CL Pricing - just a conspiracy theory

There have been numerous comments on this forum suggesting that the CAMC is encouraging CLs to increase their prices.  In our 16 years' experience as CL Owners, we have never been given pricing guidance by the Club.

The reality is that the Club has relatively little contact with CLs:

• The CL Department at CAMC Head Office has very few staff.  It issues a newsletter to CLs a couple of times each year - this does not include pricing guidance, but typically includes reminders to submit electricity safety certificates, insurance details and occupancy figures.
• Every two years, we are sent an extract of our previous entry in the Sites Directory and are asked to confirm or update those details.  This does not contain any pricing guidance either.
• We have an annual inspection by an unpaid volunteer Club member who is appointed as our 'CL Adviser'.  The reality is that this is an unannounced 'surprise visit' - in recent years, this has been on a Sunday morning whilst we have been away at church.  Rather than getting any meaningful 'advice' from our from CL Adviser, we tend to have a card in the letterbox to say that he has been and gone.
• CL Owners who happen to be a Club members (not always the case), receive the annual Sites Directory and Handbook, plus the monthly Club magazine - just like other Club members.

That's all the contact we get from the Club in the course of a year, unless we win a prize, or someone puts in a complaint.

That then begs the question of 'How do CL Owners set their prices?'. 

• In our case, we learned a hard lesson a couple of years ago - we had been voted 'Best Small Site' in the UK by Practical Caravan Magazine readers for the second year running.  We were swamped with bookings and having to turn lots of people away, so we decided to increase our all-in pitch fee by £2.  The following year, bookings plumetted, but we were nevertheless voted 'Best Small Site' for a third year.
• This tells us that no matter how good our CL is, the pitch-fee is critical to CL guests.  CAMC Members who pay £40K - £50K for a caravan and suitable towcar will choose to go elsewhere for the sake of £2.  This is human nature - a similar mentality to driving to the next petrol station to save a penny per litre on fuel.
• This is somewhat frustrating, when we see a commercial site 2 miles from us, alongside an 'A' Road, with tightly-packed vans, which charges double our pitch-fee, whereas we offer peace and tranquility, views across 9 counties and just 5 vans spread over 2 acres - all for for only £14 per night, including EHU (and no charge to use our Wi-Fi).
• In effect, by staying as a CL, our prices are constrained by the market forces, i.e. the prices of other CLs.  CL Owners can view prices of other CLs on the CAMC website or Sites Directory, and then make up their own minds regarding pitch fees.

If we want to make more money from our land, I am firmly of the opinion that we would need to leave the CL network.  We choose to remain because of the nice guests we get coming back year after year.   Club members are 'easy company' - they tend to know what to expect from a CL and are usually grateful for what they find.

BTW - we are caravanners ourselves and use both CLs and Club sites.

Ian Kelly

01691 622951
Holiday@BirchHill.co.uk

Birch Hill, The Cross, Ellesmere, Shropshire, SY12 0LP
www.BirchHill.co.uk
CL Number 1280 in the 2019/20 CAMC Sites Directory

Birch Hill Farm – relax at our award-winning hideaway in the beautiful lake-lands of Shropshire - exclusively for members of the Caravan and Motorhome Club