New CL: fantasy price

I've just read in the New CLs list in the club magazine, as they laughingly call the junk mail self advertising masquerading as a magazine, that there is a new CL at a garden centre in Northwich, Cheshire. The price is an eye watering £20 a night. Approaching club site price for a CL. Hope no one gives, pricing like this will destroy the whole ethos of the wonderful CL network. 

Write your comments here...We stayed at Catershill farm cl between Narberth and Kilgetty in Pembrokeshire this year.The site fee was £12.00 per night electric was metered and cost us £9.00 over 14 nights .The site was very clean and well mowed cuttings picked up.Excellent cdp.Washin machines and drier(coin operated) and shower and toilets.The owners are very nice and friendly and if you have any problems very helpfull.So i can't work out why the £20.00 plus is coming from.

Farming is VAT zero rated. How much of the Cl cash goes through the books?

Farming is VAT zero rated. How much of the Cl cash goes through the books?

Write your comments here...Catershill Farm is a Farm in name only as they no longer Farm.

Fisherman - Am I correct to understand that you view NT sites and Haven Touring as competitors to the CL network? "We have used Cls less this year mainly becasue of pricing..... Better options out thrre. N/T,Haven etc who are competitors"

Although I haven't visited either type of site myself, a review of their offers online indicates that their sites are more akin to Club Sites (in terms of the number of pitches & facilities) and whilst they may be in great places, offer a good experience and at times have good-value-offer, they would not exist (me thinks) if they were restricted to 5 vans.

What is interesting is their pricing.  NT seem to implement weekday / weekend / Bank Hol pricing around the £20 mark whereas Haven have very 'dynamic' pricing that can vary from super-cheap to over £60/night (even for a simple grass non-EHU pitch) for a family in high season.   Maybe I'm missing something?  

Are there any real competitors (in terms of an organisation rather than independents) to the CL network from the Club (excepting the C&CC) that offers the 'small' experience and a wide choice around the country?

credibleFisherman - Am I correct to understand that you view NT sites and Haven Touring as competitors to the CL network? "We have used Cls less this year mainly becasue of pricing..... Better options out thrre. N/T,Haven etc who are competitors"

Although I haven't visited either type of site myself, a review of their offers online indicates that their sites are more akin to Club Sites (in terms of the number of pitches & facilities) and whilst they may be in great places, offer a good experience and at times have good-value-offer, they would not exist (me thinks) if they were restricted to 5 vans.

What is interesting is their pricing.  NT seem to implement weekday / weekend / Bank Hol pricing around the £20 mark whereas Haven have very 'dynamic' pricing that can vary from super-cheap to over £60/night (even for a simple grass non-EHU pitch) for a family in high season.   Maybe I'm missing something?  

Are there any real competitors (in terms of an organisation rather than independents) to the CL network from the Club (excepting the C&CC) that offers the 'small' experience and a wide choice around the country?

I appreciate that you were addressing Fisherman but in answer to you last point , I see the other clubs Temporary Holiday Sites as the main competitor to the CL today.

Although THS’s have been around together with weekend rallies for a long time I believe there has been a fundamental change that has happened only recently.

Many campers who take the hobby seriously and have perhaps invested considerable amounts in their units are members of both clubs. This means any barrier to entry to the C&CC THS’s is minimal.

Whilst the rational for visiting CL's will vary from member to member, a certain percentage enjoy the simpler kind of sites and a percentage (who may or may not be on a budget) look for low cost camping. Probably a smaller percentage like myself have come up through tents to caravans to MotorHomes and perhaps back to caravans. This group is far from short of money but may be on a fixed income and have identified that low cost camping means that additional meals out, visits or nights away are possible.

What I think has changed is the average cost of a CL has risen to the extent that many have begun to look for alternatives. This is not the opportunity to discuss the merits or otherwise of multi facility CL’s.

The last couple of years has been quite remarkable in not only the number of campers but the type of campers that are complaining about CL prices. Some of the most vociferous could afford to buy the CL never mind a pitch.

I personally have never noticed fellow campers talking about CL's as having "lost the plot" before and it has quite shocked me. I do not say this to antagonise you in any way but to bring to your attention dissatisfaction with current CL trends and what certainly appears to be a genuine movement away from CL's. Undoubtedly alternatives are now being actively explored. If this trend continues, then not only will CL’s lose customers but the Caravan Club will lose members. For many, it is/was the CL network that formed the basis of their attachment to the Caravan Club.

There are credible alternatives to the CL network and as with any business it is essential to court information from a wide range of opinions and unwise to listen to a single group (such as may frequent your own CL) because clearly you are offering what your particular customers are demanding. That really does not mean that all CL customers are demanding the same for the simple reason you will not encounter them to ask.

I sincerely hope you do not take this as a broadside at CL sites, it’s really the opposite. I wish them to continue and I would like to see a wide range of prices being offered. However it’s the average price that is turning some members towards alternatives that perhaps had not been contemplated before.

I align with a lot of what Fysherman is saying, however I know that the rising CLpricing is often a reflection of the cost to run one. Many owners can't subsidies campers just because they can be welcome company.

Part of the issue is the 5 van limit, but I don’t think that is addressable without risking blowing the exemption away. The other is occupancy seems very low for many, there are not the takers willing to use 5 van sites frequently enough.

THS we use and run but they are seasonal, normally focused on school holidays. They are only an alternative to 5 van sites at times.

I accept that we need to face up to paying a bit more than some of us would like or lose more 5 van sites; I sense others don’t see it this way and only want a "deal", irrespective of what that will tramrail into happening.

There probably needs to be a realisation that "penny buns" no longer cost a penny. Equally, the closer pricing gets to commercials/club sites, the harder it is to compete.

If a CL charges £12 including electricity (and many do) that's 3 quid less than the round of four drinks I bought at lunchtime and I know which represents the better value. 

£20 is higher than most CLs charge for certain but it's less than a steak in the pub down the road. It's just a bit more than two adult tickets to the odeon. 

If the location is right I'll pay more.  

The new competition is charging £8 to £10 and often in better locations 

I am going to back off now. I have heard what is being said by refugees from the caravan club. I would like  now to hear more from caravan club members and what they anticipate will save the CL network from the closures that have been taking place (last two months excepted) 

Confess to being a tad disappointed our representative Cholsey has not replied. He did ask. 

 That's me done, said my piece and do I get involved in the club's management or just wave bye bye? 

Spent my whole working life in meetings. Not sure I want to spend my retirement doing the same