2023 site fees
Comments
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Having worked on some of those club sites that have been in the past hard to book a pitch because they always show full, and regularly turn people away, then at the close of business have many empty pitches because people have either cancelled on the evening of arrival or not even bothered to show, I personally think the 21 day policy the best thing the club has done for years. Only 4% of bookings are cancelled now compared to 48% on the old system, nothing ridiculous about that in my book.
JK
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We recently went to River Breamish near Alnwick in our motorhome for 3 nights to meet up with friends in their caravan and it cost £128 for a serviced pitch. The site was half empty and the facilities are very tired and run down but the location is very pleasant, which is more than can be said for our very rude and grudging welcome. Won’t be back.
From there we went straight to the ferry in Hull to Rotterdam and travelled down through Belgium into Picardie and then Alsace. Every site we’ve stayed at has been terrific and we haven’t paid more than E23 a night always including electricity and usually a fully serviced pitch. Several sites also had heated swimming pools with fold back glass domes. The facilities have been terrific even in municipal sites in towns and staff delightful. Seriously thinking about our membership. Rip-off Britain0 -
It is really good to get things from the horse's mouth, so to speek.
It was always my belief that a certain number made many bookings, well in advance, with little intention of turning up, simply because they could do so (and not because they had a good reason not to arrive) just in case they MAY have wanted to have a few days away. It may have been in the rules, as was often repeated by some posters on CT, but I always considered that it was unfair to do so, but some people have little thought for others.
I do think that the rules needed to be altered and some sort of sanctions put in place to stop serial bookers who don't turn up, but it is a big jump from no deposits to 25% deposits and 21 days notice and perhaps fewer days notice being required may have been better.
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We recently went to River Breamish near Alnwick in our motorhome for 3 nights to meet up with friends in their caravan and it cost £128 for a serviced pitch. The site was half empty and the facilities are very tired and run down but the location is very pleasant, which is more than can be said for our very rude and grudging welcome. Won’t be back.
We have used the site several times. Last in September 22. The description of the facilities is certainly not how we found them. Like the site, like the location, our now preferred stop off on the way to Scotland. We will be back.😀
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It has been said many times before, the ‘club’ is but one providor of sites. There are plenty of other less costly options available including not having a fully serviced pitch. We travel abroad most years with our caravan and have had good, tired, bad and expensive sites ‘over there’ too. Out of 8 planned trips this year, only 3 are with ‘club’ sites. And if it is so easy to run a cheaper site in the UK I am sure those who constantly complain about rip off site operators will be bringing their low cost sites to market soon?
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I agree with what you say and although I think that the CMHC sites have gone up a lot (more so it appears than most other sites seem to have done), I would say that they are quite expensive but not a rip off as you know the price before you book and usually have a choice of other sites so don't have to use them.
I use them as I am a single traveller, often with one or two dogs so it works out less for me than it would staying on most commercial and many cl sites who nearly always charge for 2 or more people and sometimes charge extra for dogs and also, I have a very good idea of what they are going to be like before I arrive, which suits me.
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Why would folk regularly cancel within one day of arrival (or even no show) and risk sanctions from the club when the terms were such that a 'legal' change of heart was permitted as long as 72 hrs notice was given?
with these older terms folk could book on spec...to effect a real change in habits the length of 'on spec' just needed changing to something sensible between 3 days and the 21 we have now...
perhaps 7 days would have winkled out a large percentage of 'the problems'?
Are we really to believe that 48% of all bookings were cancelled?
nowt wrong with booking a honey pot site for two potential dates early in a year and then releasing one of these when diaries are firmed up...this is probably still done but the notice period is now longer. No loss of deposit if minds are changed within 21 days.as these posters still 'serial bookers'? If they operated within both sets of rules how can they be miscreants?
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“No loss of deposit if minds are changed within 21 days.”
Am I reading that right?🤔🤔
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The Club have used a big stick to swot a tiny fly in my opinion. I am sure there will have been an element of some folks booking a lot of dates then weeding out those they could not make, that’s part and parcel of still having to work for a living and having to wait to to finalise leave dates. But it could have been better administered years ago when this started to become an issue, merely by only allowing a given number of weekends and firmly penalising those who didn’t show, or made repeat near to arrival cancellations. That’s good management as it hits the serial offenders, not everyone.
The 21 day loss of deposit is somewhat draconian for a fee paying Membership, (slightly different to commercial sites) something like 7-10 days would have been fairer. I don’t doubt JKs figures, he is after all the only one posting who is party to such figures, but I would temper it with wanting to know the other side of the coin and ask how many late bookings, longer stays picked up on those late cancellations, as it’s how we took our bookings, very late and extending our stay at places like YRP. As it is now, we are part of another Club statistic, those who simply don’t use Club Sites any more. Not all down to the 21 day policy by either, our none use is partly because we get better vfm elsewhere, and aren’t happy as Motorhomers paying for a 23 hour stay and having little choice of cost options. The 23 hour stay is the Club’s own version of “shrinkflation”, you get less, but are paying (a lot) more.Statistics can be used in many ways to reinforce any point you want to sell as being good or right. But those willing to take a deeper consideration will know they are seldom the whole picture. The Club is evolving, moving on, but I can’t help thinking it’s not giving its Members the full, honest picture.
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as Motorhomers paying for a 23 hour stay and having little choice of cost options. The 23 hour stay is the Club’s own version of “shrinkflation”, you get less, but are paying (a lot) more.
Caravan or MH, wether one night or many, I don’t think we have ever stopped 23 hours on our leaving day. We are normally off by 10:30 Therefore the shrinkflation in our case does not matter.The price is either acceptable or it’s not.
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Perhaps you should ask JK why people would regularly cancel within one day of arrival or even no show, as that is what he said that they did, leading to empty pitches and why would he state something which wasn't true, although I doubt if he knows the answer either!
I agree there is nothing wrong with booking a honey pot site for two potential dates and cancelling one of them, but I am sure that you realised that was not what I was referring to and I doubt if that is the reason why the Club risked the ire of many members by introducing deposits and changed the cancellation dates from 3 to 21 days.
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According to the Club, it was the Membership who wanted deposits introduced, and making the cancellation period longer. Members have got what they wanted, and it’s all going very well………………
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I was never on a site with 48% vacant pitches before the club changes in fact there were very few pitches vacant but I am seeing it now and incredibly some are claiming these high numbers of vacant pitches are due to the deposit system and members not cancelling.
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But HOW MANY members actually did want it? I have received an e-mail about my membership renewal which is going to be via an APP, which, according to the Club, members asked for, but I certainly did not ask for it and it according to a CT discussion recently, neither did some other members either. Surely we should have the choice of whether we wanted to have a card or an APP. What happens if the APP doesn't work on your phone as there is a problem with either the APP or the member's phone. I recall that when the booking system changed, many people reported that they could not book using their APP, so have all the glitches in that respect now been fixed? New technology can be really useful, but it isn't useful if it doesn't work and as some members pointed out, it can be difficult to view some of the information, due to the size of the phone.
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It does not matter HOW MANY members actually wanted something, such as no cards or massive deposits, it is what the corporate ethos of The Caravan Club wanted, and they always get their way.
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Site Fees: after 8 weeks in France we are now on our first CAMC site of the year, to be perfectly accurate I should I say its a CL.
The price has gone up by £4 a night, I think that's probably around the average rise from what I have read regards to CLs.
Its a basic grass CL, not terribly level, blocks are required. The views are nice and it's very secure. However you do need a car or other means of transport as its out of reach of the nearest town. We use it as its the nearest one to our youngest sons house. I fully understand why the price rise, as its in a high elevation on the pennines so can often by chilly, so units use the heating quite often here.
However at £20 it's turned out to be the most expensive site in the past 8 weeks. That also includes the site we stayed on at Moffat on our way down, which had sanitary facilities cost was £18 and the CL near Stafford at £16 which had H/S.
The dearest site in France was €19 and the cheapest was €13, the majority were €17, all but 2 sites had swimming pools, most had restaurants/bars.
I know that this is the UK section so apologies for mentioning 'over there'
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We did use club sites for many years until they became so expensive.
At one time we only went over there once a year and toured the rest of the year here.
We now tour over there twice a year for the equivalent cost of touring here twice.
I know there are other associated costs like breakdown cover and holiday insurance but we would need them anyway.
We have Nationwide Flex plus account that covers the greatest part of that (even taking in to account the monthly fee)
We have done our sums, I can assure you for us it works out that providing we go for more than 4 weeks ( we tend to go for at least 6 and usually 8 or more) the cost of the ferry/tunnel is offset by the cheaper site fees. If I were to use Tesco vouchers the tunnel cost would be almost covered.
When we toured in the UK the length of tours were around the same time span.
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We have been doing similar to TG since I retired in 2007. Usually a spring/ summer 2 month tour sailing either from Hull, Dover or Harwich plus a couple of weeks each end in UK, and a late summer/autumn 6-8 weeks in UK. One year a 4 month trip with 2 months back home in Norway. The Club sites were always the most expensive.
As TG said, we did the arithmetic and were happy that our holiday budget went a bit further.
In UK we used almost exclusively Club sites due to the ease of booking and altering bookings, but did opt for a few CLs to fill any location gaps, and discovered we really liked them.
However it is now almost 6 years since the van has left UK due to the arrival of our third grandchild, helping DD with work on her "new" house, Covid, and advancing age. I doubt we will take the van abroad again, but never say never!
2020 was lost completely, 2021 was a bit restricted, but with the combination of some of those discounted site vouchers and the VAT savings we did use 3 or 4 Club sites. However we filled in in between with CCC sites and CLs , and found the savings on site fees to be significant, especially as we had pretty much stopped using any site facilities, so why pay for things we did not use.
So in 2022 we used no Club sites, having looked at our budget and the site prices, and this year is even worse in terms of VFM as far as we are concerned. We are presently on our most expensive site so far booked for this year, a HS on a CCC site at just under £25 per night.
CLs are coming in at £17.50, £22, and £18, all HS, 2 serviced, CCC sites at £24.70, £21.09, and £16.95 (no facs), and one commercial £19, serviced but no toilets/showers.
We remain members for the CLs, but I doubt we will use a Club site in the future.
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Much the same as TG and this year I made the effort to compare cost and recorded these >here< in the story section.
So far this year I have not used a C&MC site but I have used a couple of CLs and have a couple more booked. Like many here we mostly use our own facilities and we do not get value for money for short stays on C&MC sites
peedee
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Echoing TG, PD and KJ....just don't do CAMC sites mainly due to price...
however, as we are members at Beaulieu, I'd sort of been thinking about the pop up site there....however, at £39-£41 a night for a pitch (plus booking fee!!) it was probably not. Cheeky devils, this isn't Ticketmaster you know...👎
I'd also been looking at other similar options in that area...Lymington, Exbury Gardens and Buckler's Hard.
then, this morning, I saw a headline in MMM for an article where 'CAMC has created two pop up camp sites with deals from £29 per night based on two people. The first is in the New Forest (Beaulieu)'......etc
Optimistically, a potential tenner off looked exciting (for a CAMC site). Ok, still on the high side compared to the other options in the area but perhaps worth a look....
Ah, following the look......the headline price given in MMM is for a TENT pitch at Beaulieu👎
Still, there are some £5 discounts being offered at Holkham Hall (the other newly created site), albeit only for midweek and only for the first of the two stints there.....however, remain positive and let's check if it's the same for Beaulieu....so I did check and it seems that the midweek discount doesn't apply to 50% of the 'two newly created pop-up campsites'....👎
so, we have, as line one....£39-£41 a night for a pitch (plus booking fee!!) so, probably not.
Thanks MMM and CAMC.
so, our other options for the area are back where I would have originally looked....C&CC temp hol sites at Lymington, Exbury and Buckler's Hard....priced between £10 and £15:50 a night....
ok, we don't get the CAMC temporary toilet/shower block.....but we don't need it, nor do we need hook up....
so, depending on site chosen and date visited, a saving of between £31 and £23:50 a night.....
oh, and the pesky booking fee😉 I wonder if this will soon be a 'feature' of all CAMC bookings?
if it's 'justified' for a temporary site than why not ?
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TG, we have been looking for some places to stay closer to home, and as you say, CLs are sparse around South Yorkshire. We spotted some lovely CS sites while out on bikes on TPT near Penistone and Dunford Bridge, it actually prompted us to rejoin. Check out Ranah Stones Farm, and Woodland View CS sites. Haven’t stayed, but have seen, and both look very nice. Not sure if they are close enough to where you want to be, but worth a glance👍
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On Sunday we arrived home from a two week tour of four sites, three club and one affilliated. The first two cost £33 a night and the third £30 so very similar. Our last stop was Clumber Park which was £37 a night. Clumber Park is very popular despite the higher price and a member of site staff told me that on the Saturday 165 of the 169 pitches were in use so clearly the cost is not putting people off, at least not a weekends! The most expensive site we have used so far this year has been a commercial site but it was a serviced pitch. Our average site fee last year as £30 a night and I am fully expecting this years average figure to be in the region of £35, maybe a bit higher. We tend to avoid the school holidays so don't encounter the highest prices.
David
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I really cannot get my head into the mindset of the money crunchers at CAMC.
Putting together a tour and due to a lack of suitable CL in an area we want to go to I looked at the local CAMC site. The 7 nights I wanted, all available in September, none of which showed a "LOW" availability, were equally priced EXCEPT for an increase of a measly £1.30 for a Saturday. 🤷♂️ Why?? Nothing special about that Saturday, out of main holiday season.
The 3 other surrounding weeks shown on the pricing structure all had their prices showing the same amount for a weeks stay, albeit they were priced at a different level.
I'd really like someone from HQ to come on here and explain the reasoning behind this hike in price.
I decided to book a commercial site that has 3 pricing structure, just like the good old days, namely Low, Medium and High season. Yes, they did have T&Cs for things like Bank Hols etc. In the end the local site was also cheaper by about £10 per night and a lower % for a deposit.
I already treat club sites as a last resort nowadays. Shame really as they are more than adequate but I do not want something that feels like a penny pinching organisation that purports to be a members club
Get rid of these annoying little vagracies in prices. Make life simpler not more complicated.
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I see Clumber now has Premium With Awning pitches described as Large hardstanding, EHU, water, drainage (grey), BBQ, table, privacy hedge.
these are £4 extra on top of an 'ordinary' serviced pitch which, itself, is £4.90 more than an 'ordinary' HS with awning which we find more than adequate.
Currently (non peak) priced at £45.60 rising to £51.80 later.
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I've mentioned these multiple 'minor variations' before but those who see nothing but just 'paying the bill' can't see the penny pinching nature of what's presented to the 'neutral'.
someone, somewhere in the CAMC organisation must have devised the 'algorithm' which keeps these variations going.
Each season the 'base price' of a pitch for a site (or a site band if sites are grouped in some way) is plugged in to the system and the rest is rippled out...
the price for grass, for an SP, for a Premium pitch etc...
then the calendar driven 'extras' are added...a bit for a Friday or Saturday, the 'school holiday effect', those myriad Bank holidays and the surrounding fortnights, plus Summer, Whitsun, Easter, Christmas, Grouse Season, etc, etc..
Each has its own loading often leading to the 'odd' price relationships to the adjacent days🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
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I must have looked at least a dozen Commercial sites these last 2 days and none of them have a complicated pricing structure and all of them allow you to see very easily the full tariff. None of this make a dummy booking lark.
There was even 1 site that just had 2 main tariffs;- Summer June to end September and Not Summer for rest of their opening time.
No "hint" of "Dynamic Pricing" anywhere, which only seems to apply upwards with the "Club".
I give up. As I said earlier it's a shame as we have been club site users in the past, having stayed at over 100 sites over the years so I'm not just an anti club poster.
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From what people are reporting, the pricing structure looks like the sort of situation that arises when lots of different people tinker with something over time - some with little to no knowlege of what they are doing. One could compare it to the situation with the Club's web presence, and why it repeatedly fails.
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And they seem well used both at Clumber and Cayton Village. The BBQ point is designed to take a disposable BBQ and the irony is that at Clumber such BBQ's are banned
They should probably be banned from sale in the first place but that is another discussion.David
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