New Club Site Offer
Like others, I am sure, I have just had an email from the Club with an offer of £5 a night off certain sites in July and August. There is a minimum booking requirement of either 5 or 7 days depending on site. This seems like a decent deal? We have just booked White House Beach for early July and will be paying about £25 a night which seems very good value, I could pay that much for a CL!!! If you have not seen the offer, details are here.
David
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Yes, I too had the email yesterday. Out of curiosity I had a look at 3 sites fairly near to us, Meathop, Hawes and Southport. None of them came close to your £25 a night at White House Beach, discounted prices for early July ranged from just short of £32 to over £36. Of course, it follows that if a site is over £40 to begin with, then £5 off will still be well into the £30 price bracket.
Not willing to pay that, even in July, so sticking to CLs, CSs and independents, as well as C&CC sites. Have a trip booked for May, including BH, which we are spending on a CS, EHU and toilet facilities, for £26. Other sites also no more than £26. Personally, I'd prefer to be on a CL or CS at busier times anyway, rather than a main club site, but I agree that the £25 a night you're paying in July is good value.
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The minimum stay is a negative to us. We usually stay no more than three nights before moving on. Just been in Worcestershire for five nights, but on two sites. I believe this offer disproportionately advantages caravanners. The Club’s own research shows that motorhomers tend to visit more sites but for shorter periods of time.
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It’s a good caravan offer, but not if you tour in your MH. Club are marketing to long stayers who are finding some site fees very expensive. Another unattractive offer from our point of view.
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It might well be to do with the time of year in which the offer is valid. it does cover most of the summer school holidays where , I imagine, longer stays are more common? The free night offer only required a three night stay. If there is going to be a series of promotions throughout the year there could well be different combinations of length of stay? Easy enough to take advantage of the ones that suit?
David
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Motorhomers are in the majority now.
Many of them want to park their vehicle on a site and leave it there.
So they choose sites with a bus at the gate.
Here in Cornwall Merrose Farm and Treamble valley don’t have that.
So down here they are sites where summer reductions are offered .
Motorhomers are now calling the shots.
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What if we do book 5 or 7 consecutive nights, just on different sites, we tourers will be penalised even if all those site we book are within the club’s scheme. The club is a network of sites, not just one site! That’s why we joined all those years ago. It’s a negative and backward step for me.
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Agree mickysf, having re-branded some years ago to include "Motorhome" in it's title, it's not acknowledging the way a lot of motorhomers tour.
There aren't all that many sites to choose from in any case:
Save at least £25 when you stay 5 nights or more at a choice of 19 campsites!
Save at least £35 when you stay 7 nights or more at a choice of 6 campsites!According to CAMC website there are 157 Club sites, so the £5 offer is only available at a very small proportion of sites, less than 1/6th.
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My growing concern is that this, the minimum nights, could be the thin end of the wedge and we may see an increase of such across more sites. Totally against my notion of touring and the notion of a club, a network of sites for us members to enjoy our pastime.
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It seems to me the Club is behaving in a very sensible way. They have the booking figures at their fingertips and can see certain sites where the occupancy figures are lower than expected - so they reduce the price a tiny bit at those sites. That’s not rocket fuelled economics. It’s just business sense.
And of course they will try to nudge people into staying a few days longer - just as Tesco today is trying with a price offer to nudge me to buy six bottles of wine instead of two or three.
Neither CAMC nor Tesco is a charity. Some members need to get real.
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I think with these offers you just have to see whether they work for you. The Club might not be keen on short stay offers as they could impact on availability which could prevent someone booking a longer stay, I suspect that is particularly the case with this offer in peak season. It is possible that offers on shorter stays will emerge in the low season, we will have to wait and see. Not all motorhomers stay for 2/3 nights, some will stay much longer and benefit from the current offer as much as caravanners. What would be interesting to know was how many members that don't generally use Club sites took advantage of the free night offer?
David
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We used our free night. After over 35 years of being Members it’s the only freebie we have ever had. It luckily came along to attend an event, but it didn’t stop us looking at other options, and we still only stayed two nights.
Tell a lie🤔 we might have had a free sticker at some point.
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I think with these offers you just have to see whether they work for you
They only work if it is somewhere I would want to be anyway. As an enticement to get out there they don't work for me on two counts.
1. The booking conditions are not favourable, I don't want to stay 5 days and as an enticement, the decision to go away would be taken at shorter notice only when the weather forecast was good.
2. There are better choices out there and I am happy to pay a premium to enjoy good weather.
peedee
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I’m not against our club attempting to increase occupancy on sites, particularly on those sites in need of promotion but it’s how they go about this and how a chosen strategy could then evolve and impact on some members that concerns me. As I stated before I’m concerned that this ‘narrow’ strategy could be rolled out further to other sites and morph into something else. We often include those less frequented sites whilst on our multiple site tours, as many others do, that’s how we holiday, we enjoy doing this style of holidaying as a ‘static’ caravan vacation is not for us. We rarely stay more than two, possibly three nights on any site whilst on our longer tours.
There have always been those sites on the network where occupancy is lower, many being in those more remote and beautiful areas, these we have been informed in the past are retained for the memberships enjoyment. The notion of a loss leader in business is a valid economic strategy in order to promote the company’s bigger picture and appeal and keeping less profitable sites on the network may just make sense in a membership club.Good business sense, in my eyes, is to look at the customer/membership holidaying patterns and not just the raw site specific data . Good business sense is to find strategies which encourage all members to get the most out of membership , not to restrict, penalise or ignore certain holidaying behaviours or those observed developing behaviours. It’s about knowing ‘your’ membership and seeing that bigger picture then acting in the interests of what the data is telling you about the present and future.
One of my biggest business strategy dislikes is that new customer discount where loyalty is penalised. Yes, the C&MC is not a charity but it is a membership club and ‘knowing’ and acting for its membership, is important to retention and ‘customer’ satisfaction in my opinion.
Now here is the crux for me, as I mentioned before I’m more concerned about that thin edge. Heaven forbid we will have, or will even consider, that absolute minimum night restriction that some commercials, and the other club employ on some of their sites, rolled out to our club sites. That would have severe implications on my and many others ‘touring’ holidays.
Yes, we do need to get real, we do need to appreciate and be mindful of what could be lost if ‘we’ are not careful.
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These offers only seem to have come about since the new booking system was put in place which I assume is more user friendly (to the Club) in being able to apply such offers? Also because we now have a deposit system the bookings are not so impacted by late cancellation so the Club have a clearer idea of real future occupancy trends. The only offers we had in the past were mid week discounts on some sites and all in one prices for some non facility sites.
I have no idea what proportion on one night stays there are, be it weekends or mid week. Very rarely do we now stay one night anywhere but it would be a shame if restrictions were introduced. I imagine if it was ever in the Clubs mind to put booking restrictions in place they would be able to back that up with some sort of evidence to support the change? I don't think they, particularly as they say they are a touring Club?
David
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I think they are going down a path that is likely to result in less and less long term advance bookings at all but the honeypots. The exact opposite of what I would think they want. They bring in all these offers and the only way you can access them if you already have a booking is through the rigmarole of canceling and rebooking. If they want to encourage advanced bookings and get all those deposits coming in they need to look at a you will never pay more strategy.
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Yes, it would be interesting to know, but it would be more useful and interesting to have the data on whole tours which include one, two and occasional three nights stays on different sites. Looking at just one night stays at specific sites tells us little and does not give that bigger picture about holidaying patterns of the membership. As said before, the club is a network of sites, that’s its beauty!
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I've posted this before when other offers are being dicsusssed but there are some points here.
One is that no one is forced to take up this offer if it doesn't suit.
Secondly while one can benefit from this offer they are not made for anyone's benefit, they are made for the club's benefit. The last free night offer was to get people usng club sites when they wouldn't and judging by what what was posted on here it certainly worked with people who wouldn't normally stay on a club site and it got their money. This one too will have a club-drven purpose.
Peronally I think the club knows it's clients very well indeed and will have very detailed data. But why the club should seek out those who don't use club sites is beyond me, bookings have been good, and look very good when I'm trying to book sites ahead, so why should they? In my view it should concentrate of those who use actaully club sites.
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bookings have been good, and look very good when I'm trying to book sites ahead,
My observations are the opposite. Of the 9 sites we advance booked at the end of last year, all but one has no shortage of pitches available if I wanted to book now. The one exception is York Rowntree.
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I didn't say sites were full and with no shortage, but six sites I'm booking at are impossible to get a full week till August, and while there are pitches here and there is no chance of getting a full week or any weekend on a SP. On my expereince occupancy is far better than last year
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Is this a bad thing corners, being able to choose any dates and durations of stay on club sites has always been the way it is done and has always resulted in reduced choice for some wishing to book later? Yes, some sites appear to be doing okay according to what we see on the website but in reality it may be very different, particularly according to what some are now reporting. The devil is in the detail and the detail does not always reflect what’s actually happening, goes for much of our lives these days I’m afraid.
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It’s clearly site dependent. Of the 9 sites we booked there are only two where it wouldn’t be possible to book a full week and one of those is York. That’s on Hardstanding, rather than service. From my recollection it would be much easier to book later this year than last.
We do not book full weeks, so for our type of booking leaving it late is becoming much less of a risk in my opinion.0 -
CS, If your last sentence is the case then occupancy levels last year must have been very low. The site we are on at present, and the other one close by have the lowest number of units on them that we have ever seen, and talking to the Site Manager here the picture has been the same at Troutbeck for the last couple of weeks too. Just a snapshot but by the way the club is putting out so many different discounts it would appear that they too are concerned about low occupancy, even during the early summner.
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there is no chance of getting a full week or any weekend on a SP.
Corners, I know that the part quoted was just a part of a sentence of your total quote but it's the part about SP that sticks out to me.
From what I gather the number of SPs on club sites is but a small portion of the overall number of pitches available. They are becoming more popular, including on CLs, and I now have a preference for them. Surely you're not basing your comments of availability solely on SPs, are you?
I have read of several posts from various CT members stating that pitches are freely available. Didn't Ttda recently say there was plenty of room at NYM and had problems with trying to book an extra night because the app showed the site was full?
I'm not a CAMC app user and haven't tried to book a site so have no side to fall down on. Merely curious.
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Things will go far further than these very limited price reductions which have been announced. This is just the beginning.
From now on in everything will be largely based around motorhomers If there are sites that motorhomers don’t particularly like - remote location, bad access, all grass pitches, no bus service, sites in the wrong place, and so on - then there will be site closures on a widespread scale. It will hit CLs and smaller independents first, but Club sites will not be immune.The growth of offsite options in UK for motorhomes will only add to the speed of change. Price reductions first , then reduced opening dates, then reduced staffing, then site closure. It has happened all over Europe, just look at France, and of course it will happen here.
Everything will change as motorhomes replace caravans. There is no doubt the planning people at Club hq know it very well.
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We’re doomed! No I think that is just a tad OTT. However, if anything the opposite may happen if we are really unlucky with bookings methods favouring the longer staying caravaners, motorised or otherwise.
Some caravan sites only permit set block bookings of a week or fortnight duration (Sunday to Sunday) during their season. Some weeks are booked a year(s) in advance. I know this to be the extreme but we really need to be careful of what we are wishing for or sometimes even thinking about.0 -
We've had this kind of conversation before and as we use totally different pitches and/or club sites, also at differing times. so as you say just a snapshot and no comparison in my view. Also as you say the sites you're on now which is still midweek April and not yet really into the season
Also TH, one of my favourite sites, has always had availability due to it's size and being 15 miles from anywhere although it does get very busy in summer. .
The club has always put out offers, as do all other leisure companies, it's just a way of getting more business. You used the free night offer in january coupled with a few days when normally you say you wouldn't use club sites. And you're on one again.
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The proportion of SP is actually bigger than you think. Some sites are up to 35%. Often on some sites they are more units on SP than the rest of the site , and no I'm not, the sites I'm looking at while it's worse for SP, even on standard pitches it's almost impossible to get a full week as well.
Again TDA isn't a full time user of club sites, only using them when the price is right at certain times/places so again not really a valid commnet. I don't use the app so can't comment on that.
I remember a similar thread about Garliston last year with one poster saying they'd never seen it so empty ad the club was in serious trouble, from driving by mind, yet when I visited it was very busy and full about half the time we were there over two weeks.
Every single year there are posts about empty pitches on CT and the prospect of even emptier sites... yet this doesn't happen, membership is at all all time high and while there may be pitches at this time I'm having trouble getting pitches short term.
Back on track, this offer will have a particular aim, I don't care what it is but as always, either take advantage of it if it suites, if not find these other non club sites that we are often told are cheaper and better. Win - win isn't it?
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Yes it was me WN, but not via the App, it was the actual website booking system that wasn’t working. I don’t use the App. NYMoors was less than half full, and of course no grass pitches in use on our three nights. We couldn’t extend our stay to cover our extra Friday night online, I had to pop into reception on the Friday morning, knowing that there were plenty of pitches (we were surrounded by them🤭) I walked the site Friday evening, a few more pitches had been taken, but there were still 16 unoccupied. It was post 8pm, and no signs stating MHs using pitches, so that excuse didn’t wash. It wasn’t busy, and I wouldn’t trust the booking system to be accurate.
The Club wouldn’t be touting special offers if the sites were full. Wouldn’t make economic sense, and they certainly didn’t give as many offers just post COVID lockdown when the sites really were full to bursting. Ironically, we have stayed on more Club Sites (although only for a couple of nights each time) than we have ever stayed on this last couple of years, but only for very local events, out of main season, and if we can get a non facility option. Only one busy was Bolton Abbey, the weekend it re opened, everyone desperate to get back out, and use that free night! Staff said almost everyone there was using the free night. We drove into Clumber on spec last September, that wasn’t busy, not even the SP and Super pitches. Scarbro was deserted back in November. A dozen on at most.
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