Club pitch prices
Comments
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I think in the fog of discussion when the impression given is that it is only "Club" sites that are expensive my recent experience of thinking of somewhere to go in September goes rather against that conclusion. I looked at a Morris Leisure site and a site in Dawlish which we had previously stayed at and in mid September both were around the £40 a night mark. OK they get a bit cheaper if you go slightly later but then I would imagine that would also be the case for Club sites?
David
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Absolutely👍 Those sites are very sorely missed in this household.
It’s all about upper spend. What Members consider vfm varies hugely, with all sorts of aspects leading to a decision, if folks can even be bothered to make one.
I suppose we started looking at our upper spend limit a very long time ago, when we started spending lots of time away. We happily embraced CLs as they gave us all we needed, at a price that meant we could have much more time away. If your requirements are more specific, then it means you might want/need more, but will have to pay more usually to get your vfm. I suppose the recent price increases will have polarised this for more folks, hence lots of chat around pricing.
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I agree. Not just club sites guilty privaye ones as well eg Whitemead in Lydney Forest of Dean £178.00 standard pitch 3 nights in August, Parklands in South Hams Devon £55.00 pn
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So it seems CAMC prices are not unusual then? 🤷🏻♂️
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Yes it's often portrayed as club sites being the most expensive while other sites are not and totally incorrect of course. They are still middle of the road.
Conereige camping is presently at £59 then a jump to £62 if your caravan/MH is a few metres longer (talk about complicated prices - this is charging by the yard!) to £99 this summer with 30% deposit. And of course cancel within 30 days and you lose all your deposit. And one Sunday is September it jumps to £150 just for that one night and people quibble about a few pounds on club sites. It is full most of the time too.
Many more examples can be found. Everyone is free chose what they like but club prices are in the middle.
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Years ago, in fact too many years ago, when I was working my annual expenditure on caravanning for site fees, all sorts of sites, plus service and insurance costs was roughly somewhere between 3-5% of my annual income. So I had no problem in using club sites, and they constituted a fair proportion of our weekend nights away, and we rarely had a problem in booking them. Don't get me wrong, sites were usually full at weekends but reserving a pitch seemed easier then than now.
Nowadays, since retirement my annual income has dropped dramatically although it has staged a recovery from life support to convalescence status but those same costs now represent somewhere between 10-15%. Numerous factors are involved but if I was to use club sites for even half of my UK jaunts then that would rise, again approximately, by 5-10%.
So do I reduce the number of nights away so that I can "enjoy" club sites more or carry on enjoying mixing and matching? I know which one I'll be doing but I'm sure the club won't mind too much.
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We did a tour of the UK in 2012 after I retired and used a couple at £11 and Bourton on the Water, a no facilities site at £11.80. We then went to Chatsworth which we thought expensive at £20.90. We wouldn’t have stayed there but we had site night vouchers courtesy of the Club credit card. Something else gone by the wayside.
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So those sites have doubled in 11 years, I think I can confidently say that wages and pensions haven't doubled in that time.
So are sites still VFM, I don't think so.
Even some of the CLs are getting expensive £20 a night to stay on a grass pitch, no toilet or shower.
Then there is one at £30 a night, granted it's h/s and serviced. These prices are all year round unlike the full fat sites that go up and down with the seasons. Paying £30 a night in high season for a CL might be acceptable to some but would it it be acceptable in say mid November.
We don't often use sites in the UK of any discription, reasons being weather and cost, both very much linked.
When I go away I like to experience nice weather, if the weather isn't good what can you do. Put on a waterproof coat and endure it, not my idea of a holiday. To have to pay top price to do that, is also not my idea of a holiday.
Weather I can do nothing about, paying top price for a piece of gravel/grass I can.
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"Conereige (sic) camping is presently at £59 then a jump to £62 if your caravan/MH is a few metres longer (talk about complicated prices - this is charging by the yard!) to £99 this summer with 30% deposit. And of course cancel within 30 days and you lose all your deposit. And one Sunday is September it jumps to £150 just for that one night and people quibble about a few pounds on club sites. It is full most of the time too."
I'm one of the few on CT who have actually used this site. It opened with a fanfare as being 'the best' camping experience you could buy. It was expensive when we went, around £50 a night 6/7 years or more ago...
we wanted to try it, it was great, the facs are top notch and it's bikeable to Chichester and beyond. Terrific site.
we stayed about four days, but that was it. The prices were too high to be great VFM but ok just 'to try it out'.
we haven't been back, not because we don't like the site but because prices are way too high, even for 'the best'.
we use CL/CS sites when in the area now.
Concierge camping is certainly a 'destination site' where folk go (for the first time anyway) to find out what 'all the fuss is about'.
sort of similar to the earlier comments about Chatsworth or Longleat, not really comparable to a regular CAMC site or indeed, most other commercials.
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sort of similar to the earlier comments about Chatsworth or Longleat, not really comparable to a regular CAMC site or indeed, most other commercials.
What earlier comments? Well you used to recommended a lot and you may be right that it is not comparable, but of course that is your subjective opinion not an objective or definitive one, in my view it is far inferior but to each to their own BB
But all I was highlighting that club sites are not expensive, merely middle of the road, There are cheaper and more expensive sites out there, one just has to choose what is a good fit in terms of quality and VFM for them.
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Its been a while since I've looked at CT. Not much changes.
Since late March we've stayed at 8 CAMC sites and 1 Affiliated (Damage Barton) across the South of England and East Anglia, and every one has been busy. By busy, I mean 85/90% full on average with 3 being full at some time during the time that we were there. The quietest was Putts Corner at the end of March when the weather was terrible, and two groups of travellers had pitched up. That was about 50%.
Interestingly at Damage Barton, where the CAMC pitches were fully occupied, a group of none CAMC pitches have been given over as non hook up pitches, presumably to save costs. Not a single one was occupied during a hot week in June.
Over an 8 week period, I've seen nothing to suggest that bookings are down vs previous years
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Yes my experience has been the same with even 'fuller' sites. There is no doubt that from those that use club sites they are still popular, depending upon area, but as I posted before it is no worse this year than others and often better.
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We too have used it a couple of times and can second your comments. There should be a review of the site that I wrote a while ago.
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I'm one of the few on CT who have actually used this site. It opened with a fanfare as being 'the best' camping experience you could buy. It was expensive when we went, around £50 a night 6/7 years or more ago...
we wanted to try it, it was great, the facs are top notch and it's bikeable to Chichester and beyond. Terrific site.
We certainly had a look at it YT, but wouldn’t have been interested even at half the price, due to ( for us) its poor location. It might be OK as a destination site or with bikes. However, is poor for public transport and there are no obvious good walks from the door. The C&CC Chichester site on the other hand has a bus stop with regular services just outside. From where we caught buses to Chichester and the Repair Shop and a nice walk on Thorney island. A great base for our four night stop and good value at £27.70 a night in May, with age related discount. The only down side is that it doesn’t have a MH disposal point.
But although the price was nice, as I put above it’s all about location and we would have used it anyway, if it was run by the CAMC or Concierge Camping with their pricing structures.
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What is concierge camping? Never heard of it. Do you get a butler😃
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We have also used the C&CC site (not much to write home about in itself) but, as we have no need of busses, it's actually considerably further from Chichester so not as convenient, for us.
We might be heading that way fairly shortly and there is a CL within walking distance of the city which is more convenient than either and is cheaper than both. Did you check out any CL/CS or is it sites only?
we like to explore the peninsula south of the city and the associated small villages which is far better suited to the wonderful cycle tracks than by bus.
horses for courses, but my comments regarding Concierge were to do with the specifics of the site itself, not the value of the location to folk who want to be somewhere else🤷🏻♂️....
depending on where one wants to go, a car park on the doorstep may well be the best (and we've used many city Aires like this) but they won't have the sort of features a top class site would have.
if you can find a great site in the desired location then that's a bonus.
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Did you check out any CL/CS or is it sites only?
I am not a great fan of booking grass well ahead of time for May, which can be variable. I much prefer the security of knowing we have a hardstanding, even if it costs a fair bit more. If it was a last minute booking, or perhaps for later in the year they would get consideration.
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Possibly one of the downsides with booking a long way ahead?
As im talking about going in the next 10 days or so we wouldn't have a problem with booking a grass pitch at a southerly located CL or site.
CLs can also have HS and might be a good option if you need to book a long way ahead.👍
Despite doing many weeks a year, we don't 'plan' our MH breaks as priorities...we have had a couple of family holidays already and have another for August....these need far more 'organising'..
other than the 'winter away' our MH tours fill in the gaps, although there may be a longish one in the autumn....we have three destinations in mind (one uk and two 'foreign') but, other than a ferry if required, we won't be booking anything.
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Yes but whatvis concierge camping please enlighten me
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Do you not use google? Just typing those two words brought up the site as the first item on the list🤷🏻♂️
it's a campsite just west of Chichester.
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Found it. Their prices are beyond a joke but it does appear people are paying it as pitches showing full.
Maybe some people are gullible enough to follow the adage it is expensive so it must be good. Oh well.
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It’s a personal thing Sthame, one of the saddest things in life is knowing the price of everything, but ignoring the value of something. Each of us has things, value experiences that others might not understand. It’s what makes us different, 😁
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I guess it is personal choice what you are willing to pay for what is basically a piece of grass/gravel to put your vehicle on. The add ons ehu, showers, WC wi fi cost the owner pretty much the same everywhere so no real reason for large price differences. A sort of vanity charge
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The BIG reason that CAMC pitch prices are high, are the overhead costs of Head Office. The pitch prices cannot be compared to private sites as CAMC pitches have this HO cost to cover. Personally I think that they need an examination of their costs and look at why they need so many people at East Grinstead.
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Having been to East Grinstead its hardly Trump Towers
Of course also it's not just about running campsites. Many of the people there will be dealing with Insurance, Overseas Travel, Red Pennant and then there are membership side of the Club and also Media. I have probably missed something out. When you run a network of nearly 200 sites plus all the CL's there are going to be overheads that a single private site just does not have and I am not sure there much in the way of economies of scale either? If at the end of the year there is a massive surplus on the UK site accounts that might indicate that the Club have got the pricing points wrong but I somehow doubt that will be the case.David
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