Dynamic pricing to be introduced

Even charitable organisations need to keep afloat S1🤷🏻‍♂️. The CAMC need to plan for the future, every member of the CAMC will enjoy the fruits of the planning eventually👍🏻

Charitable organisations like OXFAM 😡

I don't agree that this form of "planning" will benefit members,a more benevolent approach at times such as these Would be beneficial and leave the dash for cash to the utilities companies. 

I wonder if the raft of changes made by the club will prove to be beneficial to the club financially or eventually come back to bite them on the posterior?

There is already a drift of people moving to private and other organisations' sites. Some people that panic bought new outfits to ensure a holiday after Covid restrictions are now returning to their preferred holidays in hotels etc.

The huge increases in energy costs and mortgage costs have driven many people to re-assess their priorities.

Set against all of the above, who could have predicted that some sites on the network would experience a drop in bookings? It seems many members predicted it and so did some of the site managers.

Although the club have not said, 'we got it wrong', to their credit they are trying to woo us back with reduced deposits and site night discounts.

Presumably, if the club perform a lessons learned exercise, they will make an informed choice and ditch their previous advisers and take a course in 'Change management'.

Dave

I think we have to remember that the new booking system was a response to a situation that pre dated the Pandemic. Many members were fed up with not being able to book campsites because the previous over generous booking system allowed some members to book a year in advance and then cancel three days before arrival on site with no penalty. Apparently there was a staggering amount of late cancellations. I think it easy to forget how this impacted against the interests of many members. OK the Club could have chosen a different route but looking at the general market for campsites what did they see. The C&CC, a major competitor, and the majority of commercial sites took a deposit when booking. Even now the CMC system is more generous than most. As you say some of the changes we saw in the pandemic and current economics are also impacting on the Club but outside their control. I don't think any new system is set in stone and we have already seen some changes with probably more to come. In any organisation it makes sense to review and change things and adapt to new circumstances. Personally I don't think the new system is a mistake but would accept that it will need a few tweaks along the way. It seems the last four years have been far from normal and its probably going to take another 2/3 years before things settle down, not only with the booking system but also normal life?

David

If a company finds they are losing market share there are all sorts of steps they can take besides tweaking prices -  improve the product, boost the advertising, sack the boss, recruit new staff with fresh ideas, close the loss leading parts of the business, invest in profitable areas, reduce management overheads, or even merge the company with a competitor, and so on. This goes on in many businesses every day, and I am sure this company is well aware of the possibilities without advice on here. I leave it to them.

DavidKlyne, I agree that the issue of 'no shows' impacted the club and hence all of the members. I have no issue with the principle of requiring a deposit with a booking, personally as it can help all of the membership in the long-term. My issues are 1) that the software for the booking system did not appear fully-developed or stress-tested. Again from my perspective, I tried to book a site in Devon recently and the booking system crashed. Using the on-line assistant was akin to trying to engage in a dialogue with someone who had never been trained in anything related to the leisure industry. Hoping that I may be able to talk to someone from the bookings team (who I have previously found to be helpful and professional) was impossible as there was no response. Then I remembered that that there was a private site a mile or so from my chosen CAMC site. I rang the enquiry number which was answered within a few rings and was able to book a superior pitch more cheaply than a CAMC pitch. It was a great site and unfortunately the CAMC lost that bit of revenue. I feel that we are being railroaded by the club down a route of 'use our on-line booking or nothing' which I feel is not an improvement. 2) The increases of pitch fees has been discussed at length and I do not intend to argue either way. However, the fact is that although membership numbers are broadly similar year on year, the current site night occupancy, by volume is down if we are to believe the site managers. Hence I believe the club are trying to offer some promotions now. I accept that the club is trying to respond to the issues dynamically, however, their execution leaves much to be desired. The club now feels much more commercial and less focused on the basic needs of the membership. To a lesser or greater extent, we are are all stakeholders and not just customers. I really do hope that the club will review and adjust the processes and policy as necessary to meet the challenges. However, they cannot afford to repeat the poor roll-out of the new booking system example again. 

I do hope that the club is not going the way that many do and becomes a very well paid and pensioned club for the leadership while the membership becomes a nuisance and are milked at every opportunity.

More and more letters seem to point in this direction!