CL Price Rises
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We stayed at a lovely cl in Wisbech two weeks ago. It was £17 a night. ehu, toilet/shower (designed for disabled), all harstanding and believe it or not a free washing machine. The owners were lovely couple and quite philosophical about their prices and cl future. They are not in business for a profit but do make a small sum. Next year their price will rise by just £1 per night, nothing like some of the price rises we are seeing.
After hearing some of the comments on here and social media about suggested price structure from the club I was interested to hear that their cl inspector had suggested the installation of a drive over drain for motorhomes and suggested they could recoup the cost by charging more. I could tell from their body language what they thought of that. I made no comment.
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I suspect many who use CLs will do as we do, search around for what gives us the best value in a location we like. If there up isn’t a CL, we will use alternatives where we can.
Once living with COVID becomes the norm, and more folks head off overseas again, things will settle down, and it remains to be seen how many of the newer CLs will have got their provision and pricing right. The younger generation of tourers are the future, not sure how many of these will be happy to pay some of the current prices, a good few members of our family tour in smaller more “hip” outfits and it’s all about location for them. None are inclined to join the Clubs.We are going to be back out in September, probably heading NE. Going to make up some kind of tour like we did in D&G, mix of provision.
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I wouldn't want CLs, especially grass sites, being encouraged to put in drive over wastes. I'm happy that CLs aren't Club sites and believe this sort of change can only push the price upwards.
There are many threads on here about Club prices and members moving to or sticking with CLs. I'd hate to see a trend where even these are gradually pushed beyond members' reach.
I certainly wouldn't be paying £25 for a CL...a washing machine might be useful for those on a long tour but hard standings can't be essential between May and September (main touring season) and most manage to discharge grey waste into hedges via a bucket, hose or other water carrier. Is a shower a necessity?
all these extra features might make a CL feel more Club like to those trying them out, but if it's pushing a price from, say, £17 to £25 then that's the equivalent of a 3 for 2 deal with folk being able to stay 50% longer at the lower price. That's a huge difference over a touring season.
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The CLs are being advised by the Club. The Club caters primarily for its core Membership of getting older, wanting things as easy as possible, little to no physical effort on sites. It all costs money. You can only hope that those who invest heavily initially get the returns they need.
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I wonder how many CL customers (the ones that actually us and pay for the site) chat to the site owner about installing drive over wastes?
even for 'older members' adding a few more taps to reduce water humping for caravanners might help, but this is hardly ground breaking stuff.
adding showers, drive over wastes, washing machines etc is a different scale and will require investment that needs to be recouped.
is the cake worth the candle?
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Although the owner says a £1 price rise next year the cost of energy for all of us is very unpredictable and I can see big price and spending adjustments coming along. If the predicted price rises are correct and adjustments haven't yet been for other factors eg shortages due to the Ukraine war we're all in for income drops.
So to be honest we'll all be affected by price changes and unfortunately they're not going to be good for any of us. (If our home energy bill goes up as predicted when our fixed rate ends we will be several hundred pounds out of pocket each month.
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The attitude of farmers down here - where the peaks and troughs of visitor numbers are so seasonal - is that recouping those installation costs is a lot easier for a family run site with planning permission for 20 pitches than it is for a CL limited to 5 vans, no tents, no non members, and therefore no overseas visitors.
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IMHO CL's should stick to the KISS principle, requiring relatively low investment and therefore able to offer competitive prices and probably more 'bums on seats'. Too much 'bells and whistles' and consequent higher price requirement will most likely result in lower turnover and a choice between going full commercial or cutting losses and packing it in.
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Indeed, just Googling anticipated electricity cost and 51p per Kw hour could well be the going domestic rate by the end of the year. I don’t know how they relate to business usage but I believe they pay more vat. At those rates you don’t need an RV to burn much to make a £15 / £17 charge unrealistic, particularly in the colder months. It’s certainly going to be a bit of a shock when our fixed price deal comes to an end.☹️
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I would agree with that. Once prices get close to £25 folk start looking at other options..
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We are just into the last year of a two year deal, missing the big jumps so far.
however, by spending the three coldest winter months sat by the med with cheap gas and, so far, cheap electric on site, it goes a mighty long way to keeping annual costs down.
add in a couple of months in Le Sud in Autumn and that's another portion of rising costs avoided.
yes, we have to pay £320 for a return ferry but it sounds like that's recovered in a month if the 'forecasts' are to be believed.
we've just looked at a large commercial site in Devon and they charge £5.50 a day for electric!
with plenty of solar on the van, we didn't require electric to 'run the van' (tv, bike and iPad/phone charging all via solar powered USB) for three months in Spain other than for OH hairdryer, 5 mins a day.
we've just had nine days on a non EHU site in Weymouth, so no charges there.
I guess folk will either have to endure the rising costs, reduce/end their vanning days or look for a cheaper alternative by using modern technology.
Even in the UK in this sort of weather, a 100-150w panel and a decent battery would allow someone to do without a hook up with just a couple of simple changes...12v tv, use 12v USB charging sockets rather than mains (which just converts the voltage down anyway).If electric prices are going to be say £5 or more a day, then that solar panel looks like a good return.
it'll be interesting to see where the 'base price' goes to for a nice grass pitch CL with hookup and no more. Perhaps that £25 might be the number. If so, it will stop many from using them...IMHO of course.
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Campers with tents want toilets and showers - they don’t have their own.
Caravanners want their own tap and EHU which they can hook up to.
Motorhomers want hard roadways and pitches or else they get stuck.
Everyone wants laundry and drying facilities.
The site owners who invest in those things get customers.
A limit of five outfits simply isn’t profitable down here.
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£25 a night would not be a deal breaker for me. However I do have several stipulations about CL's which is often not easy to achieve. Location is the main one as I want a CL to be near things, so an easy walk to town or village - less than a mile. Alternatively public transport within half a mile. Site facilities - Hardstanding level pitch, services pitches and EHU. Don't need toilet/showers and depending on the grey water regime on site might not need a drive over motorhome waste point. There are some CL's that meet this requirement but not many.
David
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I'm not that surprised, David.
for five months in high season, hardstandings can't be a huge priority...grass will be firm...this year incredibly so.
similarly, having a MH you'll have a reasonable amount of off grid capability, solar perhaps? is that hook up that vital for a few days?
Also, most MH water tanks would support several days without the need to refill. But if you do need to top up, a watering can full (or two) every day (or two) surely isn't too trying? Is that service pitch (a rarity on CLs) really a 'requirement'?
location, I can't help you with but I guess your list of requirements means you don't use many (any?) CLs?
If you don't drive the MH, don't ride a bike and can't walk very far then it's obvious that 'location' assumes a very high importance for you in site choice.
perhaps if you did achieve all your requirements then I can see that you might think they would make a site, even a CL, worth £25.
for those that don't need a hardstanding, a serviced pitch or a hook up that £25 looks mightily expensive. Add in those users are better able to 'get about' and location becomes a little less important, giving an even wider choice at lower prices.
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Need to go to a launderette or laundry?
You could have one of these on hand instead
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Caravanners want their own tap and EHU which they can hook up to.
Motorhomers want hard roadways and pitches or else they get stuck.
Everyone wants laundry and drying facilities
That is blatantly not true, et. We, and many others don't want a tap of our own, although having one is ok, we also don't need for a site owner to provide laundry and drying facilites, as we, and others again, have our/their own washer/spinner which is taken away when on tour. There are plenty of M/H owners who do not demand a hard roadway or pitches, and are just careful when they use grass pitches and where unsavoury up. There are also many caravanners that are quite content with a grass pitch a single tap on the site and no EHU.
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I think your are so far off beam as to be somewhere over the horizon. It's quite obvious just how many CLs you use.....Zero.
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others who post and read posts especially the newer users are it seems very much wanting extras to almost compare with full fat club sites but at a cheaper price
And we have used Cls in the past but Not in the last few years with OHs condition most would be incompatible as she now needs full disabled facilities
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So your experience is old and you base your view on hearsay of a few posters on CT. 🤔
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You would then be very surprised to learn of just how many of the, for want of a better word, "basic" CLs are well, if not fully, occupied during the year. It does depend on the area they are situated, but they are still being well used, and not just by the "older" generation.
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Not so JV🤷🏻♂️, most demanders of ‘full fat club site’ requests I’ve see are on CT. Those that like the more tranquil sites tend to just get on with it. I don’t remember you ever waxing lyrical of the joys of basic sites.
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With the large amount of reviews of Cls that appear on CT above the few who it seems are mostly motor caravan users
Very surprised that some of the posters who have to posted with the usual expected type of reply
Do not seem to give reviews or not use them
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Other than for bedding, we hand wash clothes when long terming. Little and often seems to be an effective way of keeping up without the need for a machine, on site or our own.
of course, being in the sunshine it's pretty much t-shirts, short and undies only. Dries pretty quickly, too.
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