Some questions re: camping

CampingIsFun

Hello,
My name is Donna. My husband and I are about the purchase a large, but some what neglected, campsite in the Lake District. We are looking to turn this site around and would like to know the following, from potential guests:

Currently, the camping fees are set out as £??? per adult, £??? per child, £??? per car, £??? per dog plus £??? for electrics. Do you prefer this sort of set out, or would you prefer to pay one price. So £??? per night, no matter the size of your party. I hope that this question makes sense.

We all know that any type of holiday accommodation like to get as much money out of their guests as possible, and prices are always higher during the school holidays. This is something that we do not agree with. We would very much like to keep our prices the same throughout the year (March-October) but my husband feels that people won't want to pay the same price in March or October as they would in August, even though the prices would be cheap. How do you feel about this?

We will be building two new toilet blocks this year, with a third to be built the following year. One thing I have always disliked about toilet blocks is that it is obvious that you are using the toilet or taking a shower, depending on which cubicle you go into. We would love to make our toilet blocks more "homely" by each cubicle containing a shower, toilet & sink - very much like your bathroom would be at home. Does this sound good to you? Our rough plans for our toilet blocks are for 10 of these bathrooms (so 10 showers/sinks/toilets per block). The showers would be proper domestic showers with glass shower screens

And finally. The campsite is within close proximity of a Caravan & Camping Club Site, which will of course be our main competitor. Our prices will be much lower than theirs. Would you prefer to pay more and go to a C&CCS site or pay less and go somewhere independant?

Thank you so much for your time.

Eagle_1

I think id put this same post over at www.ukcampsites.co.uk .

I like the idea of toilets, shower & sink. I think you have to set prices according to size of parties, like if there was just 3 of us would it be fair for me to have to pay the same as a party of 6 ?

I think people know prices increase depending on time of the year and Bank Holidays are normally more expensive so I personally would have pricing according to time of year.

We always went independent so even if you were next door to a C&CCS it wouldnt have bothered us.

Good luck

busiscoming2

Hi there and Congratulations, how wonderful!

One price is better IMO, I would expect to pay a bit more in the summer months, but that is because the weather is better and unless your prices were substantially lower all year round you may miss out on customers in the low season?

We and some of our family and friends belonged to the C&CCS but to be honest we stopped our membership as we very rarely used their sites, one reason being the cost and the annual premium we had to pay. For us it just wasnt cost effective.

The bathrooms sound lovely, but from your point of view wont that make them harder to keep clean? Do you intend to charge for showers, personally we steer clear of sites that charge if we can.

Just an idea for you - one of the little sites we used to visit had a separate bathroom with a bath/basin/toilet in it and although the showers were free you had to pay £1 to use the bath. They took the top of the tap off and you got given this when you had paid! It was brilliant when the kids were tiny!

teacherandmum

love the bathroom idea. have you considered a small area for bathing baby as this one has always bugged me with ukcampsites. on the continent you find them everywhere. and i prefer not to opay for showers personally
i'd say a one price fee although an extra charge perhaps for over 6 persons???? are all pitches ehu? if not charge more for those with it, typically about £2 a night at small sites we visit.
personally i would make just month of august more expensive but by only a pound or two a night. keep other bank hols the same tho
with the ccc issue. i would go independent as we are not ccc members
good luck
i'll look out for you - we've not been to the lake district!

Bongedone

The bathroom idea might sound good on paper but what happens in the morning rush if I need to pee and all cubicles are used up by people taking showers? You really need seperate toilets also.

happyhomelife

Hi there - sounds great - for what its worth, we are a family of 5 that have camped for our hols for the last 5 yrs and look for the following

1) a good playground - away from the pitches tho coz there are some anti-social types that cant be bothered to watch their kids so the best we have found have been central to the reception / shop or washing area. Must admit that tho we would never book in anywhere that has a bar or anything like that when we have been on sites with games rooms (ie pool and ping pong) these have been great with our lovely british weather
2) a family bathroom or 2 available for when they are too little to shower - but don't charge a silly amount to use it like some sites do - you'll need something like this available for disabled access anyway I think
3) really hot washing up water!!
4) a bit of a shop - just the basics is fine
and we never book anywhere that charges for showers!!

don't mind being charged per person tho find it quicker and easier to calculate when its 'pitch inc 2 adults', hate being charged for an awning/gazebo but think its totally fair to charge for an extra tent - like for our teenager who now goes in a 2 man on our pitch

one really good money spinner we found on one of our sites was that the owners didn't allow campfires (who does now) but they rented out fire pits/fuel and marshmallows per evening - what a brilliant idea - you had to get in quick to get one for an evening they were so popular

hope it goes really well and for our part have never been that wowed by the C&C club sites, have often considered them but always ended up booking an independent one as it happens. We always found our sites through the ukcampsites.co.uk site

wish you all the very best and lots of sunny summers!!

flea72

personally i prefer a flat rate fee per pitch. as a family of 5 i feel we get stung quite often when they charge per person, espec when we quite often have a smaller tent and less gubbins than some couples. i also dont mind a separate fee for electric, but regarding pup tents and gazebos, i think if they fit on your pitch, then why charge extra?

the shower idea sounds good, but i wouldnt put in shower cubicles like you would find in a house, too many crevices to get dirty, and more things to break. tiles floor to ceiling work best, or if expense allows wetrooms - also if you get the layout right, you negate the need for shower curtains too, so one less expense for you, and one less thing to go manky and mildewed that would put guests off

family bathrooms are great. ive been to some sites where they have two showers in the one cubicle (1 adult height and the other child height) means you can both get washed together. nothing worse than having to try and wash two people under one shower, as invariably the adult stands half in and out the water most of the time, getting cold

yes, a toilet in the same cubicle as a shower is a good idea, but if someone has blocked the loo, or done a real stinker, no-one is going to be using that shower, and that means you are a toilet and a shower down

i like the firepit/tray idea. so many campsites dont allow fires now, and if i can find one in an area that allows them, then i would more likely stay there

not that im spamming, but by far the best campsite we have been to is one called Yeatheridge in Devon. they seem to have covered all the things that make a campsite great. lots of loos, sinks in the toilets are all in separate cubicles, meaning you can have a strip wash, or do you teeth without an audience. family bathrooms. large pitches which are laid out around the edge of the field, and then in the middle of each field is a play area for kids (nothing fancy just a sand pit and a seesaw), but its somewhere the kids can congregate and play, away from tents/caravans, but still means they are in your eyeline, so even younger ones can get the type of freedom to run around unsupervised, that they dont get at home

and the best thing, sockets in the toilet block that you can use. no having to hide in the laundry room, unpluging the iron, just so you can use your own hairdryer and straightners

F

greenface

hi donna some good advice to think of here to think about . its something i have thought about few times buying a old run down campsite next to a decent pub close to attractions . hard but rewarding work . how did you come to doing this and is it a total career move . tell us what you can thanx

mikey72

Glass showers would always be dirty,and covered in water marks, and then broken with compensation claims.
They have to be industrial, and capable of taking abuse.

socks_uk

I can see that a family would like to pay a fixed rate for a pitch but would that discourage couples who would have to pay the same pitch rate? Also, I love the thought of not paying more for holiday times as I work in a school and of course have to take my holidays when the school is closed but I only get TA's wages and this is why me and my husband are going on our first camping trip this summer.

We haven't booked anywhere yet Donna so if you want to PM me your campsite details we will consider booking when you are up and running.

Just edited to add the link to your thread on the UKCAMPSITE website for those who haven't found it.

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=4&TopicID=238643&PagePosition=1

poppyred

hi Donna
Sounds great, one thing i would mention is to make it biker friendly (we're not all bad people !!) there are a lot of bikers who pass through the lake district always looking for somewhere to pitch a tent, you'd be surprised how many campsite owners suddenly become "Fully Booked" when they hear a couple of bikes pull up !!all we ask is a little safe hard standing for the bike and a bit of grass to pitch the tent (a pub nearby would be also be nice hehehe), Are you able to say if it's North or South Lakes ? If you want to pm me the details once up & running i can always put them on the biker sites for you, thats if your happy to accept us guys