Festival Motorhome Camping - Why the big added cost

[Kannon Fodda]

I've been poking around contemplating booking a medium sized festival for this summer. But it seems most create a big extra charge, on top of the ticket, for a camper van / motorhome pitch.

Most festivals have day tickets.

The onsite camping costs more and if you are lucky they might provide a smattering of portaloos and showers to the camp areas. You may have an added fee for parking. One festival I can look at states around £150 per person.

Taking a motorhome / camper van it seems you pay for the same ticket price, per individual as a camper i.e £150. You then pay another fee for your vehicle pitch (which you might offset slightly as you won't need parking), probably £60 with a hefty further charge if they offer an EHU. Campervan / motorhome users will put into a separate field to the tents, possibly with some form of Elsan point.

But why the extra pitch charge, other than that they can get away with it? What is the extra cost to the festival? It's just a field, like the tent field. I'll be surprised if they are providing extra showers and portaloos specific to the tent field, so it's only the elsan point, unless of course the festival is so massive and high capacity that the numbers justify so many facilities. Perhaps they aren't differentiating between the campervan and motorhome, the latter having onboard facilities, yet the camper will need the site wcs?

 

[DBK]

Demand = Price when they have a monopoly.

 

[dosser]

Been to loads over the last couple of years some charge £30 -£40 others £70-£80 depends on organisation and imo how greedy they are. Havnt found you get anything else for your cash over tenters. Been there done that getting to auld for that these days ?
I think they realise people will pay the extra for a bit of comfort in their vans.
Thats why i pay it, sometimes grudgingly mind... ??

 

[HillRunner]

I would say mainly due to demand but there are a few other considerations.
Vans/motohomes|:

• take up a bit more space.
• generally need easier access from the road.
• may need to be towed out after heavy rain.

I have been to several festivals where the towing operation has taken hours because of the number of vehicles involved

 

[Kannon Fodda]

Hadn't thought about towing, although that could equally apply to parking areas if conditions aren't good. I doubt many moderate sized festivals would incur costs of any temporary track into even the parking areas, let alone the vehicle camping bit.

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[Wombles]

Two reasons in our experience - limited flat area with roadway type access so prime price as tents considered to be ok on sloping fields where cars may not have access or because they can as motorhome/campervan pitches usually sell out first even at extra cost!
Look out for Retrofestival rallies on here (should be posted soonish) which are the same price whatever size/type unit & others where camping is separate but near to the festival. It's not easy to get meets or rallies at festivals (we have tried!) but they can be better value.
Know that Kannon Fodda is already booked for this Meet https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/foru...rassic-fields-festival-9-13-july-2020.201356/ but it might be handy to know about it for others reading this as the festival tickets are great value & an excellent popular campsite.

 

[Themselves]

Mello festival if you like music. It’s near Hanley Swan. I have been a few times. Loads of bands . I think it’s £80 per person all in. Last time I went they had showers and bogs. The highlight act about three years ago was Hawkwind ! The couple in the van next to ours never left the van but judging by the amount of empties and the constant whiff of some strange herbal fags they had an excellent time.

 

[berni109]

one thing you have not considered is the 'performing rights society' - they extract a percentage premium off every music festivals ticket price but they cant touch the camping fees.
the other issue is the space taken by vehicles of 6-8 meters and an awning with 2 people as opposed to a group of 10 friends camping in the same amount of space.

 

[Helen Ariel]

What festival are you thinking of? I recently looked to see about taking our 1st motorhome to alfresco festival and i think it was about £100 extra! Supply and demand tho isn't it. If you want to take a large luxury vehicle to a mainstream festival it's going to cost.

 

[Mick and Ruth]

Rewind North this year is £90 camper van pitch up to 6m, big pitch for over 6m £180. Tickets for the event are £130 each so £440 for me and the boss and our motorhome Friday-Monday. We could possibly have travelled it daily in a taxi cheaper but we said we would be doing things like this before we bought our van but were shocked at £180.

The camper van pitches were sold out that day and the motorhome ones gone a cpl of days later so obviously popular.

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[Kannon Fodda]

one thing you have not considered is the 'performing rights society' - they extract a percentage premium off every music festivals ticket price but they cant touch the camping fees.

Excellent rip off given that festivals are usually live music often performed by the artist who created the tunes in the first place.

the other issue is the space taken by vehicles of 6-8 meters and an awning with 2 people as opposed to a group of 10 friends camping in the same amount of space.

You mean the festivals enforce the 6m spacing rule for MH's but not tents?

What festival are you thinking of? I recently looked to see about taking our 1st motorhome to alfresco festival and i think it was about £100 extra! Supply and demand tho isn't it. If you want to take a large luxury vehicle to a mainstream festival it's going to cost.

The rate may depend on the festival, some seem to have a sliding scale for the vehicle size.

I'm toying with Love Supreme which is supposed to be a jazz style music, although jazz seems to be a very loose group looking at the current announced line-up.

 

[deleted-member02]

Stewarding, fire marshals and scaffolding hire, generator hire for the additional lights, additional water taps, portaloos that don’t get used much, collection and disposal of black waste, metal track hire, license application, additional insurances, I can see how the cost is justified...

 

[TinaLes]

Yes, it seems to be the same at most outdoor music festivals thesedays, even the small niche ones like they used to have every year at Barra Island were so popular the prices if you got to book on time were seemingly expensive.
Recently I was steered towards having a look at Fairports Cropardy Convention, located at Cropardy as the name would suggest, Tickets are priced at £155 each adult, plus 3 day "Camping Sticker" at £55.o £365 for 3 days in total
Looking at the line up, there is now way I would pay those prices, however the tickets have now sold out, so what do I know?
I would expect to get to Glasto, well nearly, for that sort of investment!
I will stick to The Warners shows I think, they represent great value, meeting up with Funsters and sometimes bacon rolls at very affordable prices, all cooked by Michelin Star chefs, showcasing the latest in portable cooking appliances.
LES

 

[Wombles]

You mean the festivals enforce the 6m spacing rule for MH's but not tents?

The rate may depend on the festival, some seem to have a sliding scale for the vehicle size.

I'm toying with Love Supreme which is supposed to be a jazz style music, although jazz seems to be a very loose group looking at the current announced line-up.

Be warned festivals very rarely have 6m spacing - around 1-2m for motorhomes is more common!

 

[Viennese]

The festival we go to charges £20 for campervan pitches. This year it's offering EHU at £40 for 4 days. I told them it's too much! Perhaps they don't want to sell electricity.

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[The Wino]

As others have pointed out they sell out of spaces fast so why reduce the price!

 

[Viennese]

Yes, it seems to be the same at most outdoor music festivals thesedays, even the small niche ones like they used to have every year at Barra Island were so popular the prices if you got to book on time were seemingly expensive.
Recently I was steered towards having a look at Fairports Cropardy Convention, located at Cropardy as the name would suggest, Tickets are priced at £155 each adult, plus 3 day "Camping Sticker" at £55.o £365 for 3 days in total
Looking at the line up, there is now way I would pay those prices, however the tickets have now sold out, so what do I know?
I would expect to get to Glasto, well nearly, for that sort of investment!
I will stick to The Warners shows I think, they represent great value, meeting up with Funsters and sometimes bacon rolls at very affordable prices, all cooked by Michelin Star chefs, showcasing the latest in portable cooking appliances.
LES

Cropredy is a really wonderful festival, and the line up this year is looking good. Lots of people rate this very highly - Funster runrig goes every year I think. It is very friendly, unlike many festivals you get to actually see the performers on stage, the food & drink is reasonably priced. The whole village is involved, Fairport have put a lot of money into the local community. Tickets seem to be still available.

 

[Kannon Fodda]

The festival we go to charges £20 for campervan pitches. This year it's offering EHU at £40 for 4 days. I told them it's too much! Perhaps they don't want to sell electricity.

I can understand the big hike for EHU - It will be less the cost of the electric used, more the infrastructure needed of all the cables, probably the generator if they don't have a big enough plug, and no doubt safety testing and someone on hand to reset it when something goes pop. Then they dismantle it.

It's the base cost of the pitch, compared to that of the tent field that doesn't seem so equitable, especially if they are going to shoehorn you in rather than follow spacing guidance.

 

[The Old Man]

You may want to pay extra not to use the Portaloos and showers!!!!!

 

[Brains]

I can understand the big hike for EHU - It will be less the cost of the electric used, more the infrastructure needed of all the cables, probably the generator if they don't have a big enough plug, and no doubt safety testing and someone on hand to reset it when something goes pop. Then they dismantle it.

It's the base cost of the pitch, compared to that of the tent field that doesn't seem so equitable, especially if they are going to shoehorn you in rather than follow spacing guidance.

Glasto uses 30 megawatts of electricity over the weekend, that is more than the nearby city of Bath.
Given that the majority of the accommodation does not have EHU it's a vast amount, hence they have their own mobile power station on site, as well as backup solar and pee power.

They do supply some EHU outlets, certainly to the prebooked "Glamping" sites.
But for most campers and MoHo's it's the big generator powered arc towers supply light and nothing else.

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[Mick and Ruth]

Rewind North this year is £90 camper van pitch up to 6m, big pitch for over 6m £180. Tickets for the event are £130 each so £440 for me and the boss and our motorhome Friday-Monday. We could possibly have travelled it daily in a taxi cheaper but we said we would be doing things like this before we bought our van but were shocked at £180.

The camper van pitches were sold out that day and the motorhome ones gone a cpl of days later so obviously popular.

I also forgot to mention that’s without EHU if you want that its an extra £80

 

[Silver-Fox]

Ha you want to see the prices for Silverstone and the moto GP

I booked the entry tickets all go

Booked the camping for the Moho all good

Then charged me for entry with the Moho not good

How the feck was I supposed to get the Moho to the camping without driving in.
What a bloody rip off.

 

[Wombles]

For a bit fairer pricing - Upton Blues official camping for their free festival https://upton-blues-festival.co.uk/ , camping at Wallingford Sports Club for BunkFest https://www.bunkfest.co.uk/ & smaller pub based event Old Bush Blues http://www.oldbushblues.co.uk/ with camping. Funsters have attended all these in previous years & had some good meets - details by searching here on the forum.
We were exploring meets with discounted rates at a few larger festivals for this year but sadly none of them came to anything - once festivals get to a certain size they no longer need groups like us Will keep looking & trying though as the combination of a good festival with the comforts of our motorhomes & the camaraderie of Funsters is a wonderful thing!

 

[The Wino]

You may want to pay extra not to use the Portaloos and showers!!!!!

I remember the first retrofestival we went to the portaloo "turdis" required a 50m exclusion zone!!