Prices too high or falling interest in camping
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That is the previous one Corners. Click on my link, and it comes up with the Agenda for 2024. It’s from October Club Magazine. 👍
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This is a screenshot of where report mentions about pitch take up and Membership. It’s what will be presented at this years AGM👍
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No I quoted from the minutes from the 2023 AGM. As there is yet to be an AGM for this year there is no new AGM report, there cannot be.
What you're quoting from is the Club performance review. Weather this becomes the new report for 2024 I don't know?
Also the report isn't as bad as you posted in my view:
We are pleased to report that the Club had a relatively successful year...
Membership fell slightly in 2023, ending at 376k (still high in my view and a fall in 4000 households or 2000 lead members)
Statutory revenue was up 5.4% year-on-year at £141.8m, producing a statutory surplus of £4.5m which was an acceptable return by pre-pandemic standards.
Closing cash of £53.8m was up 12% compared to the previous year, due in large part to local authority planning delays that hampered the pace of the Club’s capital expenditure programme. The Club’s EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation), a measure of the cash generative power of the Club, continued to remain strong at £18.9m compared to that achieved in 2022 of £19.7m.
The overall surplus of £4.5m represents a 3.2% return on revenue that was ultimately in line with budget at Club level, aided by one-off benefits of capital receipts and also tight management of costs.
Revenue was up year-on-year by £7.3m at £141.8m. Sites revenue remained level at £72.1m (this one is interesting as site occupancy is down, so the club is doing something right at managing this?)
Travel revenue of £21.2m, up £5.7m...
Insurance and Financial Services had a very strong year again...
And there are areas that are down but not enough to cause concern, again in my view.
I would think that the overall money aspect line is very good indeed and I again would think that many other business would love to be in such a position. So the club is doing very well and a tribute to the management of it, in my view.
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Pitch occupancy on Club sites was reported in 2023 as down by 15%
The 2024 AGM might reveal whether there has been a further fall in pitch occupancy so far this year.
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Possibly part of the answer is in the foreign travel income increase. A one third rise means a lot more people going abroad again and therefore less use of UK sites. Not the whole answer as I think the weather did not help but it does indicate a change in habit back to the pre covid days.
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This is Sites, Overseas, Financial Services section of the 2023 income v expenditure. It looks as though it is the Financial Services performing well. Looks like the Site operating costs, (electricity usage, rise in Minimum wage, 15% decrease in usage) have impacted, but you start to see why prices have gone up, and why the Club are closing sites either earlier or completely for good. Only one part of the overall Financial Management of course, which is complex and extensive.
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It may be unpopular to say so but I am sure that the Club now insisting on deposits is having a dramatic impact. OK, there were some selfish people who booked endless weekends and then cancelled but for us it meant we could plan our trips and book them well ahead (not weekends by the way) and if necessary cancel or amend without too much hassle. With the changes now in place we simply do not bother to book Club sites anymore. We look to CLs or private sites so we can be more spontaneous.
The Club is meant to be a touring Club (its origins at least) but it is now impossible to tour spontaneously. Sites are fully booked so if you book a site and then want to change to another as your touring takes a slightly different direction it is impossible to do so and consequently you lose your deposit.Perhaps the Club ought to think about reverting in general to the previous system but just charging deposits where weekends are booked alone. That way those of us who like to tour spontaneously would come back to Club sites.
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Staffy, if you want to tour Club sites spontaneously it seems so easy to me to do it. One can see availability immediately on line and go to most Club sites without any booking or any deposits at all. Then pay on arrival for a few days, extend if you wish or repeat and move on.
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That’s how we have been using Club Sites for years. It’s very rare, beyond maybe YRP and the odd weekend elsewhere that sites get full. Unless you want a specific pitch type, on a specific date or perhaps on a BH, there hasn’t been any requirement to use the deposit, book in front system. Other than you might have to pay a bit more, because of the DP. But then you can choose an alternative if the price doesn't suit, with no deposit lost.
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Having put the deposits down to £5 I doubt these put people off given how low this was. The C&CC take far higher ones with a longer period where you lose it if cancelled, many private sites want the whole lot paid in advance and the loss of the lot if you cancel and still survive. In todays climate £5 is very low and I doubt bothers anyone as in general the others are worse.
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It does make me wonder sometimes if the Club now feel that reintroducing deposits was the wrong move? OK the Club couldn't have predicted the major upheavals we have experienced in recent years. Perhaps the new booking system can't operate without a deposit? I agree that £5 would not deter anyone from booking and cancelling late on. Unless of course having paid a deposit, however small, people actually feel more obliged to honour, come what may, and even a tiny deposit is putting people off. Can't see the logic myself-but!
David
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We have lost deposits 3 times in the past year through a need to amend our bookings at the last minute and no availability on sites in the area we were going.
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Sorry to hear you have lost three deposits but if it happened to me I would stop booking. There are only 5 Club sites full for tomorrow and 126 with availability.
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To paraphrase Lady Bracknell, to lose one booking, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose three looks like carelessness.
If you canceled at the last minute then the bookings on the other sites were almost certainly, well, certain. Having a deposit or not wouldn't have changed that?
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