Dynamic pricing to be introduced
Comments
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Not necessarily so across the piece...
Its certainly possible that high pitch prices have caused a rethink but it may be that some, myself included, DO retain their membership but do so for reasons other than visiting club sites which might now seem beyond their VFM figure.
Ive just renewed my membership so I'll be 'on the retained list', but we won't be visiting any Club sites. Like plenty of others, we are only in the club now for CL use or other benefits.
retained memberships will continue to bring in a good deal of regular cash but if the 'vans on pitches' numbers don't cut it then we'll see more spontaneous offers and perhaps other price changes🤷🏻♂️
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Ive just renewed my membership so I'll be 'on the retained list', but we won't be visiting any Club sites. Like plenty of others, we are only in the club now for CL use or other benefits.
We are the same, and in fact have rejoined C&CC. We are just completing a trip of 61 nights, and where we would have in the past probably stayed on couple of CC sites, this time we have used 7 CLs and 6 C&CC sites, and the average cost per night was £17:47. Had we used CC sites it would have been an awful lot higher.
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We have re joined C&CC Nellie, after around 25 years away. We were camping last time we were Members, I used to have a couple of camping holidays with my sister, so we used CS sites.
Off to our first CS tomorrow in fact, Mow Cop area. Biddulph Grange is the lure, a full day around the gardens. Probably one at a time if it’s very warm, so pooch is ok.
We haven’t used a Club Site at all this year, only stayed on two last year as well. Ferry Meadows in March before VAT offer finished, and a couple of nights at Clumber to watch TofB. Those two nights were most we have ever paid for a Site. Probably a lot more now.
We join purely for CLs, and get our joining fee back via special offers.
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Peedee
Again I don't have the magazine with me at the moment but I thought the report was from a very recent Club Council Meeting so I would have thought that the figures would be reasonably up to date? Given the importance of the Club Council would it really be given out of date figures? I don't suppose anyone is going to confirm that and perhaps we will have to wait until the AGM report is published later in the year?
David
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Off to our first CS tomorrow in fact, Mow Cop area. Biddulph Grange is the lure, a full day around the gardens. Probably one at a time if it’s very warm, so pooch is ok.
I don't know about the CS, so let me know what you think, but we use Messuage Farm, north of Congleton when we visit Biddulph and the other properties in the area. Enjoy your trip over there.
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The figures quoted in the mag were for 2022 (382,000) which is all we will get at the next AGM which will be reporting on 2022 activities. For what is happening this year we will have to wait for the 2024 AGM, by that time we will have forgotten what we were discussing.
However JK has reported that membership remains bouyant for the first quarter of this year so the signs are good? My view it is too early to tell. I don't think members will be leaving in droves but the finacial climate and the apparent disatisfaction with the Club is such that I will be very surprised if there isn't a downturn in both membership and site occupancy.peedee
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I think any loss of membership is likely to be very gradual. Yes, there is a lot of disgruntlement, but many retain membership for the CL network. It seems quite a number get their membership back via various offers. I think more likely will be downturn in occupancy as people do in deed vote with their feet, using fewer club sites, more CLs and other sites. I have said it before, but having changed USP Club sites lose their advantage and some will be more likely to look around at eg independent sites. These may not be any cheaper and booking conditions may be no different but previously club sites had the advantage, now they don’t. Location of club site is likely to be become more important.
Also several people have on here have reported joining the CCC, me included. We won’t be the only ones. I know the Club argument for not having a lower OAP rate, but as as a recipient of the discount on ccc sites it makes a difference to MY touring costs. We have stayed at two ccc club sites this year, £25 and £26 a night. Very favourably impressed with both. Toilet blocks were immaculate and showers well equipped. Although we still prefer CLs and CSs
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Wife and I just qualified for age concession with CCC and for us has made a difference in costs for our trip to Wales later in the year. Even when looking for a long weekend close to us ( Devon/Cornwall ) we now look at alternatives to main CAMC sites and finding some great sites of all genre's that suit us.
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Timberland Duo, How wrong you were when you posted this in February.
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Totally agree Hja, CLs are our reason for staying members. The main CAMC sites no longer represent VFM to us, charges have gone up too much IMHO. Yes, we are lucky enough that we can afford them, but even so, we do set a limit.
As for C&CC, we are members and as you say, at the end of the day what matters is your touring costs.
We are currently "over there" and on our way down to the tunnl needed a stopover. I've mentioned this somewhere in another thread, but can't remember which one: the choice was Chapel Lane or C&CC Clent Hills. For 1 night we didn't need EHU (solar panel); C&CC Clent Hills offered a grass pitch without EHU at £14 for the 1 night, with over 60s discount. Without it it was still only £18. The cheapest offered by CAMC was £31 for HS with EHU, no option for a non-EHU pitch. We'd never been to that C&CC site, and we found it a really nice site, we had a lovely grass pitch, it was quiet, with very good toiletblock. And we saved £17 on that 1 night.
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I did post about something that could be, there were two occasions where a Saturday night price was slightly higher than the Friday and Sunday nights next to it, the Friday and Sunday were equal, I've never seen a Friday and Saturday nights being different when together so I assume if one wanted that weekend then there was a higher price for booking that Saturday. The Friday night was full and the Saturday was low if I recall correctly?
I'm not sure if that was DP or just a blip?
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All I see is myriad high prices....lots of variation with perhaps half a dozen prices all different by 50p to £1, but I cant say that's DP in action as the variation is nowhere near enough to attract someone.
where's the general tenner discount for arriving tomorrow rather than booking it last year (cheapest) or three weeks ago (most expensive)?
can't see any serious evidence of last minute prices in the site price panel.
what we got was an en mail offering discounts if we booked within a certain time frame for certain dates...
if this is the club reacting and implementing their version of DP, why do we need tons of variations within the price panels, why not keep it simple but wheel out the offers when necessary?
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I had that experience when checking out the site at Stamford this week for sometime in the Autumn.
6 days in the week one price bu the Saturday a full £0.65 dearer per person for Saturday. No other variations in the 3 weeks surrounding that week and nothing special about that Saturday. Just stupid algorithms, I suppose, but enough to feel apathetic towards the club for allowing such situations.
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That’s marketing as you and I understand it YT. I’m not quite sure what the Club is doing to be honest, and in truth don’t take that much interest as all offers are Deleted User quickly from my in box.
If I rolled into a Site mid week, one with plenty of spare pitches, I would want a damn good discount way beyond what the Club are offering to take up a bit of the slack. It’s what we do with cottages, B&B’s etc…. I can only guess that sites are selling pitches very well, and don’t miss folks like us. All hail to the Club😁
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Even charitable organisations need to keep afloat S1🤷🏻♂️. The CAMC need to plan for the future, every member of the CAMC will enjoy the fruits of the planning eventually👍🏻
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I wonder if the raft of changes made by the club will prove to be beneficial to the club financially or eventually come back to bite them on the posterior?
There is already a drift of people moving to private and other organisations' sites. Some people that panic bought new outfits to ensure a holiday after Covid restrictions are now returning to their preferred holidays in hotels etc.
The huge increases in energy costs and mortgage costs have driven many people to re-assess their priorities.
Set against all of the above, who could have predicted that some sites on the network would experience a drop in bookings? It seems many members predicted it and so did some of the site managers.
Although the club have not said, 'we got it wrong', to their credit they are trying to woo us back with reduced deposits and site night discounts.
Presumably, if the club perform a lessons learned exercise, they will make an informed choice and ditch their previous advisers and take a course in 'Change management'.
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Dave
I think we have to remember that the new booking system was a response to a situation that pre dated the Pandemic. Many members were fed up with not being able to book campsites because the previous over generous booking system allowed some members to book a year in advance and then cancel three days before arrival on site with no penalty. Apparently there was a staggering amount of late cancellations. I think it easy to forget how this impacted against the interests of many members. OK the Club could have chosen a different route but looking at the general market for campsites what did they see. The C&CC, a major competitor, and the majority of commercial sites took a deposit when booking. Even now the CMC system is more generous than most. As you say some of the changes we saw in the pandemic and current economics are also impacting on the Club but outside their control. I don't think any new system is set in stone and we have already seen some changes with probably more to come. In any organisation it makes sense to review and change things and adapt to new circumstances. Personally I don't think the new system is a mistake but would accept that it will need a few tweaks along the way. It seems the last four years have been far from normal and its probably going to take another 2/3 years before things settle down, not only with the booking system but also normal life?
David
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If a company finds they are losing market share there are all sorts of steps they can take besides tweaking prices - improve the product, boost the advertising, sack the boss, recruit new staff with fresh ideas, close the loss leading parts of the business, invest in profitable areas, reduce management overheads, or even merge the company with a competitor, and so on. This goes on in many businesses every day, and I am sure this company is well aware of the possibilities without advice on here. I leave it to them.
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DavidKlyne, I agree that the issue of 'no shows' impacted the club and hence all of the members. I have no issue with the principle of requiring a deposit with a booking, personally as it can help all of the membership in the long-term. My issues are 1) that the software for the booking system did not appear fully-developed or stress-tested. Again from my perspective, I tried to book a site in Devon recently and the booking system crashed. Using the on-line assistant was akin to trying to engage in a dialogue with someone who had never been trained in anything related to the leisure industry. Hoping that I may be able to talk to someone from the bookings team (who I have previously found to be helpful and professional) was impossible as there was no response. Then I remembered that that there was a private site a mile or so from my chosen CAMC site. I rang the enquiry number which was answered within a few rings and was able to book a superior pitch more cheaply than a CAMC pitch. It was a great site and unfortunately the CAMC lost that bit of revenue. I feel that we are being railroaded by the club down a route of 'use our on-line booking or nothing' which I feel is not an improvement. 2) The increases of pitch fees has been discussed at length and I do not intend to argue either way. However, the fact is that although membership numbers are broadly similar year on year, the current site night occupancy, by volume is down if we are to believe the site managers. Hence I believe the club are trying to offer some promotions now. I accept that the club is trying to respond to the issues dynamically, however, their execution leaves much to be desired. The club now feels much more commercial and less focused on the basic needs of the membership. To a lesser or greater extent, we are are all stakeholders and not just customers. I really do hope that the club will review and adjust the processes and policy as necessary to meet the challenges. However, they cannot afford to repeat the poor roll-out of the new booking system example again.
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I do hope that the club is not going the way that many do and becomes a very well paid and pensioned club for the leadership while the membership becomes a nuisance and are milked at every opportunity.
More and more letters seem to point in this direction!
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I've seen no evidence of Dynamic pricing being used this year when staying at sites June Battle estimated 60% occupied, July looked around Start Bay estimated 55% occupied only a few grass, Stover July 50% occupied, no price reductions so no Dynamic pricing.
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Dynamic pricing will only work one way, price increase
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Not so, I’ve witnessed it in action & saved £hundreds-fact👍🏻
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...surely not by using CAMC sites, with their Dynamic Pricing structure....? 👎
I think non-members would find their prices a little too 'dynamic'.1 -
As we have made some bookings well in advance, I was able to check on what has happened to the price and they certainly show a change upwards in relation to availability. One with one date missing and lows all about has gone up by 4.3%, whilst one with all dates missing had increased by 15% based on the few dates left available. However, a third showing no lows and all dates available has not changed.
So far I’ve not noticed any last minute reductions, but the club are still feeling their way with this new pricing scheme, so perhaps not a surprise. They are clearly trying to get folk to book early, as is shown by the rash of time limited offers. Huge reductions close to the date are likely to limit early booking and could, particularly in the colder weather, cost the club money. Perhaps if EHU metering is rolled out across the network there will be more scope for significant late reductions. It will be interesting to see what happens at the trial sites.
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When I was in Marketing, if you had unsold commodities (in my case badminton, squash, tennis courts, 5 a side pitches, etc….) it always paid to discount them heavily either the day before expiry, or on the day. I worked on the principal of any money is better than no money. Those that wanted a definite booking, for something specific would happily pay the usual rate to secure it. Those who operated less rigidly would phone up day before and take what they could be enticed into taking. An empty pitch is a cost, so getting something in at the last moment is a bonus. (This is how last minute websites sell late take up cruises, holiday flights, cottages, hotels, B&Bs)
(If the normal price has a built in cover for empty pitches, ie a customer is paying for a pitch + 50% for example, then that is of course another way of covering empty pitches. A win win if a site is really busy😉)
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Whether dynamic pricing has any impact on you might depend on how you book sites. I tend not to book very much in advance so I have no idea what previous prices might have been. I then compare the price I have in front of me at the time and make a decision there and then whether I am happy to book or look for an alternative.
David
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