10% OFF Autumn Getaways
Hi everyone,
I wanted to let you know that you can now save 10% per night at 50 Club campsites when you book a stay between 9 September and 30 November 2024 for three or four nights or more depending on where you choose. You need to book by 16 November, at least 14 days in advance of your arrival date and the discount will automatically applied and appear in your basket at checkout.
Find out more at camc.com/ukoffers
Comments
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Won't be using it Ro as we can't stop 3 or 4 nights minimum.
I suspect quite a few members with M/homes or Campervans will also find the minimum period for qualifying off-putting. If the club is suffering from a lack of "bums on seats" then they should be more dynamic in their basic day-to-day prices.
This offer will suit some members but its not an inclusive one.
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It’s a minimum stay, not a maximum.
I think WN means it’s unfair because a lot of motorhomers have no wish to stay as long as 3-4 nights.
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I have a question a little off the subject of the post.
Is Rowena the only employee of the club, as any announcements seem to come via her.
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As with other offers, IMHO, somewhat restrictive. Minimum stay is 3 or 4 nights, depending on site. Not available on every site, only on 50.
Booking at least 14 days in advance?? What happened to spontaneity when touring?
No doubt it will appeal to some people, but when you are not in a position to book at least 14 days in advance, for whatever reason, it's no use. Can't understand that, why not apply the discount without that condition, again IMHO that would benefit more people.
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I am not sure the stay requirements are unreasonable. Even the free night earlier in the year was dependant on you staying 3 nights. Pointless me complaining to Waitrose that I only want 5 bottles of wine when the T&C's say I have to buy 6 to get a 25% discount?
David
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It's an offer, and like all offers, it benefits the club not anyone personally. We can't know the reasons but I suspect it's aimed at a certain purpose, to get more people staying longer perhaps. If the fits in with your plans then use them and if not don't.
As for not being inclusive I just can't see that. Firstly, no matter what some say about MHs I see some staying just as long or longer than caravans. Secondly it's bit like saying Sainsburys is not inclusive as there are offers on wine but I don't drink wine.
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but I suspect it's aimed at a certain purpose, to get more people staying longer perhaps
Just to quote myself, and I should add at certain sites at certain dates, obviously ones that are picked for a reason.
There's no point in offers on the other sites that are doing well in whatever respect, that will just lead to a loss of income at those sites?
And I could say this offer is not inclusive to me as I can't use it at a weekend as for many others whatever the outfit, is it non inclusive for those that work full time and only get two consultative days off? To me the answer is no.
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Agree with WN. Why are the Club offering such discriminatory offers. Anyone who is caring for others, and might only be able to manage at most a couple of nights is totally missing out, regardless of what kind of outfit they use. Nearly all the Club’s offers are coming with a minimum night stay policy now, and frankly, it stinks😡
Its another symptom of how removed some decision makers are from the Membership they serve. I’m pleased for the folks that can benefit, but there are thousands out there, like us, like some of our friends, who cannot. Why this minimum has to be applied I don’t know, surely it’s all about filling pitches, no matter how🤷♀️
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TDA. The club has a wide and varied membership and when discounts and offers are made these have to aimed at the majority of it's membership. What offers or discounts would you like to see that applies to the whole membership but doesn't empty the clubs bank accounts.
If the club had a Loyalty Rewards Programme what type of rewards would you like to see.
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Of the 50 site options, 35 require a four night stay to get the discount.
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Of course they can stay longer if they choose but many motorhomers only stay 1-2 nights and move on because they can do their sight seeing en route to the next site. It’s all about the freedom to do things as they choose and by moving on they don’t have to back track over the same roads on each outing as tuggers do. Some MH-ers though prefer to use their vans in the same way as caravanners do.
As for what they actually see, that depends on what is available to see.
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The club makes offers in order to fill pitches, not to give members a freebie. They make offers to all members but cannot possibly make allowances for members' personal circumstances such as limited holidays allowances, family responsibilities and so on.
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Many enjoyed the mid week discounts that applied at some of the under performing Club Sites and used these extensively at a variety of Club Sites. They were easily administered, came with few terms and conditions (didn’t apply at busy school holiday periods) and kept the smaller sites, less busy sites ticking over at quiet times. The discount wasn’t huge, but it was there, with no hoops to jump through. That’s just one I can think of, at the moment.
I suspect as I have said previously on other threads, the Club is having problems filling time sensitive pitches. It’s meddled extensively with its pricing policies, it’s imposed a lot more terms and conditions onto fee paying Members, it’s current crop of offers are much loved by those able to afford the pitch prices anyway, but if it’s this section of the Membership taking up the offers, it’s not going to increase the income, all it is doing is giving its existing customers less to pay. Therefore, to increase income, it needs to attract and keep two marketing sectors….brand new customers (hence Nick Lomas’s reference to the Club having better T&C’s than some other holiday providers), it is probably still getting a fair few new Members, but it’s also getting some stick on here, and on other social media outlets about its pricing, and other issues. The other marketing sector is those it has lost and who have now gone elsewhere, tried new products (maybe CLs, maybe the other Club, maybe something totally different). Individual members will have their own reasons for this, but I suspect that the Club Site pitch prices, the 21 day cancellation period, the initial quite large % deposit will have influenced many, hence why the deposit % has fallen, all the offers, etc…. I don’t blame the Club for rising costs, but let’s not forget, the Club ditched a lot of its Member USPs before the cost of living rose sharply. This lost core is still there, but I would suggest deeply unhappy with some of the things that have come about, and will take a lot more tempting, with less hoops to jump through, than currently on offer. If someone can explain to me why imposing a four night minimum is better than someone taking a couple of two night stays, or even four individual nights then🤷♀️ Offers are only attractive if they a) reach the correct target market, b) give something back to both purchaser and retailer.The Club never has, and probably never will do a Loyalty scheme. It was a Club, where you chose to pay a fee, and for that fee, got an expected quality of provision, within the variations of sites, got access to mid range prices (higher if you weren’t a Member), access to a group of inspected but varying small private sites, and the rallying scene. Gradually, lots of other services, insurance, overseas, etc…… came on board. Outside of the rallying scene, it’s now much more of a commercial business, trying to survive in a big pond. Alienating a section of the Membership though, via discriminatory T&Cs, limiting offers only to those who can commit to longer stays, isn’t going to win back those who have found, and regularly use options that give them more of what they need.
We have actually used more Club Sites this last six months than in the last decade ironically. But things like this are not going to make us use more, far from it. Keeping our Membership, winning back our usage of sites isn’t happening, and we know we are no longer “valued” Members. So be it.
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The club’s own data shows more motorhomes than caravans in membership and that motorhomers spend less time on a site, frequently moving on.
We rarely stay more than two nights anywhere, and can’t rememeber the last time we spend 4 nights anywhere. Oh, yes I can, a nice little off grid CL for £8 a night. We visit attractions on our way between sites, normally.
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If the Club wants to fill pitches, why not offer the reduction regardless of the number of nights booked? Isn't it better to have 2 outfits booking 2 nights each than that pitch staying empty for 4 nights? As has been pointed out already, membership consists of many more MHers than even 10 years ago. Many of those only want to stay 2 nights, so IMHO by imposing a 4 night minimum stay on 35 out of the 50 sites, they are losing out on those members filling pitches.
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It’s not really about the type of outfit you use Arch, it’s about how long you can commit to being away for, given a variety of circumstances. That could be health related, work related, parental requirements, caring requirements, whatever.
But, we own both a small MH, and a caravan, so ideally placed to understand the subtle differences of taking each away. With a MH/camper, you pack it, then set off. In an hour we might stop off say at an NT property, park up, have a day looking around, then carry on to a site. Ten minute set up. Up next day, ten minute pack up, off for day sight seeing, back to a site, ten minute reset up, then repeat. There’s no angst about parking up, no need to get to site and drop off caravan before doing anything. So in essence, travel days are “doing days”. Possible with a caravan, but no where near as easy. We could, in three days (2 stopover nights) visit around six different places of interest, utilising a morning and afternoon each day. If you tour in a linear manner, say linking two different sites (let’s say, Bolton Abbey and Hawes) then you plan your sight seeing around this, and your actual time on the road is minimised. We think of it as “linear” touring, ass opposed to what we call “there and back again” going out and coming back to same site. So you can see lots, and get about quite a distance, just in three days. We tried the minimal days touring with our caravan, but it just took so much longer to pack up, set up, and we had to phone places ahead to check out car parking. So we bought a MH. A small one, with the intention of touring in UK, on UK roads, utilising a variety of stopovers, going out daily with ease.
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I cannot possibly answer your questions as to why CAMC choose to make their offers in the way they do. One can only assume camc knows which sites to target and how many nights they wish to fill. It’s done for the club’s benefit, as I said, and management will have a far better grasp of the situation than you or I are ever likely to have.
I think members will either accept the offers for what they are (£3 p/n, wow🙄) or do something different.
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As a caravaner I will normally stay 14 nights or more explore the area visiting various attractions using local facilities etc the club site gets 14 nights worth of fees on a single pitch, if as you say you do 1 or 2 nights in your motorhome that same club site needs to attract 14 or 7 of you to collect the same fees so to me it's common se sense to attract the long stayers with a discount.
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While you stay 14 nights on one site, Ina may use 7 sites for her 14 nights so CAMC still sells 14 pitch nights.
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I did after reading some comments had to check that I had not misread the offer, was it 100% off? Perhaps 50% off might just justify such comments as non-inclusive, or even discriminatory but 10%?That's a saving of somewhere around £2.50-£3.50 per night. Are some really saying they would use club these club sites if only they were reduced by these amounts? Really? Is that all it takes?
I also had to check if the club's T&C had been changed? Were people being banned from staying one night and booking the night before? Of course not-just pay the full price. Harsh for those that cannot for whatever unforeseen reason by the club but there is it.
When I was working did I see the MWD as discriminatory or non inclusive, the answer is no. Yet these better offers which are available to all (and over half term remember) are commented on.
Isn't it better to have 2 outfits booking 2 nights each than that pitch staying empty for 4 nights
Yes but only if they are empty anyway, otherwise not. I suspect the club has chosen sites with some purpose in mind. If it was two nights then weekends would be affected and that would mean lost income. From posters it would appear that weekends are pretty well booked so why offer an offer that would mean less income of 10% across 50 sites? I really cannot see the point.
Perosnally I think it's pretty simple they want to increase the days spent on these sites. If that doesn't suit your touring style don't take advantage of these offers.
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I don’t think the free night was DK, you had to book, but even if you only booked and stayed the one night, you got it free. That was something far different to the latest round of offers.
It was booking time limited, date time limited, and applied to a period when far less sites were open, the weather was unpredictable (Jan -March) and I would think there would have been far fewer Members active given that some outfits are laid up during the colder months. Nevertheless, I think it proved popular, as I have never seen so many folks at Bolton Abbey in the Winter, first week of opening, and besides, the on-site staff said yes, folks were there to use their freebie!🤣
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You may have missed the point I was talking about a Club Site not the club in general so that particular club site I was staying on would need to attract 14 or 7 MHs and the offer is only for a limited number of club sites who I guess need an income lift and the quickest easy way is to attract long stays.
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I’ve not missed the point. CAMC is an entity looking at occupancy on all sites and, thus, overall income.
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So you you don't recognise the offer in question relates to named particular sites and not all sites, sites close because their income falls below a threshold set by the club its important for a sites survival to maintain a healthy income long stays help keep that income.
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It doesn’t matter one bit about what kind of outfit you tour in. But what does matter is why there seem to be so many offers aimed at filling more empty pitch nights.
Dedicated Club Site users, who have found their happy place (nothing wrong with this) are not the target market for these offers. The Club needs to find out what are the barriers that are actually, not speculatively, stopping non users from going to Club Sites, or not staying as long. Until it does this, it can send out as many offers as it likes, but is still in danger of only pleasing those that already go. The reasons are likely to be a complex mixture, but need to be known.
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