Leaving the Club - finally had enough

I suppose the only way things are going to change is if the Club gets competition. At the moment they are complacent and don't need to change.

Just returned from France - lovely sites, many municipal, for much better value even with the facilities that the main CC sites offer. Visited a couple in extreme heat that offered swimming pools for better value than many CC sities. It is clearly not that difficult 😉

yes of course you are and that was not my point or indeed my question. Nor did I mention anything about affordability.

My point, or question is this, you have stated the site is expensive (and now not giving value), now as you have been around a few sites in your time so you know what to expect on a club site. You also would have known the price before you arrived. My question is why did you book and go a site, knowing what to expect and the price if you thought it offered not good enough value or was expensive.

I could take a brand new club member going to a club site not knowing what to expect, perhaps thinking they would be getting more for their pound than they did, but you have reviewed a large number of club sites and knew exactly what you were getting for your money?

maybe it's just me but I really haven't bought anything which I thought was expensive or offering poor value. I see the price for a club site (or anything else) and I decide that it is what I want to pay for that quality.

I completely agree with the point you made about how club site are usually full despite what the OP is saying. I've said it quite a few times, that despite all the negatives made on CT about the club, it still continues to draw in large numbers, and now getting more members in, and so why should the club change a winning strategy?

I think getting extreme heat over here is quite difficult. Again you can't compare the economy abroad with the economy here. I buy wine in France at 2 euros a bottle, why not here?

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

Exactly!

not my point at all. However please let me know where I can buy a bottle of wine at under £2 a (70cl) bottle in this country?

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

David

The club will always "achieve occupancy rates" but not necessarily high ones. What is the source of your "fact" which gives any indication of the level of occupancy rates?

I have spent some time browsing the booking system and have found that many of the "honey pots sites" have mid week mid and high season vacancies. The last minute vacancies section often shows Sunday vacancies which on further investigation also show vacancies until the following Friday. I would very much doubt, though dependent on the way occupancy rates are calculated, that the bums on seats rates are higher than 35%. This could go some way to explain increasing site fees.

I also visited Clumber park in the past few months which was full during the weekend I was there though by the time I was leaving on the following Tuesday the site was only one third full. I was told by one of the Wardens that on the following Friday they had to check in more than 150 outfits, most of which would be arriving between earliest arrival time and two hours later.

GeeDeeDee

I'm sorry it must have been another AD who posted:

2 Euros a bottle will be rubbish wherever you buy it and I certainly wouldnt load the car down with it, €6 or 7€ is nearer the mark these days for bringing home, cheaper might do for sloshing down on site

 

Well I'm not staying or leaving the Club because of the weather or the price of wine. But now as I near the end of a caravan and travel lifetime I can only look back and reflect  on why I have enjoyed some  campsites so much. The stand out list.

Some have given me aesthetic pleasure - landscaping, flowers, trees and beauty, Some impressed because of the personal warmth and friendliness of the owners or managers and the service they offered and the lengths they went to. Some because of the space and freedom they offered - the campfires, communal barbecues, the all comers drinks parties, and now and then a communal meal. I remember lots of interesting people along the way, and conversations in an evening.  At one site I remember a boy with a guitar singing by an alfresco bar late at night. and at another a group of singers in the doorway of a big tent - and the spectators grew.

I have stayed at dozens of Club sites. None of them are in that list of sites giving any sort of pleasure. They were all about as much fun a supermarket car park. They were functional, clean, and soulless. And much more regimented than they used to be. I think they are catering for different people nowadays too.