Who negotiates at Caravan Parks?

I reckon it's very Australian to haggle. I almost never pay full price for anything.... most places negotiate, no matter what they are selling. I guess some people don't need to though.

That story was hilarious, thanks for the laugh. :-D

I agree Doug, their oncosts are fairly high, some Caravan Parks will give you an extra night for free if you stay an extra night ect, the average self employed Tradie gets around $85 to $120 per hour, so $26 a night is chicken feed, you would want a full house every night to make a reasonable income.

Daza
I did forget to mention that, If one stays 3 nights here the 4th is free.
Ummmmm .........I been here since Jan' 2009, ..lol

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Dont forget the ones who take 20 minute showers.

Cant stand that.

Totally inconsiderate in places where water is both scarce and expensive.

They should have coin operated showers & reduce the fees slightly.

I agree with Doug T about the astronomical overheads some park operators have to cope with.
People are already whinging about parks closing to make way for development, so this will become an even more attractive proposition for the park operators if mean travellers start trying to negotiate.

G/day Doug

It makes me laugh when I see some one having a bitch about $26 per night for powered site, in Darwin you can get a 6 bed dorm room at a backpackers for $25, perhaps these people should stay there instead.

Cooinda at peek season charge $45 per night, to me $26 is probably the cheapest I would have paid on any site I have used in the last 4 years.

The trouble is most people who do have a whinge have never run their own business therefore don,t know the break down of the cost involved.

A few examples: Public Liability, workers comp and all other associated insurances involved in running a business, can run into tens of thousands per year, wages + supper, advertising can be tens of thousands, then there is the up keep of amenities, grounds and infrastructure that is used buy the people staying at the park and abused because it is not theirs to worry about.

Try running your own business before saying something cost to much.

PS that dorm room was $25 per person.

Yep ,you just gotta love 'sales' ,10%-75% off says to me 1 of 3 things , A: the item was grossly overpriced to begin with, B: profit margin was set to high C: the item is superceded or just about out of date.

I will tell you why retailers are having a sales more often, it is because more and more people are staying at home and shopping on line.

Retailers can,t compete with on line sales, so they have to off load stock at a reduced price just to pay the bills.

i am glad someone agrees ....... haggling is not us at all, i have found without a doubt that those that haggle the most are the the one that can well afford it and are not happy unless they haggle like an old women, i have had some bragging about a $2 discount ....... it is actually a culture for some countrys to do it .....
If you go on a holiday and set your program on having to haggle everything you buy and do then how the hell can you call it a holiday and why did you save up in the first place, for what you save you could just work one week extra and save everyone the hassle, anyone that steps in our shop and starts to "haggle" saying it is australian will get a better price, better for us as we raise it according to the level of "@ss pain" that we get ..... we get complaints about the price of fuel, we train or staff to ignore it and suggest they go to the next stop if they dont like it, we have refused people service due to abuse about not "haggling" as it is degrading, imature and NOT AUSTRALIAN ..... like it or not :-) :-)
Cheers, JOE FROM THE DOOMADGEE ROADHOUSE ... just so you dont bother to come here ....

Exactly, Joe. I'd be ashamed to haggle with the businesses we deal with when we travel.
And it could so easily backfire. Eg. We were in Tibooburra recently. Bought ice, diesel, some supplies and ate breakfast in the the Corner Country Store. Later in the day, while we were still in town, we found that a leaf spring on our trailer had come loose. We were directed back to the Corner Country Store and the proprietor who is, I gather, a competent if not full-time mechanic. He took us to his home, emptied out loads of jars of bits and pieces until he found a suitable part, then fixed it at a ridiculously reasonable price. I can only imagine that, had we spent our morning in vigourous pursuit of saving a few dollars, it could have all turned out so differently.
Lou

We are booked into a park for 2 weeks at Xmas in Botany Bay - paying $45/night.
I enquired with another in Byron Bay for the New Year - wanted $65/night.
I normally stay away from major towns and being used to approx $30 this is a bit of culture shock to me.
Regards Dennis

What the.....$150??? That's ludicrous....you could have stayed in an apartment for that!

We've just stayed in Echuca and it was the best place we've stayed on our 7 week trip. Stay 3, pay for 2.....it worked out really cheap.

I guess that's one benefit of travelling in the off season as you mentioned.

We're heading to Barwin Heads in February so I'll make sure we drop into the caravan park you stayed at. Thanks for the tip!