New Club Site Offer

I didn't say sites were full and with no shortage, but six sites I'm booking at are impossible to get a full week till August, and while there are pitches here and there is no chance of getting a full week or any weekend on a SP. On my expereince occupancy is far better than last year

Is this a bad thing corners, being able to choose any dates and durations of stay on club sites has always been the way it is done and has always resulted in reduced choice for some wishing to book later? Yes, some sites appear to be doing okay according to what we see on the website but in reality it may be very different, particularly according to what some are now reporting. The devil is in the detail and the detail does not always reflect what’s actually happening, goes for much of our lives these days I’m afraid.

It’s clearly site dependent. Of the 9 sites we booked there are only two where  it wouldn’t be possible to book a full week and one of those is York. That’s on Hardstanding, rather than service.  From my recollection it would be much easier to book later this year than last. 
We do not book full weeks, so for our type of booking leaving it late is becoming much less of a risk in my opinion.

CS, If your last sentence is the case then occupancy levels last year must have been very low. The site we are on at present, and the other one close by have the lowest number of units on them that we have ever seen, and talking to the Site Manager here the picture has been the same at Troutbeck for the last couple of weeks too. Just a snapshot but by the way the club is putting out so many different discounts it would appear that they too are concerned about low occupancy, even during the early summner.

there is no chance of getting a full week or any weekend on a SP.

Corners, I know that the part quoted was just a part of a sentence of your total quote but it's the part about SP that sticks out to me.

From what I gather the number of SPs on club sites is but a small portion of the overall number of pitches available. They are becoming more popular, including on CLs, and I now have a preference for them. Surely you're not basing your comments of availability solely on SPs, are you?

I have read of several posts from various CT members stating that pitches are freely available. Didn't Ttda recently say there was plenty of room at NYM and had problems with trying to book an extra night because the app showed the site was full?

I'm not a CAMC app user and haven't tried to book a site so have no side to fall down on. Merely curious.

Things will go far further than these very limited price reductions which have been announced. This is just the beginning. 

From now on in everything will be largely based around motorhomers  If there are sites that motorhomers don’t particularly like - remote location, bad access, all grass pitches, no bus service, sites in the wrong place,  and so on - then there will be site closures on a widespread scale. It will hit CLs and smaller independents  first, but Club sites will not be immune.  

The growth of offsite options in UK for motorhomes will only add to the speed of change. Price reductions first , then reduced opening dates, then reduced staffing, then site closure. It has happened all over Europe, just look at France, and of course it will happen here. 

Everything will change as motorhomes replace caravans. There is no doubt the planning people  at Club hq know it very well.

We’re doomed! No I think that is just a tad OTT. However, if anything the opposite may happen if we are really unlucky with bookings methods favouring the longer staying caravaners, motorised or otherwise.  
Some caravan sites only permit set block bookings of a week or fortnight duration (Sunday to Sunday) during their season. Some weeks are booked a year(s) in advance. I know this to be the extreme but we really need to be careful of what we are wishing for or sometimes even thinking about.

We've had this kind of conversation before and as we use totally different pitches and/or club sites, also at differing times. so as you say just a snapshot and no comparison in my view. Also as you say the sites you're on now which is still midweek April and not yet really into the season

Also TH, one of my favourite sites, has always had availability due to it's size and being 15 miles from anywhere although it does get very busy in summer. .

The club has always put out offers, as do all other leisure companies, it's just a way of getting more business. You used the free night offer in january coupled with a few days when normally you say you wouldn't use club sites. And you're on one again.  

The proportion of SP is actually bigger than you think. Some sites are up to 35%. Often on some sites they are more units on SP than the rest of the site , and no I'm not, the sites I'm  looking at while it's worse for SP, even on standard pitches it's almost impossible to get a full week as well. 

Again TDA isn't a full time user of club sites, only using them when the price is right at certain times/places so again not really a valid commnet. I don't use the app so can't comment on that.

I remember a similar thread about Garliston last year with one poster saying they'd never seen it so empty ad the club was in serious trouble, from driving by mind, yet when I visited it was very busy and full about half the time we were there over two weeks.

Every single year there are posts about empty pitches on CT and the prospect of even emptier sites... yet this doesn't happen, membership is at all all time high and while there may be pitches at this time I'm having trouble getting pitches short term.  

Back on track, this offer will have a particular aim, I don't care what it is but as always, either take advantage of it if it suites, if not find these other non club sites that we are often told are cheaper and better. Win - win isn't it?

Yes it was me WN, but not via the App, it was the actual website booking system that wasn’t working. I don’t use the App. NYMoors was less than half full, and of course no grass pitches in use on our three nights. We couldn’t extend our stay to cover our extra Friday night online, I had to pop into reception on the Friday morning, knowing that there were plenty of pitches (we were surrounded by them🤭) I walked the site Friday evening, a few more pitches had been taken, but there were still 16 unoccupied. It was post 8pm, and no signs stating MHs using pitches, so that excuse didn’t wash. It wasn’t busy, and I wouldn’t trust the booking system to be accurate. 

The Club wouldn’t be touting special offers if the sites were full. Wouldn’t make economic sense, and they certainly didn’t give as many offers just post COVID lockdown when the sites really were full to bursting. Ironically, we have stayed on more Club Sites (although only for a couple of nights each time) than we have ever stayed on this last couple of years, but only for very local events, out of main season, and if we can get a non facility option. Only one busy was Bolton Abbey, the weekend it re opened, everyone desperate to get back out, and use that free night! Staff said almost everyone there was using the free night. We drove into Clumber on spec last September, that wasn’t busy, not even the SP and Super pitches. Scarbro was deserted back in November. A dozen on at most.