CAMC site fees
Is anyone finding the site fees are becoming unaffordable especially for 2 adults and 3 kids? Over £60 per night in some places. It's not like we are taking up anymore space or using more electricity. Cheaper to get a hotel with breakfast included and someone makes your bed!
Comments
-
Yes, i go away for weeks at a time with my wife who suffers with dementia , its easier to manage in a smaller space and we both enjoy the longer breaks. Or we USED to ! Its now getting too expensive 2 adults and a dog in a Campervan on a hard standing with EHU , it would now be cheaper to stay in a Travelodge for most of our breaks. Again and yes we are both Members and have been for 20 years. We now favour private commercial sites which are cheaper .
0 -
Cheaper to get a hotel with breakfast included and someone makes your bed!
It’s Fairford Air tattoo this weekend and Cirencester is predictably full tonight on all pitch types. The local Travelodge has rooms £233 without breakfast.😱 Now that’s DP in action.
1 -
Agreed, but it's not the Fairford Air Tattoo at Chatsworth, next Tuesday🤷🏻♂️💵💶👎
there's always a reason (excuse) for high prices everywhere but the Club has plenty of inbuilt peaks throughout the year without the need (so far) to resort to looking through the local diary for even more....
if they really want to embrace Dynamic Pricing there's plenty more opportunities around the country with the various 'events' everywhere...it's only a short hop to 'Travelodge' pricing should the mood take it....
0 -
CAMC does not need to look for events to increase site prices. Folk who book sites do that for them. As Steve illustrated, DP is about supply and demand and if people are creating huge demand at a site, hotel, or whatever, the price will increase. It is we, the end users, who enable DP.
2 -
I wonder how long this thread will last
JK
0 -
Agreed, but it's not the Fairford Air Tattoo at Chatsworth, next Tuesday🤷🏻♂️
As an alternative to the club site in Baslow, both with easy access to the estate. The Devonshire and Wheatsheaf pubs have rooms next week at between £115 and £130 a night with breakfast. Not bad for July. Haven’t bothered checking prices at the Cavendish😂. I think I would still prefer to take our MH though at £46 a night. That would have still been the case when we had a caravan and it was more work getting it out of storage for 2 or 3 days. The Devonshire does very nice meals though and is a fairly easy walk through the park from the site.
1 -
I can't say I've seen any real evidence of DP in action....all I see on site pricing pages is an array of expensive prices varying (sometimes four variants or more in a month) by amounts less than a couple of pounds (some by a few pence)...
pretty well every page, for every month for every site has the same pattern, certainly not anything Dynamic.
where are the last minute enticements?these, if there are any, are done by a rush of emails, with tight booking conditions, not by the site price pages changing...
IMV, the Club does 'late offers' not genuine dynamic pricing. If you just checked the site pricing pages you wouldn't be aware of the offers which adjust those web prices should you meet all the booking terms and dates.
in that case, just browsing the web prices one might miss the 'dynamic enticement' completely🤷🏻♂️1 -
Exactly😁 While ever folks are happy to book and turn up in reasonable numbers at Club Sites, the Club has no reason to lower the prices.
3 -
One could say that site users are the master of their own destiny😄
3 -
It's interesting to note that the more expensive super pitches at Chatsworth are even more popular. There are no full weeks in July and August, the max is 3/4 days depending on awning or not.
Going back to the OP I think a family of five for under £60 a night is actually very good indeed.
It's lucky though that no one is forced in any way to pay club prices or put up with all these varying prices. It's always posted that cheaper and better sites are available, if so why not use those?
1 -
Are we perhaps forgetting that we have at some stage had to buy our leisure vehicles?
They don't come cheap these days either. Not to mention the cost of insuring and maintaining them. For some the additional cost of storing them can be added into the mix.
When we use them there is of course the additional cost of fuel and site fees.
Using B&B's or small hotels, cottage rentals and the like might not be as expensive in comparison.
We like our leisure vehicle, we like our freedom. I'm not a lover of hotels but when the day comes that we have to hang up our keys so to speak it will be a consideration.
I totally agree that it us the end user, that encourages the likes of the club, to forever increase prices. If we stopped using them, they would have to take notice. While enough folk are happy to pay the ever increasing nightly cost, the club will happily keep on increasing the prices.
Coming on here and complaining helps you feel better but doesn't reach those who control the prices. Lots of complaints on FB etc but the comments from the staff are weak and have little bearing on how folk feel.
3 -
Indeed. I think the “shock and awe” around prices still is possibly folks who perhaps don’t holiday as frequently as some can, so coming to book now, say compared with last year, and it will be a huge shock.
The major issue for many, (and I include myself) is that for decades, the Club has been a Membership organisation, and most if not all Members derived a good deal of satisfaction and value for money from that (modest) fee paid. Could have been via a few avenues, principally for many, Club Sites, for others Club Sites and CLs, for others overseas based touring, then there’s insurance, buying guidance on outfits and tow cars, etc…….
If your prime reason for joining is/was Club Sites, then the prices will be a true shocker, and it’s obvious, many (like us) have moved to other providers, either with some trepidation, or like us embraced whole heartedly. Our sole reason now for that modest fee is the CL network. The only option is to weigh up sensibly what your needs, likes and dislikes are, take a good informed look at what other providers can offer, and see if your needs are met.
It isn’t really a big leap of faith doing it, as it’s quite easy to read good, informed reviews, take a look on Google Earth, get recommends from friends and family, sneak a peek when passing!
Little Members say on here will influence pricing, it’s a done deal is the switch to a more commercial, consumer led experience. You either accept what is happening, keep visiting, or find your happy place somewhere else.
4 -
People are moaning about site fees - but are paying £20,000 for a caravan - then losing shall we say £4000 a year in total from depreciation, insurance, servicing, storage, and a big item these days - loss of interest if that money was in a savings account .
Is £4000 every year a fair figure? Or is it even more? Site fees are a triviality by comparison for many people
0 -
Not all of us EuroT. There are quite a few folks who buy second hand, keep outfit at home, do their own maintenance, keep outfits for a long time, canny with insurance. We have family and friends who do this. Club sites are dominated by new, expensive outfits. Very different to sites elsewhere, more of a mix of new, second hand/well looked after, and some classics.
Club Site prices will be hitting the camping on a reasonable budget types more than the can afford brand new, top of the range owners. I had never seen as many Niesmann Bischoff outfits together as Clumber Park last year, and mainly on what are now the new Premium Pitch’s.
1 -
To an extent it’s what you choose to spend your money on. Yes there is the initial purchase, then depreciation and running costs. However, we more or less exclusively camp. No hotel holidays or flights abroad, no cottages and no cruises. Therefore in our holiday scheme of things, the cost of sites even for long tours isn’t particularly significant. More of an issue for us, rather than cost, is the loss of the clubs USP and that is our main reason for using them less.
1 -
Bit out on your figures I think ET.
We've just sold our caravan (not a trade in or private sale) it's true that on the first year we lost £4000+ due to Vat. But then the last 4 years after barely £1000 a year in depreciation.
New caravans are £30000 + just now, so high level of Vat to come off that, then the yearly depreciation may be higher than what we had.
Covid and the drive for staycations has kept the resale figures higher than we would normally see. However that is now turning as we saw, there is no shortage of leisure vehicles one can pick and chose. Though MHs are still in high demand, especially good ones low milage secondhand.
Cars have held their price very well, well the one we sold did. Buying secondhand cars the market is slowing and prices are levelling out. We are going to wait a few months before looking, as I think they might drop a bit more yet. We don't need another big car now and my little run around will do nicely for awhile.
0 -
ET
I think probably you have underestimated. New caravans seem to be between £20000 and up towards £40000 now. Don't forget the cost of the towcar either. Motorhomes, not much under £60000 for new now. Your £4000 might also be an under estimate but I see what you are getting at. If someone spent £50 a night on site fees it would only amount to £2500 if you spent 50 nights away in a year. I don't know how that compares to other holidays but I would expect it wouldn't go far. We have had a couple of cruises and I think you might get a weeks cruise for two for £2500 unless you were happy to be parked away in some inside cabin. There is probably, understandably so, a total disconnect in the minds of those that use campsites for the majority of their time away from home and many might not use other forms of holiday. We have been looking at a few commercial sites for a couple of weeks in September and most of them are hovering around the £40 a night mark. We either bite the bullet or decide that perhaps we no longer want to partake of this type of holiday. As some of us say at regular intervals location is the main driver when it comes to selecting campsites so cheaper alternatives miles from nowhere just don't cut the mustard.
David
1 -
Thank you, I did! Now edited. At that rate I couldn't afford a motorhome or caravan
David
0 -
Only as long as it takes someone at HO deciding that they don't want any more posts complaining about high the club's site prices are becoming, I guess.
3 -
Could we have done an 8 week tour in the UK for an average of £17 a night, I very much doubt it.
Yes one can, TG, we did it on our last but one trip, and have just had 15 nights away at an average of £14:33p
1 -
So for fairness that was UK then?🤔
3
