Good news and bad news.

[izwozral]

Caravan site manager criticises Moray Council plans

Colin Fraser unhappy at creation of five new motorhome sites.

www.northern-scot.co.uk

 

[Robmac]

"Caravan site manager criticises Moray Council plans"

Well he would wouldn't he - to quote Mandy Rice-Davies.

He states that some of the MH's cost in excess of £50k but we don't want to spend money on sites - errrm yes, quite. That's why we have splashed out so much money on being self sufficient!

 

[mariesnowgoose]

I think with current demand for staycations your man shouldn't have a lot to worry about at the moment.

And most people forget there is a huge swathe of motorhome & caravan owners who would never dream of "wilding" and will only stay on official sites.

They're his target customers, not the likes of most wildcampers in here, and there will be plenty of his target customers around this year - and going forward?

If he believes in free enterprise he should have no grounds for objections.
Unless he wants to be a business monopoly and can't stand any (wrongly perceived) competition?

Says more about his attitude to business - and his total lack of understanding about all aspects of motor homing - than it does about the creation of new motorhome sites which cater for a completely different audience to the one that chooses to stay on his site.

I know first hand how a lot of tourism business owners can be pretty dim, complacent and fixed in their ways.
"Customers? Why should we consider what the the customers want?!"

 

[molly 2]

Got a face full of cookies so declined

 

[yorkslass]

I think with current demand for staycations your man shouldn't have a lot to worry about at the moment.

And most people forget there is a huge swathe of motorhome & caravan owners who would never dream of "wilding" and will only stay on official sites.

They're his target customers, not the likes of most wildcampers in here, and there will be plenty of his target customers around this year - and going forward?

If he believes in free enterprise he should have no grounds for objections.
Unless he wants to be a business monopoly and can't stand any (wrongly perceived) competition?

Says more about his attitude to business - and his total lack of understanding about all aspects of motor homing - than it does about the creation of new motorhome sites which cater for a completely different audience to the one that chooses to stay on his site.

I know first hand how a lot of tourism business owners can be pretty dim, complacent and fixed in their ways.
"Customers? Why should we consider what the the customers want?!"

Customers are nothing but an inconvenience......heaven forbid that they should be given consideration.......on the other hand we arn't the kind of customers he wants

 

[Wully]

They have a system in America for hotels that if they have rooms left unoccupied after say 4pm they discount these rooms . Now if a caravan site here had pitches left after a certain time of day with no bookings why not have a sign at the gate stating a price that they have motorhome pitches left for that one night only at a discounted rate rather than them being unoccupied. Or something similar it could be tweaked to suit catch some passing trade.

 

[izwozral]

Campsite owner should have a sign offering the use of dump station and water for £5-ish, it could be a win win for all, and why not use of showers for a price.

 

[mariesnowgoose]

They have a system in America for hotels that if they have rooms left unoccupied after say 4pm they discount these rooms . Now if a caravan site here had pitches left after a certain time of day with no bookings why not have a sign at the gate stating a price that they have motorhome pitches left for that one night only at a discounted rate rather than them being unoccupied. Or something similar it could be tweaked to suit catch some passing trade.

That's called using your brains, Wully, and on the tourism front they're not always the sharpest needles in the business pincushion

 

[QFour]

See he was complaining about the ones he did get saying they were using his water. Sometimes you just cannot win. Good luck to the Council hope it works for them.

 

[Tim120]

Note to self:-
Don't go there (as if I would)

 

[Deleted member 86180]

"They should not be taking away business from holiday parks, especially after the effects of coronavirus restrictions“ says Mr. Fraser, no doubt he’d sooner cram them into his son’s site increasing the risk of spread

 

[RichardHelen262]

When will these people understand that if I paid £1000 or £100,000 for a motorhome, my not wanting to stop on his or anyone else’s campsite has nothing to do with saving money.
For me it’s about not having to plan my holidays, and be able to tour and change plans by the minute, but I would quite happily spend money at his campsite if he would let me have just 30 minutes to use his facilities to empty my waste and replenish my water.

 

[mariesnowgoose]

This is what CampRA are up against all over.

It's getting the chance to educate local businesses with the same mindset as your park/site owner in the leading article that is the challenge.

That will take time and a lot of persuading in many cases.

Like I said, sometimes folks are too close to their own business to see new opportunities as they arise, instead they are fearful of any "change" that they mistakenly see as a threat, or anything that requires them to adapt or do things slightly differently.

Operating with closed minds, I guess

 

[izwozral]

We have been doing some "enquiries" through the Campra auspices, out of the forty businesses, churches, councils etc we contacted, thirty nine gave a negative response. The one positive feedback we did get couldn't actually accommodate MH's but they did point us to their sister company who they think may be able to help. Unfortunately, they are unable to give a definitive answer at the present due to Covid but have promised to contact us when the Covid situation changes.

I think those who have been tirelessly working with Campra deserve our gratitude. Not only is it extremely time consuming and frustrating, it is quite depressing reading the negative undertone within some of the replies.
BTW we don't include ourselves with the above as we have only been helping out for a mere 3-4 weeks. The likes of Ian [Barge] has been helping Campra for many many months and tbh, I don't know how he has managed to remain sane.

There have been successes which we can all avail ourselves to and for that we should be thankful.

Well done Campra and thank you.

 

[Biggarmac]

On behalf of all on the CAMpRA leadership team thanks for everyone's efforts. The breakthoughs we are getting are because of all the letters, emails and face to face contacts with people who need to know the demand for overnight parking is there.

 

[Hogweed]

Campsite owner should have a sign offering the use of dump station and water for £5-ish, it could be a win win for all, and why not use of showers for a price.

Here at Chester Villa Camping at Thornton Le Dale, we have a motorhome dump off sign, Motorhomes are charged £4.00 to empty out, fill up, use the waste and recycling.