Is this expensive?

[Buckman]

We are booked with an AA recommended site near Poole and have a fully serviced pitch with water and waste water hookup. There is a very nice restaurant right next door to the site for a nice breakfast. Pubs within easy walking distance. Cost is £38 a night is acceptable to us for a fully serviced pitch.

We went to book a CAMC site near Bournemouth and they wanted over £48 a night and no nearby pubs or restaurants although the latter are not important to us. Cannot understand the huge difference in price between a commercial site and the CAMC members site? Now looking for a pitch possibly on a CL near Christchurch that is fully serviced at a more reasonable cost.

 

[RogerL]

We are booked with an AA recommended site near Poole and have a fully serviced pitch with water and waste water hookup. There is a very nice restaurant right next door to the site for a nice breakfast. Pubs within easy walking distance. Cost is £38 a night is acceptable to us for a fully serviced pitch.

We went to book a CAMC site near Bournemouth and they wanted over £48 a night and no nearby pubs or restaurants although the latter are not important to us. Cannot understand the huge difference in price between a commercial site and the CAMC members site? Now looking for a pitch possibly on a CL near Christchurch that is fully serviced at a more reasonable cost.

I've been questioning the value of CC/CAMC sites charges, compared to commercial sites, for most of my long time caravanning.

 

[otherclive]

We are booked with an AA recommended site near Poole and have a fully serviced pitch with water and waste water hookup. There is a very nice restaurant right next door to the site for a nice breakfast. Pubs within easy walking distance. Cost is £38 a night is acceptable to us for a fully serviced pitch.

We went to book a CAMC site near Bournemouth and they wanted over £48 a night and no nearby pubs or restaurants although the latter are not important to us. Cannot understand the huge difference in price between a commercial site and the CAMC members site? Now looking for a pitch possibly on a CL near Christchurch that is fully serviced at a more reasonable cost.

Are both sites open for similar periods during the year? Or is one all year and the other seasonal?

 

[Buckman]

Are both sites open for similar periods during the year? Or is one all year and the other seasonal?

Both are very similar and in the same BH post code. The commercial site in our opinion is the better of the two and in a better location.

We are members of the club mainly for the CLs and breakdown service. The Caravan Cover is not very competitive.

We seldom book a CAMC site unless catching the ferry from Portsmouth, but in this case as we wanted to visit a relative in Christchurch we thought that the CAMC would be more convenient.

Taking into account all our health woes, we are more or less restricted to fully serviced pitches with water and waste water connections. In the past I have hooked the water barrle over the tow bar and driven to the water point, but gte some strange looks. Same with waste master and cassette.

 

[Mel]

We are currently at Love2Stay near Shrewsbury. Very well appointed site. Hot tubs, outdoor cold water pool, trim trail, Fully serviced pitches, Shower block like I have never seen, Dog wash like a spa. You can even empty the loo on the pitch if you use green chemical.
It is £30 a night in January, but gets much much more expensive as you go through the season. Even so, in comparison CAMC have lost the plot.
mel

 

[Beachball]

We are currently at Love2Stay near Shrewsbury. Very well appointed site. Hot tubs, outdoor cold water pool, trim trail, Fully serviced pitches, Shower block like I have never seen, Dog wash like a spa. You can even empty the loo on the pitch if you use green chemical.
It is £30 a night in January, but gets much much more expensive as you go through the season. Even so, in comparison CAMC have lost the plot.
mel

Hi Mel hope you have a nice time enjoy

 

[GaryB]

We've been CMHC users for over 25 years, we also use C&CC sites but I'd guess the CMHC usage is around 95% of the time. With escalating costs of everything, this year we've been looking at some commercial sites and noticed that providing you can stay outside of the school holidays (we can't) then you can often get better facilities for less than the clubs charge. As an example we are at Brighton CMHC site in February half term - 5 nights on a serviced pitch at £194, at Easter we've got 5 nights at Broadway on a serviced pitch at £335.

The rest of our stays this year will be CL's or commercial sites.

 

[Buckman]

The rest of our stays this year will be CL's or commercial sites.

Ditto. I was actually surprised that there was availability for a fully serviced pitch at new Forest CAMC end of June however did not take up their kind offer.

 

[GaryB]

Ditto. I was actually surprised that there was availability for a fully serviced pitch at new Forest CAMC end of June however did not take up their kind offer.

I think the new deposit system and the current financial squeeze has stopped some of the speculative bookings that used to happen previously. I daren't look at some of the summer prices!

 

[Hutch]

I think both of the main club sites are over the top, other sites are better prices, The two main clubs still think most people want to be isolated from pubs and restaurants , and are living in the past, for there prices , they should be having fully serviced pitches by now.

 

[Beachball]

We've been CMHC users for over 25 years, we also use C&CC sites but I'd guess the CMHC usage is around 95% of the time. With escalating costs of everything, this year we've been looking at some commercial sites and noticed that providing you can stay outside of the school holidays (we can't) then you can often get better facilities for less than the clubs charge. As an example we are at Brighton CMHC site in February half term - 5 nights on a serviced pitch at £194, at Easter we've got 5 nights at Broadway on a serviced pitch at £335.

The rest of our stays this year will be CL's or commercial sites.

When. we had our caravan we started with the CL"s and use then both for the past three years and got some great prices even for a serviced Pitch but we did like Adult Parks but lodges l. like to get good deal

 

[Buckman]

I think both of the main club sites are over the top, other sites are better prices, The two main clubs still think most people want to be isolated from pubs and restaurants , and are living in the past, for there prices , they should be having fully serviced pitches by now.

It does seem that many members feel this way about pitches being way to expensive that many commercial sites now offer sites of a similar nature to clubs at a lower price and with more facilities. Also the caravan cover is more expensive than a normal insurance cover by over £100.

If it wasn't for the 5 van network we would have dropped our membership as you can now get breakdown cover from Green Flag for caravans at a very similar price as club breakdown companies. The magazines seldom contain anything of interest.

 

[woodsieboy]

We like serviced pitches, and are booked at Broadway for Easter, then Pembrey, then Rooksbury Park on the following BHs, end of May is Somers Wood, which is cheaper per night than the 3 club sites,ironically they offer discount if you are a club member,then August 15 nights in France on fully serviced pitch with own sanitation cabin( toilet shower washbasin fridge) France is 1100 euros, on site with pools, restaurants, shop, takeaway,etc so actual cost will depend on exchange rate. Think CAMC will be outpricing themselves, and as with all things the consumer can decide to go elsewhere, Nobody is forced to stay at sites which appear expensive, and perhaps the site owners will notice. Similarly this morning we visited our local Aldi, very busy. Went to Morrisons for stuff that Aldi don't sell, very quiet with no queues at checkout,noticeable price differences between the stores,I think most people are capable of making decisions based on what is important to them,in most things in life, and are relatively immune to advertising etc. Suppliers of any commodity, from site fees to bread or milk, even mobile phones, broadband etc ignore the consumer at their peril, especially the consumers without mortgages to pay.

 

[Buckman]

Similarly this morning we visited our local Aldi, very busy. Went to Morrisons for stuff that Aldi don't sell, very quiet with no queues at checkout,noticeable price differences between the stores,I think most people are capable of making decisions based on what is important to them,in most things in life, and are relatively immune to advertising etc. Suppliers of any commodity, from site fees to bread or milk, even mobile phones, broadband etc ignore the consumer at their peril, especially the consumers without mortgages to pay.

We have accounts with three of the big supermarkets for delivery, but on doing a comparison between them, we found Sainsbury to be cheaper. This is confirmed by Which consumer magazine. Like you we shop at LIDL and what we cannot get at LIDL we top up with Saisnburys. Let your feet do the walking!

 

[Raywood]

It is difficult to compare prices of club sites with private because of the different ways they operate and differing costs of each site although I do agree that £48 a night will be too high for the two of us.
Club sites operate under strict legal restraints which mean that every legal requirement has to be followed and possibly more than the private site apply.
The club employs all people working on the site but private sites often are run by the owners who can avoid some of the costs and regulations the club has to work with and they do have a head office support staff to pay.
Club sites need to use contractors for work which in many cases private owners can do them selves and being local can more easily use firms they know locally who will be cheaper. They do not have the size to negotiate contracts though which may offset some of the savings elsewhere.
Site costs do vary and council tax, rental or leasing arrangements can make even sites near each other more or less costly to run. In particular leases which the clubs often have, do have rental revisions at intervals that can increase costs by large sums every few years.
It is generally very difficult to know if any sites charges are reasonable and things like local pubs are purely down to luck and cannot be anything to do with the site operators. Basically the right price for the site from an operators point of view has to be the level at which they can get enough customers to run the site at the level of profitability required and it remains to be seen if the club site can manage that with the charges at that level.

 

[RogerL]

It is difficult to compare prices of club sites with private because of the different ways they operate and differing costs of each site although I do agree that £48 a night will be too high for the two of us.
Club sites operate under strict legal restraints which mean that every legal requirement has to be followed and possibly more than the private site apply.
The club employs all people working on the site but private sites often are run by the owners who can avoid some of the costs and regulations the club has to work with and they do have a head office support staff to pay.
Club sites need to use contractors for work which in many cases private owners can do them selves and being local can more easily use firms they know locally who will be cheaper. They do not have the size to negotiate contracts though which may offset some of the savings elsewhere.
Site costs do vary and council tax, rental or leasing arrangements can make even sites near each other more or less costly to run. In particular leases which the clubs often have, do have rental revisions at intervals that can increase costs by large sums every few years.
It is generally very difficult to know if any sites charges are reasonable and things like local pubs are purely down to luck and cannot be anything to do with the site operators. Basically the right price for the site from an operators point of view has to be the level at which they can get enough customers to run the site at the level of profitability required and it remains to be seen if the club site can manage that with the charges at that level.

That sounds like making excuses for high club prices - the same legal requirements apply to both club sites and commercial sites - club sites don't need to fund head office, that's funded from annual membership fees, which are on top of site fees - commercial owners may not be paid for their time but they do need to take profits, otherwise they'd have no income.

Site charges vary with supply and demand, economics rule number 1, and applies to both club and commerical sites.

 

[Buckman]

Just to add that we do not mind paying up to £40 a night for a fully serviced pitch that has EHU, water and waste water connections, but it seems that mainly only commercial sites fall into that price bracket. On a CL, taking into consideration the high cost of EHU, we would be happy to pay up to £25 for a fully serviced pitch.

Some commercial sites offer additional facilities perhaps a restaurant or bar on the premises. We would avoid a site that had a bar and music played to late in the night. I am referring to sites out of high season as no ways could we afford a pitch during high season whether club or commercial.

 

[Dustydog]

Why are FSP cheaper in the Low Season when it is colder and wetter demanding we use more electricity? When the kids were young we had no choice but to go away in the High Season when we could least afford it. Supply and Demand😜😜

 

[Raywood]

That sounds like making excuses for high club prices - the same legal requirements apply to both club sites and commercial sites - club sites don't need to fund head office, that's funded from annual membership fees, which are on top of site fees - commercial owners may not be paid for their time but they do need to take profits, otherwise they'd have no income.

Site charges vary with supply and demand, economics rule number 1, and applies to both club and commerical sites.

I do understand what you say but single privately owned sites do have serious advantages and can cut many costs. larger group owned sites do tend to be more expensive for similar reasons.
As for high season prices this is simply supply and demand and applies to all holiday types. Basically the Summer visitors are subsidising the Winter ones to some extent.

 

[Beachball]

Just say if i was paying £48 per night for a full service pitch i would prefer the week we have booked this weekend for a week in a cottage south facing garden a wood burner and central heating in Cumbria for £300

 

[Parksy]

Just say if i was paying £48 per night for a full service pitch i would prefer the week we have booked this weekend for a week in a cottage south facing garden a wood burner and central heating in Cumbria for £300

As you have been known to say BB
"Each to their own" 😜

 

[Dustydog]

Just say if i was paying £48 per night for a full service pitch i would prefer the week we have booked this weekend for a week in a cottage south facing garden a wood burner and central heating in Cumbria for £300

True but I don’t want to hang up my tow bar just yet

 

[ProfJohnL]

There is no regulation to limit for what a site can charge a touring caravanner. And because each site will have a unique set of circumstances there's no "one size fits all" solution to setting charges.

If its a commercial operation they do need to cover their operational costs, and to generate enough income to cover increased costs into the future. Essentially it comes down to market forces.

At present the financial situation is causing many to carefully review their expenditure, and for some, it does mean they need to cut back. But only a fool would cut back on essentials, because by definition an essential is something you can't do without, so if a reduction of spending is necessary, its going to have to come from the nonessentials such as holidays.

As a result for a caravanner, it could well mean going for a lower cost site. you are not forced to use any particular site, so as others have said, if in your opinion its too expensive, then find somewhere cheaper.

Ultimately some may find caravan ownership too costly, and they may consider selling up.

 

[RogerL]

When our lad was younger, we used to go to River Dart Country Park near Ashburton for a fortnight every year - they were expensive then and their prices for 2023 are £69.50/night in high season - we wouldn't dream of paying anything like that now but had no qualms back then.

 

[Beachball]

True but I don’t want to hang up my tow bar just yet

Hi Dusty that is your choice enjoy it while you can