Prices too high or falling interest in camping
Comments
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Two of the last five CLs that we have been to have had shower and toilet facilities and both of which were better than the ones that we experienced on the one Club site that we have visited this year. Four of the five had serviced pitches which meant that we could use our more than adequate onboard facilities. Why would we want to go to an regimented, crowded and very expensive Club site?
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Why would we want to go to an regimented, crowded and very expensive Club site?
Although there are many possible reasons, as I put above “Ultimately it’s a personal choice and value for money is subjective.” No one size fits all and as you have noted they are popular.1 -
So who is, or are, 'we' that you have posted? is it 'us'? Are you really asking everyone why they should use a club site? i thought it was a rhetorical question just for you?
As Steve says there are many possible reasons, but you saying regimented, crowded and very expensive Club site is of course your opinion, it is not the truth or a fact.
Many, will see them differently, I do not see them as any of those.
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The post is very biased and while you are entitled to your opinions you are at odds with many others. I accept the club sites are often a bit more expensive than average, but you get an excellent standard and know exactly what you are getting and they suit us and seem reasonable value for money. The sites are not for you and I understand the point, but they are not as seriously over priced, as you suggest in my opinion and usually are well supported.
There are many other reasons for this years problems including the atrocious weather we have had this year, economic problems and probably the increase in people taking foreign holidays now covid is less of a threat. The problems were hard to predict and the club are taking action to hopefully correct things.
The magazine may not be for you and many others but I like it and from previous threads many others do. Basically it is not for you but that does not mean it is rubbish. You are insulting many decent hard working staff. If you do not want it just take the web only option and ignore it.
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What puzzles me, apart from the points WW has made, is that John describes sites as crowded. Other posters say bookings are falling, sites are half empty and CAMC is desperate to get bookings. The two views aren’t compatible.
I must say I never felt crowded on a CAMC site even when full. There was always space around me even on the quirky sites like Moorhampton.
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I wouldn’t describe the post from johnM20 as biased but his view. Much of which I would concur. When reading the reviews of club sites it is interesting to note the number describing facilities as old, shabby, in need of modernisation. Most congratulate the wardens on keeping these facilities as clean as possible. So I am not sure that all club sites have high standard facilities. We too benefit from Mayday but no longer use Red Pennant or ferry bookings. We very largely use CLs, although we prefer the ones without showers. Happy to use all our own facilities. I don’t understand why people buy vans with good facilities and then don’t use them. One of the reasons we find club sites expensive is that we use so little of what is available. We use water, drainage, elsan point and electric hook up if we must (roll on metering every where) We don’t use children’s playgrounds, dog walks, loo blocks, washing up facilities.
As for feeling overcrowded, generally yes. We did use New England Bay this year which was OK because we were not surrounded by vans, being on the sea front. A year or two ago we went to Clumber Park, never ever again. We felt hemmed in on all sides, and the noise was dreadful. This was mid week outside of school holidays. We go away for peace and quiet, CLs and CSs suit us down to the ground, or occasionally small private sites. Very rarely club sites from either club.
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The 'we' are I and my wife. I'm not referring to the membership in general. I would have said so if I was.
I'm not sure, Corners, how you can say that club sites are not regimented, crowded or expensive. The majority of sites I have been on (nearly 60 different ones in the last 36 years) have had lines of caravans barely 6m apart, been told exactly where on the pitch to park ones caravan or motorhome, and prices approaching double the average cost of a CL. These observations are, as you say, my opinions, but I don't think I am far wrong.
At the end of the day it is how 'we' like to enjoy our caravanning. We don't want everyone to suddenly prefer CLs.
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Falling interest looming ever larger. 100 out of 150 Club sites closing soon as seasonal interest wanes.
Even Cayton Village where Club spent millions and installed pods and cabins with great fanfares is closing for four months.
It’s a dying hobby, folks.
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Yes you are right, Cayton is closing earlier than last year. I have just checked my photos and we were there last year a lot later than 4th November. Doesn’t surprise me though, next to no one there last year, and the weather was cold but dry. Very few pitches taken, and the Cabins were by no means full.
It’s not the 365 days a year touring Club it used to be. Too expensive to keep sites open for just a few, so prices go up to make sure the assets can still cover the costs, even when closed. Although they will be a lot less.
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I’m not sure what is meant by regimented, does this mean well organised and manicured? I’ve been on disorganised and scruffy sites but I don’t remember a C&MC fitting this description. Sometimes words we use have somewhat loaded ‘connotations’. Crowded, is that full and busy or claustrophobically hemmed in? Expensive? Now I get that that is a personal standpoint and very much a subjective observation.
But, yes, we all have our preferences, our wants and desires. Thankfully we are all different, we are not wrong, just different.
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I would say that Club Site pitches don’t give a great deal of space between outfits, compared with most CLs. So for some (us included) they are not claustrophobic, but do lack much privacy.
I would say Club Site pitches on most Sites are neat rows, a lot of straight lines. Or carefully arranged circles. Many CLs do offer pitch where you want.
Some Club Site prices can be as much as three times the price of some CLs, but here it is not easy to compare, as the Club Sites might provide more facilities, and without doubt the total overheads will be a lot more expensive to provide.
Everything is about choice though.
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I'm not sure, Corners, how you can say that club sites are not regimented, crowded or expensive.
Sorry but I can say it with complete certainty and you being unsure about what I've written changes nothing.
Are you saying I don't mean what I've posted? Or are you trying to say that your view that they are is the correct one and you cannot accept and respect what myself and others write to the contrary?
I could equally say that I'm not sure how you can say that club sites are regimented, crowded and very expensive - and normally I wouldn't.
But I've never felt crowded even on full sites and it's not barely 6m but at least six metres and often more. I've seen pictures of CLs that are just as regimented as club sites and there are far more expensive sites out there. It's not just about cost, it's also about what value one puts on that and the quality one gets.
Yes CLs are cheaper but the quality, services are, in my view, not as good.
But club sites are popular so while you may not like them many do.
I've said that if you can find cheaper, better value and as good quality sites as the club, or rather as you perceives that, then go there, but accept that others have differing views on quality and value.
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"…how you can say that club sites are not regimented, crowded or expensive. The majority of sites I have been on (nearly 60 different ones in the last 36 years) have had lines of caravans barely 6m apart, been told exactly where on the pitch to park ones caravan or motorhome, and prices approaching double the average cost of a CL."
John, if the sites are so awful (in your opinion), why have you been going to them for 36 years? Surely you discovered the sites weren't for you after only a year or two? I think you’ve rather defeated your own argument.
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I agree with John about the regimentation and excessive pricing of most CC sites. We only use them when they are at what we consider a reasonable price and at a time, early or late in a season, when here are few members touring, & when the location fit in with our overall plans for a trip.
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On the point of regimentation of campsites. If, as seems to be the case, the majority of members want hardstanding pitches its very difficult to have such an arrangement in a more random fashion as you might get with an all grass site? I think the Club tries hard, where possible, to avoid that but there is bound to be a degree of it. Now strangely I have seen pictures of CL sites with hardstanding pitches all in a neat row, surely that is equally regimentation?
David
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I can only assume that people who complain about being “hemmed in” and crowded on club sites have never been to Italy, Spain or Portugal. The 6 metre rule is largely ignored and a metre between caravans can be generous.
Over the past 2 years visiting various club sites the expensive service pitches have been full and any vacancies have tended to be on standard or grass pitches.
perhaps people who have spent their children's inheritance don’t want to have second rate facilities on CL’s all the time!
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I would not want second rate facilities on any site, I would much rather have a nice serviced hardstanding, no facilities, and a lower price.
We have excellent on board facilities that we prefer to use whenever possible, especially when it is raining!
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I don’t want second rate facilities and generally I don’t get them on CLs. Different facilities, yes, but not second rate. That is very judgemental. CLs vary enormously. We have been on sites that are just grass, but cut, not long, with just water tap and elsan point. We have been on CLs with hardstandings and mown grass, tap and elsan. The two hard standings were next to each other, but other, grass pitches, were scattered. We have been on sites with all hard standings, not in a line, around a pond. That one had hook up. We were on a CL a couple of weeks back with hard standing track and pitches, water, elsan, mown grass in between. Ehu. Expensive for us at £25 but it was where we wanted to be, on a bus route every 20 mins into York.
None of these sites had second rate facilities.
From some of the reviews of club sites with poor quality facility blocks etc, I would consider those to be second rate.
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I’m not sure the comment about second rate facilities on CLs is judgemental. I’ve been on some very good CLs but I’ve also been on some horrendous ones where I wouldn’t touch the facilities with a barge pole.
CLs do, indeed, vary enormously unlike clubsites where you know the standard to expect. Hence, my use of CLs would only be a choice if there was no clubsite (either club) nearby. Why take the chance?
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I think that for some club sites offer the best in most, if not all things, and CLs are second rate or perhaps second (maybe third) best. Now that is for me. Other will think CLs are best and club sites second (maybe tenth) best. That is a judgement we all make for ourselves and to be accepted and respected and I do, as I've often posted if one finds...
The 'issues' occur when people make that judgement for other people and in some cases try and 'convert' club site users to CLs or other providers. Just accept that for some, actually many, club sites are the way to go, after all it's not your money we're spending.
Worst still is when some cannot accept those that use club sites and, as happened, are ridiculed for using club sites, or their reasons for using club sites are questioned.
Each to their own.
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"Worst still is when some cannot accept those that use club sites and, as happened, are ridiculed for using club sites, or their reasons for using club sites are questioned."
Absolutely, each to their own. We’ve seen a lot of put downs of club site users over the years but I don’t recall seeing similar of CL users. Perhaps some of us are more open minded and are willing to accept the choices of others. Live and let live.
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Surely the post by TobyLeeds, above, is just one of the examples of the putdowns that you apparently haven't seen on here! There have been plenty similar comments in the past, at least IMO.
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I disagree, they maybe second rate to him (and to me as explained) and it's not a put down in my view especially as coupled with a joke.
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Not at all, Nellie. Toby is not mocking or questioning people like yourself who prefer CLs but is using humour to illustrate his own preferences.
I don’t recall other comments but you must surely admit the mocking unfriendly posts levied at club site users in the past far outweigh Toby's few words.
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You both have picked up on the wrong post to the one I was referring to, obviously due to the delay between starting a reply and it actually arriving on the screen. The post I referred to was TL's one on pg 8, which certainly is a put down on CL users the way I read it.
I guess it depends on which coloured glasses one wears as to what one reads into "critical" posts.
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That’s the post I was talking about.
My glasses are not tinted at all!
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That's the one I was referring to NTH, hence my reply about the joke as the one on this page has no joke. And yes as you allude to it might be to the way your read it. Others read it differently?
Interesting though as in the free night thread you are choosing a club site as no CLs in the area (you mean the lakes?) has no facilities to match it at that price, could that be read saying that the CLs are second best taking away price? I'm not but that's the way your s could be read?
I do need glasses but I assure you they are not coloured, tinted, or even rose coloured.
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