Tier 2 CLs Re-Opening 2nd December

I see you've upped your price from the advertised one of £14. Don't you think that a 21% increase is a bit steep during these, for many, financially challenging times?

Well said Nellie, but they are not the only ones hiking up their prices a lot. I go away every year in February half term and find at that time of year a lot of cmc sites to be very competitive with CL’s. 

Hi Nellie,
we feel that the price increase is overdue and was planned in line with the publication of the new Sites Directory. 
It has been prepared-for on the Club website for several months (scroll-down our entry to the 'prices' section).  I have asked the Club to update the 'from' price shown in the heading. 
Although the Sites Directory is due in about a month's time, our increase takes effect from now because winter weather usually sees a sharp rise in our electricity usage.

I agree that we are in financially challenging times - this particularly affects us as CL Owners.  The big factor affecting our decision is that our costs have rocketed due to COVID. 

We take the safety of our guests very seriously.  We added dedicated water taps for each pitch because we felt that would be safer for our guests than touching a communal tap.  We installed alcohol-based hand sanitiser points (not cheap), and now spend more time each day checking the site and cleaning touch-points with virucidal sprays.

However, the main change resulting from COVID is that our guests seem to have adopted a different style of caravanning:

• Historically, most of our guests would use Birch Hill as a base for days out to visit local attractions, pubs and restaurants. 
• Since re-opening post-lockdown, our guests tend to prefer the peace and safety of staying on-site in their own vans.

More eating (& drinking!) on site means:

• Increased electricity usage.
• A huge increase in grey waste - I counted 15 sacks of rubbish one week.  Compare this with our own family usage, which usually equates to just 1 or 2 sacks.
• Our real shock and unexpected expense came during the summer, when our CDP filled about 3 times as quickly as in previous years.  We have now installed a second CDP to reduce the need to pump out the tanks as frequently.  (This also means a shorter walk for guests staying on our 'top field'.)

Running a CL is not cheap, and I hope our guests will not begrudge £17 for one of the best CLs in the country.

Ian Kelly
01691 622951
Holiday@BirchHill.co.uk

Birch Hill, The Cross, Ellesmere, Shropshire, SY12 0LP
www.BirchHill.co.uk

Birch Hill Farm - an award-winning hideaway in the beautiful lake-lands of Shropshire for members of the Caravan and Motorhome Club

If non-caravanning friends wish to join you, please see our new Glamping Pods - www.ArchersMeadow.co.uk

BHF, Quite a comprehensive reply and when you put it like that I'm sure people will see it for what it is. The main point I picked out as a massive plus point in these Covid times is the individual water points. These are a massive must have for us because of the extra water used in showers etc and knowing the water won't run out. Overall reading your explanation you have thought out your cl very well to cater for members.

Very good post and one that many who "complain" about prices are still it seems not able to take in how much costs for services increase year on year 

Also many still expect the prices in the sites directory to be currant instead of what could be nearly three years out of date from when the directory was first sent to the printers 

Personally I would have thought that £14 a night for the facilities offered by this CL was far too cheap and £17 far more realistic and a price I would have no objection to paying. 

David

Since re-opening post-lockdown, our guests tend to prefer the peace and safety of staying on-site in their own vans.
More eating (& drinking!) on site means:

Increased electricity usage.
A huge increase in grey waste - I counted 15 sacks of rubbish one week.  Compare this with our own family usage, which usually equates to just 1 or 2 sacks.
Our real shock and unexpected expense came during the summer, when our CDP filled about 3 times as quickly as in previous years.  We have now installed a second CDP to reduce the need to pump out the tanks as frequently.  (This also means a shorter walk for guests staying on our 'top field'.)
Running a CL is not cheap, and I hope our guests will not begrudge £17 for one of the best CLs in the country.

Ian Kelly
01691 622951
Holiday@BirchHill.co.uk

Does this mean that after lockdown if people do as they did before lock down. And your costs go back down.

Will your price go down?

Perhaps that's because you are used the high prices charged on club sites, David.  As you probably know we your all the year round, when permitted to do so, and are reluctant to exceed our travel budget, which if that trend of price increases was across the board, would happen. A 21% increase, even this year would have cost us the equivalent of 25 nights fees.

BHF, thanks for the explanation for your increases.

The problems that many companies ,have endured  this year and  will not improve and may well get worse for years to come,it would be an economic disaster 

Nellie

I appreciate that you spend much more time away than the average and I can see that increase would impact on your budget. The other side of that coin is whether CL owners feel it worth staying open if the returns reduce. As Ian has explained costs seem to be increasing way beyond the notional inflation rate. There seems to be an increasing demand for CL's to be like mini sites with all the facilities so I expect price pressure will increase. This year aside we generally spend about 70 nights away each year, slightly more if we go abroad. We tend to avoid spending much time away in school holidays so that tends to save a bit on costs. Having said that location rather than cost is more important to us.

David