pitches.
To the email/letter... What irks me is the total lack of consultation and a familiar move to increasing prices as a "first" resort. What about doing away with the very expensive (monetary, energy, environmental) costs of producing the magazine? Go to PDF and CAMC would save many thousands, maybe enough to ride the storm...
Increase are as sure as death and taxes but come on CAMC, think a bit more about your fee paying "Club" members first rather than your profits...
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Well you get access to the CL network, which a lot of members use more than the sites. As to the mag. It has been mentioned in the past it is more or less paid for by advertising revenue. Would they get the same level of advertising to a purely PDF copy? I’ve no idea just raising the question. The production costs in staff time would be similar, they just wouldn’t have the printing and distribution. If these are indeed covered by advertising, there would be no net gain, if that was lost as a result of the change.
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This is appalling, I have booked in good faith at the confirmed price as per their T&C's
3. Booking and Paying for your Arrangements
A booking is made with us when you complete our booking process and we issue you with a booking confirmation.
A binding contract will come into existence between you and us as soon as we have issued you with a booking confirmation that will confirm the details of your booking. Upon receipt, if you believe that any details on the booking confirmation or any other document are wrong you must advise us immediately.
If they are concerned with the amount of energy consumed by caravaners then each pitch should be metered with any above average usage charged to that pitch. We don't all turn up bringing half the house with us, fridges, additional lights, sofas etc.
How much more increases can we sustain along with fuel & taxes before we decide its not worth leaving your front door. I am seriously considering cancelling my membership and going over to the C&CC whose membership is cheaper.
As mentioned above its getting to the point where it would be cheaper to stay at a Travel Lodge.. Caravan Club & M needs to listen to its membership or risk losing them.
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This is appalling, I have booked in good faith at the confirmed price as per their T&C's
The T&C’s, as shown earlier in this thread, do allow for price increases. I feel it is unrealistic to expect any company to absorb the unprecedented energy rises. At the end of the day, currently you have paid nothing and are free to cancel.
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With the increases in gas and electricity prices, increase in petrol/diesel prices, and inflation in general, there will come a point where "something has to give" for many of us, and holidays in the caravan or MH would certainly be high on our list, along with being more careful with our gas and electricity at home, and planning things like shopping better, to minimise car use.
The increase in prices on Club sites will not affect us much, as we have pretty much given up using them already as we feel they are not value for money. Our use of Club sites has been declining in the last few years, we find no point in paying for facilities we do not need, so are now using a mix of CLs, CCC sites, and small commercials, with CLs being our first choice.
No doubt prices there will also increase, but at least starting from a lower level.
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We have booked a lot of sites this year, more on the level of 3/4 years ago and I reckon site fees will be in the region of £2000. This includes quite a few commercial sites. The previous most expensive year, pre COVID, was about £1700 so I can't say that it is hurting yet. The energy surcharge has yet to be added to that £2000 figure. In the scheme of things there are few holidays we could have that would provide us with so long away (about 70/80 days) for that figure. Even a week long cruise, which we enjoy, would cost more than we are paying for campsites for the entire year!
David
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We are not away as much now as we used to be, previously it was at least 120 days between UK and Europe, as we have volunteered to look after our 2 youngest grandchildren 2 afternoons per week in school terms, plus DD has been keeping me busy with various projects in her house!
And we have been doing stuff at home....work in 1 new bathroom is now back on track, next thing is a new boiler, then a second new bathroom later in the year. The bank balance will have taken quite a hit once all that is done, but after 34 years it does need to be done.
We have 60 nights away booked over 2 trips so far, and probably will have another 30 night trip in September/October. The sites we have booked are averaging around £21 per night, and range from a £15 CL to a £27 commercial at York. Sites near York are never inexpensive, but our previous usual stop at Beechwood Grange is now well over what we feel comfortable paying!
Cruises are not for me, that would be a bit of a busman's holiday as I worked in shipping for over 30 years. Even while working I did get to see quite a bit of the World.......Australia, south tip of South America, South Africa, the Caribbean , the Middle East, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and also spent a lot of time around Norway, Shetland, the Western Isles and the North Sea.
These days I prefer to stay on dry land!
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Kj
I appreciate the Cruising is not for everyone but the point of me mentioning it was an example of the cost comparison for an alternative holiday which are nearly always more expensive than camping holidays even if more expensive sites are used. If at some stage in the future I feel that our hobby is getting beyond my means, taking into account site fees, servicing, depreciation, fuel and insurance I will quit and pursue other alternatives.
David
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Kj, you might be interested to hear that we've just paid nearly the same price per night at Camc Hillhead as we did at a CL in Feb. Both around the £20 mark ( mid week discounts and lower VAT rate at Hillhead.) I don't think it takes much jiggling around to find value for money sites in all sectors. Prices are going up everywhere but there's still a reasonable choice to be had across the network of available sites.
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I don't use club sites a great deal, in fact last year we didn't stay on a single one despite limiting our 100+ nights to the UK.
Obviously you haven't heard of the C.L. network otherwise you would have known of the thousands of members who predominantly use these establishments and many of these members have on previous threads stated that should the C.L. network no longer be under the CAMC remit then they would cancel their membership or not renew.
In addition to this I have already this year received more back through discounts at outdoor clothing shops than the cost of the membership fee.
So I hope this has answered your query.
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Haven't received an email but it doesn't surprise me that the prices are going up.
The CL we will be staying on shortly has increased their price by £3 a night to help cover the cost of electricity. I think given the recent rise in household electricity it was only to be expected that commercial rates would rise to.
Like most on here I'm not happy about it but it is what it is. There will be many that will carry on and pay whatever is asked and just as many that will shop around and look for a better deal.
We are fortunate that we are able to carry on touring just as we have for the last 11 years since retiring. We would rather cut back on other things if it became an issue. As DK says if you take just 1 holiday a year through a travel company you will pay many times more than you would for a year of touring.
While we enjoy all kinds of holidays it would be the fly to ones that would go before our van touring. There might come a time when we will no longer feel up to touring, if and when that happens we have years of holidays to look back on.
I feel that in the coming 18 mths we may see lots of units up for sale.
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Like Ad & TG economising does not, currently, include any thoughts about not having the van!
We took the opportunity to give the van an airing last week and had 4 glorious days in Torbay at Beverley Park.
We both keep saying how great it was just to be in the van, yes we did things, and maybe its the old 'change as good as a rest', but its a feeling that non campers probably wont appreciate.
Beverley Park is not a cheap site but its where we wanted to be and we can all find ways to justify our choices, and another site may have saved a few pounds but would we still be smiling today??
I can see the 'holiday v lifestyle' argument but, looking at all the posts think I will start referring to 'holidaystyle'!
We have had some great non camping holidays, and hope that continues, and there are are endless choices for your 'holidaystyle', but what realistic alternative is there to a 33 day trip visiting 5 countries, in places we want to be and at a time that suits us?
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Yes, I agree to a certain extent brue, though I think you do have more sites to choose from down your way at this time of year than we do up here.
By choice, and having volunteered for GP duties in school term, we only use the van between late March and end of October, so by the time we are ready for our first outing of the year, we are almost into peak Easter prices.
We had booked our usual CAMC site at Banchory for a few nights at the end of this month, with mid week discount it was within our budget. However, DD asked if they could use the van for a week in St Andrews, and they are limited to school holidays, so by the time we would have got to Banchory the prices there would have been over £30 per night, which, for what is on offer, we do not consider to be VFM. A serviced pitch at a very nice commercial site a good bit nearer to Aberdeen would have been a pound or two less. So instead we are booked on a CL at £18 per night.
From there we head eventually to the Moray coast, where many of the sites are large holiday parks, and then south down the A9, the going rate in those areas also seems to be £30+. There are not many CLs, that we have not used already, that would suit us as at that time of year we would want a hard standing, and the CCC site at Nairn is grass only, so choice up that way is pretty limited.
Even if we wanted to go away earlier in March, we have found that a lot of sites are not open till the startof the school Easter break.
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Is there anywhere that shows how much extra they will be charging per night please.
It says some sites will be more than others.
A list of prices per night, could help us whether to even bother with a site if it is 2.50 a night
Thank you
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I have just checked my Chatsworth booking for December, booked over a month ago, and the advertised price is still the same as when I booked. One would have thought they have adjusted the prices to reflect the increase in nightly cost? Perhaps its going to operate on a surcharge basis when you arrive on site? I suspect the reason for a difference in price increase depending on which site might be down to what you pay per night. For example a no facility site (without toilet block) where the prices to stay are quite a bit lower than a full facility site may be at the lower end of the price increase so as not to distort the prices being charged. It looks as if the increase is somewhere in the order of 4 - 10%, Perhaps it would have been simpler just to add a set percentage to the site fee when you arrive on site?
David
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Some have said that the increase should not be applied for bookings already made, and I agree. However, I do understand that the Club's IT systems might not be able to handle such variance.
I do object the variation of price increase 70p-£2.50 depending on site and season. Electricity costs now have a cap Apl- Oct so the Club should offer a flat rate increase per night across all UK sites throughout that period to make it fair to all members. After all the Club is trying to cover their increased expenditure not make additional profit from it.
I also note the comment that these increased prices are based on a standard pitch. Is there a hidden implication that serviced pitches might be charged even more? If so that's most unfair as they are unlikely to use additional electricity.
Club sites are now getting extremely expensive compared to alternatives, particularly at peak times. The Club needs to be aware.
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Electricity costs now have a cap Apl- Oct so the Club should offer a flat rate increase per night across all UK sites throughout that period to make it fair to all members.
Personally I don’t think a flat rate would be fair. Surely the reason for the surcharge is to cover the extra cost of electricity used. That is likely to be higher in April and October and lower July / August, simply due to the increased use of heating in the colder months. Therefore whilst a £2,50 surcharge might be appropriate for April and October, lesser amounts should be charged in the warmer months.
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If the increased costs were not applied to bookings already made it might mean that those booking later (you, perhaps?) could be subsidising the earlier bookers which would hardly be fair. I don't like the increases either but I also don't like unfairness.
We'll have to wait to see exactly how the increases are applied before passing judgement on the club. Let's hope they're handling it in a better way than the fixing of this website🙄
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