Half term & empty pitches

Nothing different here at Melrose, site has full or very close to it but the only children are English due to not being half term here

Had a walk around the CC's Blackmore site today, a Saturday during a school holiday week, and the site is just about 1/3 full, 70 units including seasonals, on a site of 206 pitches. This compares to the C&CC's site next door which has around  100 units on a site of 190 pitches, so 50 %+ full. Could this be because the CC site is so much more expensive?

We have gone to Chatsworth many times, ands getting in was not normally a problem, and excluding the weekend there was always empty pitchs 

I was at Chatsworth around this time last year, I believe it was about £28 per night, It has gone up in price this year by more than 100%, no wonder there are empty pitches!

I have defected to the other club this year, I have always stayed at Malvern Hills site on the way down south & again on the return journey however, that was £23 last year per night but that is now over £30 per night, again there were many empty pitches, I wonder why! I stayed this time at the C&CC site next door & with my over 60s discount only paid  £24.70 & if I had pitched on the grass I could have saved another 30% - why would I use  the CC site again ? 

Looking at the prices of  cc sites this half term, we decided to head to France for a week , the cost of the ferry off set with the out of season site fees in France plus the bonus of swimming pools made it an easy decision. 
I’m a proud member of the club but with the prices at the moment, sadly sites are an expensive treat for the odd weekend away. 

The options for younger people are so wide and it’s no wonder they aren’t looking at UK campsites. A 50 year old in the family earns a good amount but wouldn’t think of tying up money in a caravan or motorhome so has just flown out  for a few days in Dubrovnik.-  £160 return with British Airways - which compares with £240 return on a train when she comes here. Caravanning is dying and doomed in her opinion and the empty pitches on sites are starting to reveal it.

Similar to ourselves, LS. I have just done a comparison between the two sites for 3 nights next weekend, and for the two of us, pensioners, the costs came out at £66:30 on the  C&CC site compared to £93:90 for the CC. Quite a difference!

It is expensive, £34.00 just for one person as at yesterday morning, however, the new booking site with deposits only started around September last year so perhaps some pitches may still be booked but not cancelled nor used, by previous, speculative bookers.  That may have stopped other people who wanted to stay there from booking there, so they would have booked elsewhere instead.

I do think as well, that the Club have shot themsleves in the foot, as many people may not have been happy about deposits but would have accepted them, but they are very, very unhappy about the new booking website and the numerous problems that it has had, so pitches may be empty for a number of reasons.

I think you're right...for some customers they see this as the perfect storm... club prices rising, feeling the pinch at home, deposits to be found, far poorer cancellation terms, and a strange booking system that still has enough problems to catch out the less familiar users.

however, the latest magazine reports that everything is wonderful, quoting meaningless numbers about nights booked/sold but discussion on real world reaction to to prices, the terms and the vagaries of the new system don't get a mention.

as others have said, the club are really only looking at bookings....but these aren't sales and can still be cancelled. The jungle drums seem to reporting that actual numbers of bums on seats, even through these popular times, haven't been good.

Obviously the club is watching this too a discount schemes have been hastily rolled out to try and entice customers onto pitches...but has the stable door already closed, even for previously loyal customers?

My wife and I have discussed options other than club sites and, whilst we will remain members, we have decided that we will look at the other club and commercial sites in 2024 for holidays.

We go regularly to Chatsworth as it's one of our nearest sites and it's a break away from home.  I must admit we've never not got a pitch even at short notice but the number of empty pitches in a half term holiday was particularly noticeable.