CL thoughts
I have just spent 4 weeks touring the UK and have stayed only on CL's. Generally they have al been excellent and really pleased we chose to stay on them.
I have some thoughts to share and perhaps some topics for a discussion!
They are in no particular order so here I go.
1 Electricity is a real issue for them. Some charge over £20 with a hookup included (24 being the most expensive). Some charge 16 with a hookup included. Others vary between these but have an expensive fitted meter system and you pay for what you use. Fair enough.
2 A number of the CL's even have service pitches and only charge £20.
3 Some have a toilet and shower. The quality does vary considerably with its' cleanliness however.
4 Most are superbly maintained and have lawns and many have hardstanding pitches.
5 Generally they are on farms and are very relaxed on arrival and departure times. This is a real bonus as club sites can be very autocratic, and sometimes unreasonable with one club site wanting us to leave the site at 12.45 and park outside the gate until 1pm. We only used this site due to laundry needs.
6 The owners are very helpful and love chatting and sharing experiences.
The electricity issue is a real issue for them. Some reported club members leaving all lights and heating on all day when they left the site, with the windows left open!
I fully support the CL owners with their choice of charging for electricity but as some one who uses very minimal electric (£3 in 2 night stay) I would stay away for a site charging £25 and in some cases £30 for a night. Some CL's are more expensive than a nearby club site!
Many are farmers who have retired and want a small income from a field. Thank you to those people as you have provided us with a peaceful and affordable 4 weeks.
Any thoughts?
Comments
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Yes, I pretty much agree with all you say. We generally use CLs. At this time of year, with a PVC, we like hardstanding and electricity. Earlier in the year pretty happy on well drained grass and off grid. Yes the owners we have spoken too talk of the issues over electricity. I think many are finding their way through the possible options such as higher prices, fully metered or a certain amount included and then metering above that level. I am surprised some havent gone down the line of reduced ampage, to say 10 or 6amps.
We, like you, are low electricity users. We tend to use our own facilities, so dont want full facility club sites, for example. We also are not prepared to pay £25 or £30 a night for other people's electricity - which is why we always prefer the option of hook up or not, and fully metered electricity.
I recognise that costs for CLs have increased - insurance, ground maintenance, sceptic tank emptying etc. Also I think new CLs are probably more expensive than more established ones - partly because establishing the infrastructure from new is so expensive. Older sites have probably absorbed that cost.
Personally I do think too many sites are trying to set themselves up as mini club sites and whilst I suppose this gives confidence to those new to CLs I am happier with fewer facilities, well positioned and maintained.
I know the Club has "inspectors" of CLs who I believe visit annually. I think they are unannounced visits. It does alarm me when I read reviews about more than 5 vans, loose dogs, and appalling toilet dumps and water facilities. I would hope that inspectors read the reviews before visiting. I appreciate that for some critical reviews there will be another side of the story.
Liking off grid facilities means pitches are more often than not grass. This can be a concern for motorhomes. I generally find that the owners know their ground well and a chat before hand can reassure about ground drainage. Personally I would prefer a bit of hard standing (nothing posh) before shower blocks.
I wish the Club did more to promote and support CLs because I really do believe they are the jewel in the crown for the Club. Everyone of them is different - that is one of the attractions.
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Just taking the metering aspect for this post we have recently stopped at 3 CLs that had differing metering charges.
The first had an extremely generous allowance of 12 KWh per day. They had a meter that started at Zero and an honesty card that you completed at the end of your stay with payment at the rate that their farm was tied into (£0.60 per kWh). We used less than 20 for our 5 night stay. Presumably anyone exceeding their allocation would be expected to leave cash or a cheque for excess use.
Second one allowed 6KWh daily use, once again charge was £0.60 for any excess. Again this was sufficient.
Third one had a meter but did put £3 per night's stay on the meter. Assuming the price was £0.60 (I think they did mention int somewhere) this would allow 5 units per nights stay. We managed this, just about.
I do think metering is going to become more prevalent which normally would be good news for those that don't need it or use minimal amounts but, and it's a big but, will CL owners reduce their core price per night to show this?
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We too much prefer CLs, and haven't used club sites for over 12 months.
It does concern me however that the club appeast to have morphed into someting akin to a large 'holiday corporation' and may see the CL network now as some form of competition.
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I do think some CL's see themselves as mini club sites and charge way over the odds.
Others are what I would say, are in it for the right reason but the club does need to support them over electric otherwise the little gems of CL's will disappear.
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tonker, I can't see how the club can support the CL owners over the cost of electricity as each is a separate entity and one's contract with an energy supplier will be different from the next, with some having their own electric supply be it by a wind turbine or a solar panel array.
We are at present on tour using mainly CLs (14 in total) all with EHU, none of which have a metered supply to the vans, and mostly on grass, and the price varies between £20 at the top end to £10 as the least, and this one has separate men's and ladies toilets and a free shower, all of which were cleaned out daily !! When ones like this can do it I do wonder why some think that £30 pn is chargeable!!
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Don’t forget that financial support for CLs from camc would be using members’ money which would need to be recouped from membership and/or site fees. That’d go down well 🙄
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There does seem to be a fairly wide price range for CLs, even those offering similar facilities. I do think, though, that some owners are trying to be too greedy. There is a fairly new CL that, whilst it has a shower and toilet available, the pitches are not serviced and some of the pitches are sloping. It's not even in an area that I recognise as being 'touristy'. This is £30.00 per night. One that I won't be visiting.
Conversely, the most I have paid this year at 5 different CLs is £25. All had hard standing,, three had serviced pitches and two had immaculate shower / toilet facilities. Three had metered electric although one owner said that during the summer they didn't bother using the meters as visitors usually used far less than the daily allowance. On none of them did we exceed the daily allowance within the pitch price.
It really is a matter of doing ones homework before booking. Those that overcharge for what you get will soon find they have empty pitches but I do believe that the prices should be fair to both owners and guests.
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I think I am unsure how CL's sit with the club.
We access them through the club website or app so I just assumed that the club supported them.
Perhaps they are more of a competition to the club sites. Not sure.
Agree with everything above, some owners are greedy but market forces should dictate if they are able to continue charging their prices..
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As I have reported elsewhere, at least two CL owners have told that site inspections have been accompanied with the advice that they weren't charging enough !
One, somewhat fearful that the license would be withdrawn increased from £10 to £15 this year (NO facilities) , the other advised the inspector that he was perfectly happy with his pricing.
Two entirely different regions so different inspectors. I found that interesting.
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When this has been raised in the past the Club have always denied they tell CL owners how much to charge. However it would not be unexpected, especially with new CL's, that those owners might seek advice on pricing? The usual way of doing this is to suggest that a new owner should look at the prices charged by nearby CL's taking into account the relative facilities. Now whether that is regarded as telling someone or giving them advice on how to work a price out, people will put their own interpretation on it?
I also find that some people seem to be unrealistic in their acceptance of the prices charged. If a new CL owner has invested in hardstandings, serviced pitches and toilet/shower facilities that costs one hell of a lot of money and I just wonder how long people think it reasonable for that investment to be recovered?
David
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But they would say that, as they "work" for the club, even if be on a voluntary basis with expense. I would suspect it's because of a "nudge, nudge, wink wink" basis from HO.
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As for price, it’s a fine line, that difference between over and underpricing is subjective and will be decided upon in different ways by different folk. The proof of the pudding will always be has the site maximised/ballanced occupancy with profit. May be that’s a legitimate and informed conversation to be had between inspectors and site owners as it should be between members and the ‘club’ itself.
At the end of the day the CL owners will make the final call I’m sure!
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A big thumbs up for CL's from us. We've almost abandoned Club sites now due to the relative poor value for money. Example: A premium site we love to visit was at the time £58 per night. We located a CL 3 miles away at £20. At the time I was in recovery from a sports injury so walking was unfortunately half a mile max. We figured that the £38 a night saving would more than cover public transport and taxis. Needless to say it did..
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Like Nellie, we have used dozens of CLs down the years, some over 50 years old, some brand new, all have been very pleasant and very varied. Most of the ones we tend to use on a more regular basis, we have got to know the owners quite well, and most in the past tell us they used to base their pricing on what was being charged at similar sites around them. Recent trend though has been that after an inspection, there has been a comment of “ you could charge more”. Some do, some don’t. There did seem to be a large jump in some prices during the COVID staycation boom, and the energy issues from early last year gave another big increase.
We are a tad limited at the moment on touring anyway, so haven’t used as many CLs this last year. But we have been a bit shocked by a sometimes £10 per night increase over last year, and have actively sought out alternatives that give us better value. We have stayed on more CS sites via the other Club this year. The overnight pub stopovers we have used have been excellent as well.
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"There does seem to be a fairly wide price range for CLs, even those offering similar facilities. I do think, though, that some owners are trying to be too greedy."
I agree John - we've stopped using one CL we used to use regularly for this reason. Especially when we stayed at the CAMC site just up the road, last year (November, admittedly), for just a couple of pounds a night more - and with better facilities.
On the other hand, we have just stayed at Skybarn Farm CL, near Lincoln which has introduced metering this year - BUT - Nicola dropped the pitch price from £25 to £20 to compensate. The site has fully serviced pitches and is very professionally run. During a week at the end of September, our average electricity costs were £1.71 pn - using gas for heating and hot water, so I was pleased - especially as my gas (Safefill) is cheap.
Moreover on the 1 October the unit price for electricity dropped and this was immediately passed onto customers. I wonder how many other owners are as 'switched on'!!
I think it speaks volumes that the site is full for most of the year.
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"I also find that some people seem to be unrealistic in their acceptance of the prices charged. If a new CL owner has invested in hardstandings, serviced pitches and toilet/shower facilities that costs one hell of a lot of money and I just wonder how long people think it reasonable for that investment to be recovered? "
David, if a CL decides to invest in its site by adding facilities which might move the offering up from, say, a £15 a night site to a £20 one, you can't expect customers to 'fund' the capital outlay over a short period of time with over zealous increases, it will just put them off.
folk do understand that costs have risen but if comparing two sites, you shouldn't have to pay vastly more because someone has 'recently' made capital improvements over a site that made them a few years back...
a customer will look at location AND facilities and compare them to other similar offerings..and then make a choice.
owners have to accept that investments won't be recouped in a season...try doing this with unrealistic prices and folk will look elsewhere.
sorry, but it's hard economics and with plenty of alternatives around....
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“Moreover on the 1 October the unit price for electricity dropped and this was immediately passed onto customers. I wonder how many other owners are as 'switched on'!!”
It has to be passed on by law, R&R. It’s not an option.
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One of your favourite phrases, I think.
What are you being forced to pay that makes is a rip off?
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Yes - I appreciate that TW - but the cynic in me says that there will be quite a few who don't do it immediately.
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Are you suggesting some CL owners knowingly break the law?
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Do you mean such as regularly allowing more than 5 vans on site? No - that would never happen, would it?
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I don’t think it’s quite in the same category but, in either case, such breaches need to be reported to the relevant body which, as a former officer of the law. I’m sure you do. 👍🏻
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We only use CLs with electricity. Surely at £10 the site is running at a considerable loss when you take into account the cost of electricity, waste collection, mowing etc now a days. Maybe they do it for the company, but I expect a site to be run on a business footing and making a reasonable profit, and I am happy for them to do so if they are giving me a good pitch, well maintained with a pleasant view.
Over the last two years we have stayed at ten sites, some more than once or twice, for about twenty four weeks and have paid between £20 and £25 a week. I certainly wouldn't pay £30.
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Once a week mowing and non commercial waste collection won’t cost very much. Granted there will be insurance, safety checks, other things on an annual basis, water rates. But if it’s an established site, not looking at paying back any new build costs, and has a decent nightly pitch fill, then maybe £280-£350 for a good number of weeks makes the owners happy?
Either way, it’s got some superb reviews not just on here, but on other websites as well. We have used some similar long established sites and haven’t yet paid £20 per night even with unmetered electrics. They are still out there, and long may they thrive. This time last year, we stayed on a couple of cracking CLs. One for £8 per night, grass, no hook up. Another had hook up, loos and a shower, HS at £14 per night. It was full and no wonder at that price, we were very lucky to get a pitch. Both great locations with lovely views and plenty to do. Owners had their own MH, and said they didn’t want to pay a lot of money (Club Site fees) so happily maintained their CL at what they thought a reasonable return. It did close in Winter, so the electrical costs weren’t there. That’s when owners went touring.
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