Pricing is a minefield

A persons integrity being the most powerful aspect I think👍🏻. It’s worth pushing for reductions in costs but knowingly stealing is not a good unless it is acceptable to the individual then they really have no place with decent folk🤷🏻‍♂️. If I think something is overpriced I walk away I don’t take it regardless & I'm convinced the vast majority are like me.

+1

There's always the odd tryer Rocky, 13 years experience I can spot them a mile away

JK

I have no truck whatsoever with the OP. Using minimum price as the flagged price, shown clearly as the "FROM" price, has been used by traders since trading began. Moreover, comparing club site prices with CLs is plainly invalid; they are different products.

I am interested though in StinkyPete's post to which you respond. Rule 5e actually states that "normal booking fees apply" when the pitch is unoccupied. So what does that mean? I would have expected it to mean the minimum fee that would have applied - in other words the pitch plus one adult. I don't see how the "normal" fee can be defined by a particular booking - or something that would have applied, but for the change, rather than the applicable (minimum) fee on the basis of what actually happened..  

If I am right, then Pete's suggestion that in future he will book for, and pay for, just one adult if he will not actually occupy the van, whilst on the pitch, is perfectly valid. If I am wrong, then the rule seems to be based on what might have been and, in my view, that's not how rules work. 

Of course, the separate point is what refund he would be entitled to having booked for two adults and having paid in full and then changing his arrangements at short notice. Under the new regime (which by the way, lest there be any doubt, I am entirely in agreement with), I am not sure, but the mere fact that he has paid in full before arrival, rather than just having paid a deposit surely doesn't change his rights to any possible refund - does it? It certainly shouldn't.

I am being devil's advocate because I don't really have much sympathy with Pete. Maybe in the same scenario I might have expected a refund of 75% of the cost of one adult for one night (because one loses the first night). Such an amount is not worth arguing about.

But I am a pedant, I freely admit, and it would be nice to have absolute clarity about the rules. 

👍🏻, gladly-birds of a feather. . .They roam in packs😊

Thank you all for your comments.  They just confirm my thoughts that pricing is a minefield and one that many members (clearly myself included) do not fully comprehend.

An interesting observation from Graydjames : I have no truck whatsoever with the OP. Using minimum price as the flagged price, shown clearly as the "FROM" price, has been used by traders since trading began. Moreover, comparing club site prices with CLs is plainly invalid; they are different products.

I'd agree with you, from my limited experience of Club and CL sites, they can indeed be very different products.  On the other hand, some CLs can offer a similar level of facilities to a Club Site and if you happen to chance upon a less popular Club Site mid-week or out of season, you may not see more than a few vans in your patch, or even have the place to yourselves. So are we comparing Apples with Oranges or Satsumas?

My core issue is that the new booking website attempts (though not very well) to put these different products on the same platform, which suggests (to the less well-versed viewer) that they might be the same product and that a price comparison is justified.  

Potential solutions could be that CLs show their 'From' price assuming 1 adult (as per the club and other commercial operations) or that some greater clarity is brought to the headline pricing element at first glance, because right now (as many comments point out) it is almost meaningless, unless you are a solo traveller.

On the one hand I'm pleased that CLs will now be more visible to members as I think they need our support and have been hidden away too long, on the other hand, I think the average member (or new member) needs to understand that they can be very good value - but I guess that's not in the interests of the club?

Greater clarity from the club on prices, deposits, rules for refunds etc. is needed, and on this point I wholeheartedly agree with my fellow pedant.

It would be nice, Berty, if you'd respond to the points put directly to you in a few posts. We've taken onboard your OP but you haven't clarified some issues which could bear further discussion.

I think we all know pricing is a minefield and dynamic pricing will not enhance that situation.

Have you any suggestions for getting CL owners on board with your idea of them showing 'from' prices for one occupant? I think camc currently struggles to get CL owners to update their prices.

CLs are separate individual businesses. They set their own price tariffs, their own operating procedures, and the owners/ managers run them accordingly.

To my knowledge, there are few that operate a complex tariff, where each individual component is priced, the norm is to give a fee that usually includes pitch, two persons and possibly hook up (although this is changing depending upon if metering is installed). Beyond that you might get a seasonal price difference, and possibly the odd extra like a fee for an awning, dog or extra person, etc….

Outside of this, it might pay to contact the CL, and see if they have extra charges for some aspects, or might even offer a small discount for a small, single tourer. In our experience, this does occasionally apply, although to be fair, if the “all in price” is very low, we wouldn’t dream of asking for anything off for single occupancy. It would also depend on the popularity of the CL. Somewhere busy isn’t going to want to drop a price that is carefully budgeted, and not overly high anyway, quite rightly.

This is where the Club’s budget Sites came into their own, and were a popular choice for single person touring. Many are no more, the rest are part of the DP system now. 

There are independent campsite providers who base a stay on number of occupants, and not anything like as costly as Club Sites, but just as nice.

Are you sure JK🤔 I know I really shouldn’t doubt a Member of staff, but I am sure that when we stayed at Marazion years ago, and folks went across to Scillies and stayed, they only paid for pitch plus one?

We have done this ourselves when I spent a couple of years commuting around the country to meet up with my OH. He would book in x number of nights at single occupancy, x number of nights with the two of us staying together, then back to single occupancy when I left to come home. Admittedly, we did it via separate booking dates, as back then it was the only way. Not sure if same applies now.

Apologies I'm now not sure. Another thing to check on next week

JK