Exorbitant Site Pitch Fees

Sadly, I empathise with much of your post, and there have been a good deal of other posts about the cost of Club Sites, and some of us have seen Sites a lot less busy than usual.  Others seem perfectly happy with prices, and are not seeing empty pitches, so I suppose that only time will tell, and the next couple of Club financial reports will give a better indication of how things are going. 🤷‍♀️

Why do people choose to take up a very expensive hobby and then complain that it’s expensive?

It wasn’t expensive up to a few years ago for us, and given that we happily search out vfm stopovers, it still isn’t. No storage fees for either MH or caravan, no back and forth to dealers for design faults, warranties, things falling to bits, caravan isn’t insured and MH is very reasonable. We can do most of the checks/repairs on MH ourself, it has sailed through its MOT all of the ten years we have owned it, and we get close to 40mph on a trip. Club Sites, particularly no facility sites used to be great vfm. But the no facility sites are dwindling fast, and Club Site prices are now way down our list of choice. It’s still camping to us, a cheap way of seeing the places we love for extended periods. We get luxury elsewhere, usually with the money we save on not using Club Sites🤣

If you have been a Club Member for a long time, you will have seen so many changes, particularly these last four five years. It’s no longer what we joined, has to move on of course, but it’s catering for a different market now on Club Sites. Hence we tend to take our custom elsewhere…..

It’s certainly true that CAMC prices have increased more than the general rate of inflation. Over the last 10 years Google tells me this is 34%. Checking what we paid for a couple of sites in 2014 and comparing them with current prices for the same dates, I found a 58% increase at a not so popular site (Breacon) and 84% at a honeypot (Chatsworth). We’ve only stayed on one CL  and that has increased by 60%.

How this relates to the sector in general I have no idea, 10 years ago we exclusively used club sites, therefore I’ve no others, except the CL, to compare.

Given what makes up the cost structure of a typical site it would be realistic to expect a rise above the general 34% level of inflation. Therefore the 58% figure for Breacon doesn’t  seem far from what might be expected. The 84% figure for Chatsworth is just the club milking it as they can. The same as York and Baltic Wharf.

What really annoys me is smart pricing. Every weekend is very slightly more expensive. Surely it costs exactly the same then as other days in the week. Also some sites are stupidly expensive, I'm thinking about Brighton. It's over £40 all the time it's open and over £50 in high season. It's also the closest site to Newhaven for the ferry. 

As to electric I don't favour metering. I don't want to spend my holiday worrying about how much we're using. We don't use a great deal but we need it to charge our e-bikes which allow us to leave the motorhome on site and is good for climate change. I'd rather the supply was restricted to 10 amps which would limit how much could be used for heating in particular.

A couple of years ago, I calculated that it was cheaper to stay in sites in France for 3 weeks in August, including Dover Calais ferry crossing than it was to stay in uk for 3 weeks! And the weather is better. Diesel wasn't included in my calculations but if you don't go too far in France it doesn't make a huge difference.

We've only spent 3 weeks on CAMC sites this year due to cost. I've also considered leaving the CAMC. We've been members for over 20 years. My parents were members for around 50 years.

How this relates to the sector in general I have no idea, 10 years ago we exclusively used club sites, therefore I’ve no others, except the CL, to compare.

An independent site I use almost every year has only increased its price 38 percent in the last 10 years for a hard standing pitch with 16amp EHU. This shoulder season a serviced pitch, similar to that of the CLub, is £26.50

peedee

I think the Club is going to have to weather a perfect storm in the next few years. It’s squeezing everything it can from Club Site loving Members, giving back the odd teaser offer with too many T&Cs attached for a lot of others. I find it all rather sad really. 

I don't think it will be just the Club that will almost certainly have to have a rethink. Independent sites seem to be much more able to control their costs, the Clubs and those owning multiple sites with more overheads, not so. There are several factors that seem to be demanding a rethink, not least the increase in motorcaravans, even this may well slow down as people realise owning a leisure outfit and using sites is not cheap.

peedee

I do think that site fees have rocketed, unjustifiably so in some cases. You can't help but compare and recently we had a stopover at an independent site near Carlisle en route to Scotland, called Greenacres. Absolutely fantastic facilities, immaculately kept, service pitch, easily comparable to Club 'flagship' sites - £33. Troutbeck Head not far away was over £40 last year. The Club used to be the byword for caravanning but lots of sites have caught up now and, in the case of Greenacres - in my opinion - surpassed the standard. Makes you wonder about renewing.

The answer is very simple. Vote with your wallet and go elsewhere. No one is forced to use club sites.