The great ‘cabins V campsites’ battle continues to be played out in caravan parks across the country … and it’s cabins that appear to be well ahead on points.
The latest round in the ongoing showdown took place at Bowen in Queensland, where the owners of the Harbour Lights Caravan Park have announced they are to axe 12 powered caravan sites.
The Courier Mail reports that these sites will soon make way for 18 new self-contained rooms.
Honey Property Management, which bought the park last December, will build six new cabins, each containing three studio-sized rooms. Each studio room contains a 15 square metre bedroom, a two square metre bathroom, and a two square metre kitchenette.
On the road to nowhere? As the number of caravanners goes up, it sometimes seems like the number of sites goes down!
The company paid $2.86m for the park, which had been on the market for more than 580 days at $4.6m.
The Courier Mail reports that the new cabins will be located towards the rear of the 1.66 hectare park, which is located a short walk away from the Bowen Jetty.
Honey Property Management must reportedly pay $30,677 in infrastructure charges to Whitsunday Regional Council which approved the 12.9m by 4.2m cabins to be built at a minimum of one at a time.
The park is located 400 metres away from a bus stop and within one kilometre of Bowen’s town centre.
The park’s website says powered sites cost $35–$42 per night with an extra person costing an additional $8-$10. Its cabins range in price from a ‘budget’ non ensuite at $85 all the way up to $160 per night for a two-bedroom ‘cottage’, with additional charges for extra people.
* Do you think cabins will continue their relentless march into ‘traditional’ caravan parks? Comment below.
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Seems the way “ caravan Parks” are heading More cabins and reduced powered sites Personally try and find parks tha promote caravan and stay away from parks that promote cabins
We have been staying at a Park in Bermagui (NSW South Coast) on and off for some years now, called yesterday to book our favourite site for February next year…..sorry that site and the 7 others in that section are now cabins.!!! Sign of the times I guess and a lot more $$ in cabins than sites!
And cleaning plus linen & laundering. Caravan pulls out, maybe needs mowing. I can’t see the economics on cabins. Oh, Also mtce costs
Sounds good! We caravanned for 22 years, cabins now.
There must be a need otherwise they wouldn’t do it. I rarely stay in caravan parks anyway, I find them noisy, cramped and dull.
Yes they make more money.
All the reason why you should set up for free camping.
It is hard to work out. Site maintenance is minimal but cabins are work intensive and with current worker shortages i wonder.
Caravan park owners try to get the council’s to ban low cost or free camping in their towns(or near them) because they claim it’s not fair and that it takes business away from them.
Now they are putting in more and more cabins, taking away business from hotels/motels, but that’s ok??? To them, this is just the way things are, they do it without thinking/caring what this does to other peoples livelihood, “because they can”.
They charge too much for what they offer, most of the time, they give the sob story about taxes, rates, insurance and maintenance costs, well welcome to owning a business.
If you were to be more realistic with your charges, then perhaps more people would use your park, instead of charging too much and a LOT of people avoiding you.
I will stop now because you won’t listen or take on any advice, it’s just the usual poor me, no one understands, they don’t care boo hoo hoo.
Take a spoonful of concrete and harden the **** up
You are dead right, Rob. We owned a motel here in Busselton for 5 years 2000-2005, the local parks and resorts competed with our budget rate of $55 double in the winter months. We didn’t make ends meet from June to October. Summer months kept us going.
Im from the old snowy mtns scheme I back your theory 100%. A lot of things can happen with Concrete.
They’ve finally woken up to the fact that most caravans built in the last 20 years don’t need a caravan park. Why pay for what you already have in your van and be treated like cattle in a sardine can.
Of course, the parks were all hurt badly during covid because there were no flying tourists. The van sites were full but the cabins were empty.
Now we just need the local councils to stop being sucked into the bullsh!t lies from the parks and to permit and open more free camp sites for the majority.
Whilst caravanners keep complaining about Caravan Parks as being expensive, noisy, cramped etc., why wouldn’t the Park owners get rid of powered sites and replace them with cabins. If you don’t support Caravan Parks, don’t expect them to support you for your laundry & water convenience.
We pay for what we use, not for what we don’t use. Let the well to do use Cabins, but when the financial squeeze has finished witht this Country, the Caravan parks will be looking for those who once supported them but maybe too late by then.
Fair comment
We noticed a lot more cabins in parks over the years one park we were allocated a site between 2 cabins, not very nice with all the banging from furniture being moved and music you could have held a disco. We have now added upgraded electrical system and park up in the bush, a lot more pleasing.
On the flip side they really can’t bitch about free camps now can they. 🙂
Well CP’s complain about free camping and now the Motels need to complain about CP’s taking their business
We have noticed this in almost every park we have stayed at on our trip to FNQ from Central Coast NSW. But we have also noticed that while all the van spots are full most nights, the cabins they have got are about 80% empty. The cost of maintenance on sites, compared to cabins is negligible, so I wonder have they done there research properly, or have they been influenced by clever salespeople. Only time will tell, but I feel a lot of parks will regret this decision.
Economics 101. We have all seen this ‘slow’ development over the last 15 – 20 years. First it was the unpowered sites, now it’s all caravan sites. People (or large corporations and shareholders) are profit oriented. I’m not saying it’s an amazing development – it’s just a business maximizing profit
We have been on the road for about 150 days in this trip, and have yet to stay in a caravan park. All free camps except one donation camp. I’d prefer that caravan parks continued to provide plenty of overnight spots for caravanners so they don’t clutter up the “wild country” that we prefer.
A lot of free camps do not have toilets or water. so you are crapping all around our great country and loading up with free water wherever you can. Nothing to be proud of and you are missing out on Centrelink rent assistance which allows you to subsidise your stay in caravan parks and you are not soiling the great outdoors.
Graham we have been caravanning for over twenty years never have dumped our toilet just anywhere. .if there is no dump point. We have a shovel. And dig a hole. And we burn our paper. . And we do not get Centrelink. And I do not like staying in caravan park paying for what. We are fully self contend
I thought a caravan park meant just that, a park for caravans. If they wish to have cabins they need to rename it as a cabin park or check the legality of changing from vans to cabins. I just think all park owners & company’s are getting so greedy, & they wonder why so many of us stay at Showgrounds & donation or free camps. We spend our money in the communities instead of the greedy so called caravan parks.
Hey June, that’s why they rename Caravan Parks as Tourist Parks.
YOU ARE SO RIGHT They should be named just that cabin parks and a new caravan Park built just for Caravans
Don’t worry mate, I firmly believe it will be short lived as the cost of living in this country is going skywood.
The parks complain about free camping profusely. But do they not think that cabins are not cutting out motels ” selfish and greedy”
My wife and I love travelling in OZ we are kiwis we looked at prices for sites and decided that at $60 per night in NZ we would sell our MH and hotel or motel it saves dragging our bums out to the showers in the morning.our MH gives us about 900 days acommodation on average once we factor in the site fee.
We are thinking of doing something similar in OZ buy a new 4wd skip the caravan and use the difference on camp cabins or motels we can store all our gear in the car in storage and when flying in we can just walk through security with nothing there is always a Kmart some where
Caravan Parks are basically building motels without the infrastructure costs that go along with them so councils are missing out. Also van travellers tend to spend more in towns than cabin dweller who may only stay one night passing through. I’m avoiding more parks now for free camps… oh wait! Caravan parks are lobbying councils to shut down the free camps. When will this madness end. Caravan parks are pricing themselves out of the market. They certainly aren’t making any friends, just trying to back a van in amongst the cabins is a nightmare.
I can’t help but wonder, how many of these new cabins will often be left empty, when overseas travel recovers, and the ‘Cabin Dwellers’ return to their preference for off-shore travel. To succeed, a business needs to understand their ‘bread & butter’ customers. E.g. the ones who might not spend up big in a single transaction, but are a constant return customer. Time will tell, I guess…
Do we hear the motel owners screaming out. The silence is deafening.
We have noticed that Casino NSW so called life style Village is taking away Van Sites and putting in more cabins and houses. When you arrive in a Caravan and set up everyone comes and has a chat over a coffee or wine and stories are exchanged as we all have something in common, but in the cabins no one talks to each other, its like being in a motel, the owners don’t care as long as they are making big money, but surely the cost of maintenance, cleaning staff and insurance on these cabins clearly cost a hell of lot more than a van site.