Worrying Campsite Trend

[dspuk]

Yes have done the 3-5 day without hook up no worries but when the sun ain’t shining and I am there for a further 10 days. What do I do. Yes you could say run your engine for 30 minutes, but in my mind it’s antisocial and would hate it if a neighbour started, theirs.
I can see people will start to book without hookup and purchase generators.

Anyway haven’t seen your £5 a day.

Me neither on the 5. I’ve taken others comments at anywhere including 2, 5 and 7 and left it at a median. If I could be bothered I’d go all Victor Meldrew and hunt some down on Google but can’t be bothered. It’s about right for most, if they do charge at all. Some people selectively looking and booking and saying it is the new norm is just bad math.

For your use case, if not moving, it looks like some book a few nights with EHU. We don’t stay at one place that long and book EHU every other night so not an issue for our use. If there is an EHU with a spare socket within 25m probably wont even have to move.

I’d personally never run the engine on a site. Only a special type of person would. But a drive out is the next best thing.

We also have a 100W Roger panel, so come suntime, expecting it to be even less of an issue.

If people really want to cry about it they could always start a go fund me?

 

[andyinluton]

Yes have done the 3-5 day without hook up no worries but when the sun ain’t shining and I am there for a further 10 days.

I can't remember ever not leaving the pitch for that length of time, whether it's sightseeing, eating out somewhere outside walking distance, supermarket stock up or the like. just take the van for a drive.

 

[Steve1]

Yes have done the 3-5 day without hook up no worries but when the sun ain’t shining and I am there for a further 10 days. What do I do. Yes you could say run your engine for 30 minutes, but in my mind it’s antisocial and would hate it if a neighbour started, theirs.
I can see people will start to book without hookup and purchase generators.

Anyway haven’t seen your £5 a day.

We use the kettle alot for tea and washing up etc. My last bottle of Campingaz cost £45 for a refill. I get roughly 12 full off hookup days out of the £45 refill . So for me electric is still on par to power my kettle.

 

[CaliforniaBen]

Camping is now becoming comparable with staying in mid range hotels and airbnb, we have been doing more nights away at hotels now than camping, you can understand why big campsites with loads of facilities charge a bit more, but standard sites with just a loo block are pricing themselves out of market for just a patch of grass

 

[Jester]

I can't remember ever not leaving the pitch for that length of time, whether it's sightseeing, eating out somewhere outside walking distance, supermarket stock up or the like. just take the van for a drive.

As people have said in the past. “It’s not a daily drive”. and after 7 weeks touring it’s nice to chill for a couple of weeks.

 

[The Blue Merle]

We use the kettle alot for tea and washing up etc. My last bottle of Campingaz cost £45 for a refill. I get roughly 12 full off hookup days out of the £45 refill . So for me electric is still on par to power my kettle.

12 days blimey, that’s a hell of a lot of boils!!!
Use to get 40-50 days out of 907 with 3-4cuppas and cooking each eve.

 

[Steve1]

There are 4 of us, so full kettles, and I think including washing up boils we probably do about 12 per day

 

[chockswahay]

There are 4 of us, so full kettles, and I think including washing up boils we probably do about 12 per day

Wow, prob a strong case there for underslung LPG….. way cheaper per fill

 

[NessL]

Yes have done the 3-5 day without hook up no worries but when the sun ain’t shining and I am there for a further 10 days. What do I do. Yes you could say run your engine for 30 minutes, but in my mind it’s antisocial and would hate it if a neighbour started, theirs.
I can see people will start to book without hookup and purchase generators.

Anyway haven’t seen your £5 a day.

Unclear how a generator would be less annoying than the engine.

 

[Steve1]

Wow, prob a strong case there for underslung LPG….. way cheaper per fill

It's 4 motion so I don't think it would fit, and there are less and less places to fill up. But I have thought about it !

On hookup we get around 50 days of just cooking breakfast and dinner but we do BBQ alot so that helps.

I'm happy with £5 electric per night for my tea though, one cup in a cafe is nearly that much and the scenery is much better in the middle of a field

 

[SamSara]

I no longer go for EHU. I use my little solar panel and if staying longer/no sun I go for a quick drive to top up the battery. I resent paying the same to charge my phone, a couple of lights and fridge as a caravan with outdoor heater. Metered is definitely the way to go for sites especially as they will be charging more vehicles too.

 

[Jester]

Unclear how a generator would be less annoying than the engine.

Read all, i did not say it was. It was a negative to both..

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Goodness - where was that?

Île de Ré.
Just booked the last ‘luxe pitch’ today. Sells out fast. 7 night minimum.

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Yes have done the 3-5 day without hook up no worries but when the sun ain’t shining and I am there for a further 10 days. What do I do. Yes you could say run your engine for 30 minutes, but in my mind it’s antisocial and would hate it if a neighbour started, theirs.
I can see people will start to book without hookup and purchase generators.

Anyway haven’t seen your £5 a day.

Drive somewhere for 1 hour ? Charges the batteries?

 

[dspuk]

Camping is now becoming comparable with staying in mid range hotels and airbnb, we have been doing more nights away at hotels now than camping, you can understand why big campsites with loads of facilities charge a bit more, but standard sites with just a loo block are pricing themselves out of market for just a patch of grass

Please share this list of “mid range” hotels that cost the same as an average campsite with hookup. Be a great resource for members.

I hotel for biz and cheapest I get is Premiers (low range) at about 50 - 70 quid a night or mid ranges which are more in the 100 - 150 quid a night, depending on how far away you book. I actually find the premiers better VFM as the mid ranges are generally more than a little dilapidated. When the client is paying I end up in some high ends, and they start at the 200 a night mark. AirBNB is good value, but nothing on there hits <60 a night and between 60 and 100 quality is pretty variable. We stayed at one when I did a Tri last year, 120 a night, was a shed in the back garden. Very nice shed, but still a shed.

I’ve yet to find anything mid range for 35 quid or less, what we are paying per night, with EHU, for our upcoming 10 night trip in Scotland. There is one site we can’t get without EHU, and as we have a Cali that lasts 3 days off EHU, we not stressed.

I could agree that high end sites are comparable with low range hotels (for example Concierge Camping, high end site, is 50 - 60 a night, currently full as a gun), comparable to a Premier Inn, but mid range?

10 nights at 35 a night. 350. 10 nights at 80 a night. 800. Comparable?

I’m just a little dubious but happy to be proven wrong.

 

[Jay586]

There's a massive campervan "wild camping" in our town just now. They've hung a washing line the full length of the fitness equipment area. It really is quite the sight. They were too high for the beach access and didn't cut the lock like a lot of people do.

It just means the Council will seek to put yellow lines where people have parked short-term for years, often see people eating their lunch in that spot.

As for generators, I took the dogs up into the moors to avoid fireworks for the evening back in Nov and there was a motorhome running one. Even deaf OH was moaning how loud it was.

But yep, if people heat awnings and run every appliance under the sun, then campsites will struggle. One put a poll up on their website to ask what customers would prefer, my local campsite has just decided to not open this season. Which will make the "wild camping" worse...

 

[dspuk]

There's a massive campervan "wild camping" in our town just now. They've hung a washing line the full length of the fitness equipment area. It really is quite the sight. They were too high for the beach access and didn't cut the lock like a lot of people do.

It just means the Council will seek to put yellow lines where people have parked short-term for years, often see people eating their lunch in that spot.

As for generators, I took the dogs up into the moors to avoid fireworks for the evening back in Nov and there was a motorhome running one. Even deaf OH was moaning how loud it was.

But yep, if people heat awnings and run every appliance under the sun, then campsites will struggle. One put a poll up on their website to ask what customers would prefer, my local campsite has just decided to not open this season. Which will make the "wild camping" worse...

Extra points for pointing out some “wild campers” are really carpark warriors

 

[Wondering Star]

I welcome metered EHU for the simple reason it will give me access to decent pitches.
I don't need EHU due to lithium installation, but non electric pitches are often smaller, in poor locations, often grass not hardstanding and definitely not front row premium pitches.

 

[Daniel Steely]

This may have been mentioned before sorry if it has.

Just looked at few sites to book over the summer and noticed that not only have site fees dramatically risen they, well some are charging extra for electricity £7 £15 per night thus 14 nights = £98/£210 On top your £420 pitch fees.

I appreciate all services have risen to us all but worried long term, people will not book. I have suggested to one site had they thought about metering the electricity as they do at some marinas. This is a fair approach to both parties. Those with solar may only need to top up periodically with the right equipment aboard.

Any other thought ?

The relatively common French system of different electric pricing rates for different supply amperages, which did seem very tight, now seems very logical. Also it does not need expensive installation of metering apparatus. The power trips out if you overload and you can reset the trip if you overload. The campsite knows your use is capped according to the amperage you have paid for.

 

[andrew bazeley]

Personally I would hope they do charge to plug in, as we don’t. For weekends we pitch on grass and easily survive on batteries.

On our summer 2 weeks abroad we are always driving a reasonable distance to each site so arriving with 100% charge. My van is a 2008 and we still only loose 10/15% a day so happy to go unplugged for 4 nights. I tend to book 5 or 6 sites and alternate with and without EHU. Never had a problem. Batteries now 15 years old and working like new.

If people want to use large amounts of electricity then let them plug in and pay. I’d encourage people to experiment with the batteries. They’re part of your van that you paid a lot for.

I agree metered usage is fairer.

Ooh - I have a 2008 Cali too! Agree with you: Many of my camping trips have been to music festivals, where there are no hookups. As long as the battery is reasonably new, I've always reckoned that the "long" weekend (Thursday night until Monday morning) can just about make it. I have a replacement digital radio though, and have to make sure it's not left on standby all the time.

 

[Norfolk Jim]

We've just booked up 2 sites in Galloway for 3 nights each and paying 28 per night inclusive of EHU max. Same prices we paid in September. We've also booked on small site in Lakes for one night and they include a generous amount for ehu and then charge extra. We worked out even using our electric heater and ceramic hob we were way inside the allowance

 

[willwander]

Suits me, haven’t plugged in for years.

 

[Kingfisher]

Just to add some perspective on metered EHU: a small campsite that I frequent decided to install meters on their ~20 pitches back in September. By last week they only had half of their meters delivered. I guess many campsites are trying to switch to metered now.

 

[jMacdent]

Last year we spent €735 for 5 nights on a pitch with EHU and toilet/shower room.
Am about to book it again as I’m worried it’s going to sell out, and it was a great holiday.

Which campsite specifically on the island?

Sunêlia Interlude?​

Like the sound of the private toilet/shower room!

 

[Lambeth Cali]

Which campsite specifically on the island?

Sunêlia Interlude?​

Like the sound of the private toilet/shower room!

Yup. It worked well. Small pitch though. Just booked again