Is Hospitality Camping worth the Extra Money at Camp Bestival in 2023 based on our experience at Camp Bestival 2019.
As this was our first time at Camp Bestival (and we had been lucky enough to have a free week in Dorset before hand thanks to family!) we decided to take a chance and upgrade to the Hospitality Camping.
Here are the pros and cons of the Hospitality Package at Camp Bestival which was £600 for 2 adults 2 kids in 2019:
Pros of the Hospitality Package at Camp Bestival
*It takes the stress out of getting a pitch – for an extra £10 (on top of the Hospitality upgrade) you are provided with an allocated pitch so there is no worry about making sure you have somewhere to pitch your tent.
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*You get your stuff driven to the pitch! Part of the package involves a buggy to drive your camping gear up the hill to the pitch. You do have to wait for a buggy to be available but it beats having to lug stuff up the hill and as we packed down Sunday evening, we didn’t have to wait to get our stuff back to the car.
*There are showers and they are hot! However, there were several power cuts during the weekend and on one occasion it was during my shower so I had a 10-15 min wait while it came back on – covered in soap!
*There is a 24 hour reception and security on the door which makes you feel that little bit safer.
*There are clean toilets without a queue – need I say more?!
*There is a tent with hairdryers, straighters and mirrors. I didn’t get anywhere near this but the people we were camping next to said this was brilliant for their teenage girls who spent a good hour in there each day!
*The company was lovely- we arrived and our neighbours were already set up and immediately greeted us with a much appreciated cold beer and some advice for first timers – they were lovely!
*You can charge your electricals on reception. However, there was a LONG queue for this as the weekend went on and the frequent power cuts didn’t help with this!
*There is free, unlimited tea and coffee! We loved this and we also got boiling water for our posh noodle pots! However, they ran out of milk the first morning, the power went off the second morning and they ran out of cups the third morning!
*The staff were lovely!
*You are only 5 minutes’ walk from the action.
*You have access to the Castle Bar near the stage which also has better toilets!
*You get a great view of the fireworks on the last night with drinks included – this was a lovely end to the festival for us.
Cons of Hospitality Camping at Camp Bestival
*It is very noisy. You are literally behind the stage so can hear everything. That’s fine and the kids slept though it but I found the noise from the heavy vehicles, particularly on the Thursday night when they were still setting up, impossible to sleep through. It was incredibly loud all through the night and at 2am I spoke to reception who offered to move us the next day. However, we couldn’t face the hassle of moving and time out from the festival…
*The tea and coffee kept running out in some way or another – we hadn’t brought any supplies with us as this was promised to be part of the package and as avid coffee and tea drinkers this was a bit of a pain.
*It is expensive and you have to buy a hospitality pass on top of the weekend ticket and then buy an accommodation package, we only paid £10 for our tent pitch space but to get a boutique tent was very pricey!
*The Castle Bar was really busy and it was difficult to get a space – people set up chairs and blankets for the day and left them there making it hard to find a space.
Rachel lives in Telford in Shropshire and is Mum to her little girl aged 7 and little boy aged 2.