Franchise benefits

The Club is the largest and longest established organisation of its kind in the world. With over 485,000 members in 260,000 households, more than one in every 98 adults in the UK is a Club member. We represent all forms of camping and provide more places to camp than any other organisation - offering your campsite franchise the variety and trustworthy name necessary to be a success.

The Club was founded in 1901 by six young men camping at Wantage in Berkshire. We are the oldest Club of our type in the world. A number of notable people have been associated with the history of our Club including: Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Lord Baden-Powell and his grandson the third Lord Baden Powell, Professor David Bellamy OBE our current President and HRH The Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, KG, KT, OM our Royal Patron.

Vision

To have highly satisfied members.

Mission

To provide campsites and services in the spirit of The Friendly Club.

Spirit

• We are friendly.
• We are welcoming and helpful.
• We work with honesty and integrity.
• We provide adventure in a safe and caring environment.
• We are professional in our relationships.
• We are trusted.

The Camping and Caravanning Club is a not for profit organisation, limited by guarantee. This means any surplus made on any of our trading activities is put back into the Club for the benefit of all our members. There are no shareholders’ dividends or cash bonuses to pay, meaning you can feel safe regarding the security of your franchise.

The Club is committed to a sustainable future. We are introducing environmental initiatives including the building of green hard standings and rainwater harvesting. A recent independent sustainability report covering all areas of the Club’s activities stated “The Club is already going well beyond legislation to meet best practice for touring facilities and organisation in the large majority of areas”.

With over 485,000 members eagerly awaiting new sites, new franchisees entering the ‘network’ see an immediate demand for their pitches from our loyal and knowledgeable membership base from their opening day.

Training new franchisees in ‘The System’ is one of the most important investments the franchisor can make in their business. All of our franchisees are offered a structured 20 Module Training, Coaching and Development programme which offers franchisees a minimum of 34 days training. The programme, delivered by key members of the Club support staff and external consultants, provides new franchisees with a range of theory, practical and on-site coaching and learning opportunities aimed at providing you with the knowledge and skills required to set up and run your sites ‘in the spirit of The Friendly Club’.

We offer our members a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week online booking service and our Contact Centre handles as many as 2000 calls a day during the summer. The Club’s Contact Centre has been awarded The Best Contact Centre Under 50 Seats in Europe at the European Call Centre awards. In addition to the Call Centre, over 25% of our members use our online directory and booking site ‘Siteseeker’ to choose and book their holidays. Both of these channels free up time for franchisees to concentrate on providing members and guests the best possible experience whilst on their holiday during the season and affords you the comfort that bookings are still being made even when your site is closed.

Our two main directories are ‘Your Big Sites Book’ - a Bi-annual directory of all sites, with over 350,000 copies produced per edition - and our annual directory, ‘Your Place in the Country’, with over 300,000 copies printed and sent to our members. Additionally we provide our members with our fantastic Monthly Club Magazine with ABC readership figures of 252,238 and a bi-monthly eNewsletter sent to 162,000 members via email. We exhibit at all of the major industry shows and, through our regional structure, attend a large proportion of the regional events and exhibitions across the UK throughout the year.

The Club is also seen by many in the national, regional and local media as 'The Voice' of camping and caravanning and receives numerous regular requests for interviews and comments.

As a well-established franchise with a proven track record, our principal lender will generally lend a higher proportion of the total start-up costs including (in certain cases) working capital requirements. The terms our franchisees have obtained have been longer than the initial period of the franchise agreement with some loan products and arrangements could be made so that you can pay just the interest when you first set up your loan. This will allow you to focus on your business if you start up a UK campsite franchise, and you could also receive up to 2 years free banking. These terms will be dependent upon your individual circumstances and investment requirements.