No Shows
Comments
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Helen,
So how many cancellations are there in the days leading up to the 72 hour cut-off?
Because that's the only thing that would tell you whether there is a problem and whether people are working the system.
is it a problem though? how far back before the 72 hr cut off would you be content with? The line has to be drawn somewhere and I for one think the 72 hr slot is fair to everyone.
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We were at Craigie Gardens , Ayr site in Scotland last weekend which was the May holiday weekend.
We only succeeded in booking Fri and Sat nights at the last minute having spent two days refreshing the avaiablity screen for a few sites until Ayr became available.
Despite there being four empty pitches throughout Friday and Saturday the system continued to show the site as full on these days and also full on the Sunday.
We would have loved to stay for the Sunday night but the computer said no.
The warden was unable to say how many people were arriving to take up the dozen or so pitches being vacated.
When we queried the empty pitches we were told pitches had to be kept free if someone had booked the weekend but failed to show on the Friday!
I get the 72 hour rule and the 'slap on the wrist' sanction if you make the effort to cancel your booking.
My questions is this
- what happens if you dont phone up at all to cancel?
Does the system actually highlight 'no shows' or does it , like the warden at Ayr simply ignore them leaving vacant pitches in the hope they might appear sometime ( or not).
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I am sure, on another thread, a warden said if someone was not in late arrivals or had not contacted them by opening time on the day after they should have arrived, their booking was canceled. That should generate a warning letter and an additional vacancy
for some one to take up.0 -
Because that's the only thing that would tell you whether there is a problem and whether people are working the system.
If they are not working the system, they are now if they have read this thread. If you cannot beat them join them. Its not inconceivable that a whole site could be cancelled within the rules on a bad day.
peedee.
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So what should it be? Have an 'over' book system like the airlines, or have an under book system which allows for the misfortunes, emergencies, accidents or vagaries of weather to be managed or do we let the selfish minority and seemingly insignificant
number of abusers dictate what happens and what system is implemented.Keep as is for me, let those that really know the up to date situations on the ground manage and care for us members. Let those with the hard data fathom the solutions to those problems of abusers while maintaining the ethos of a touring club.
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I am sure, on another thread, a warden said if someone was not in late arrivals or had not contacted them by opening time on the day after they should have arrived, their booking was canceled. That should generate a warning letter and an additional vacancy for some one to take up.
We do have quite a few members who arrive on the wrong dates, a day early or a day late for example....
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It seems to me that both the Club and the majority of members, who post here, are happy with the 72 hour rule. Its a reasonable compromise. Why waste time trying to prove differently? Of course it could be the five day rule or the seven day rule or the
ten day rule but would that improve the situation for the majority of members, I suggest not. Whilst I have no eveidence to support this I expect that most reasonable members will cancel earlier rather than leave it to the 72 hours if they know well in advance
they were not going to be able to take up the booking.David
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I agree the 72hr cancellation period seems to work for the majority of responsible members, but you are always going to to get a minority who will use\abuse what ever there is available, to the.advantage of themselves with no thought of anyone else
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I am sure, on another thread, a warden said if someone was not in late arrivals or had not contacted them by opening time on the day after they should have arrived, their booking was canceled. That should generate a warning letter and an additional vacancy
for some one to take up.We do have quite a few members who arrive on the wrong dates, a day early or a day late for example....
I've turned up at airports overseas on the wrong date
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hear hear leave it as it is thank you very much !! just a short note when I arrived at Burrs country park Aug bank hol 2 years ago the couple in front of me had not shown up on the Friday night ,so the wardens cancellled their whole booking ,don't think
the guy was very happy as they were there for a few days and it had been booked a while ,I only knew about it as the wardens were discussing it when I arrived in reception ,1 warden said to the others ,if you not show on the first night then your booking is
cancelled right and the other wardens agreed ,not sure if this is caravan club policy or not but it happened on that day0 -
Whilst I have no eveidence to support this I expect that most reasonable members will cancel earlier rather than leave it to the 72 hours if they know well in advance they were not going to be able to take up the booking.
David
While I agree most will cancel well in advance you can find evidence of what I believe to be significant cancellations. On page 3 of >this thread< for the weekend of the 11th-13th March of this year, I pointed out that during the 48 hours preceding the 72 hour deadline, availability increased by 12.25 percent or 446 pitch nights became available, 346 or 9.5 percent of these in the 24 hours before the deadline!
As someone who only books when I want to go and turns up in all weathers, I find it frustrating to find that the pitches you wanted were discarded at such short notice.
peedee
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It seems to me that both the Club and the majority of members, who post here, are happy with the 72 hour rule. Its a reasonable compromise. Why waste time trying to prove differently? Of course it could be the five day rule or the seven day rule or the
ten day rule but would that improve the situation for the majority of members, I suggest not. Whilst I have no eveidence to support this I expect that most reasonable members will cancel earlier rather than leave it to the 72 hours if they know well in advance
they were not going to be able to take up the booking.David
How did you establish that this was a 'reasonable compromise' David?
I would say that 7 days is a reasonable compromise, because I would prefer 14 days.
I also doubt the comment that 72 hours is the view of the majority - even of those who post here. It may be the strongly held view of those who regularly cancel bookings though.
I don't doubt what you say about 'reasonable members' but this type of rule is surely there for the 'less than reasonable members'......because the reasonable memebrs will cancel as soon as possible and not just before a deadline.
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7 days 14 days stop talking *** this thread needs closing ,I'm going away for one night in 2 weeks time ,anything could happen in that time so how the hell can I know if I need to cancel or not this applies to every member in the caravan club ,leave it as it is and those meddlesome ones that want to alter it can buzz off elsewehere ,and yes I am getting angry because of the arrogance of some folk on here grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Moderator edit: Expletives have been removed from this post
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GC, with respect, I've tried to help you out by answering queries about booking etc in the past, but I really think you need to calm down, stop using abusive language and accept that on a forum like this different folk have different views and need to be
treated with respect!
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Extending the cancelation period may well make more full weeks available, particularly at popular sites. However, it would reduce the number of pitches that become available close to the time, which can be snapped up by those who are unable to book much in advance. So you are never going to please all of the people all of the time. But my view is that you should only use the cancelation benifit in extreme circumstances. These would include high winds and snow which make towing dangerous, but not simply because it is a wet weekend.
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What would be more interesting than worrying about how long the cancellation period is would be to understand why people cancel. The Club only seem to collect very basic information on this score. However it would, perhaps, indicate what the major causes
of cancellations are and could perhaps be an indication that a longer cancellation period would not make much difference. Perhaps the Club have already looked at this and its possible that it has confirmed that 72 hpours is the best compromise?David
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What would be more interesting than worrying about how long the cancellation period is would be to understand why people cancel. The Club only seem to collect very basic information on this score. However it would, perhaps, indicate what
the major causes of cancellations are and could perhaps be an indication that a longer cancellation period would not make much difference. Perhaps the Club have already looked at this and its possible that it has confirmed that 72 hpours is the best compromise?David
David, are we being pink & fluffy here, what does it matter the endless multitude of reasons why someone may cancel..??
If there is no financial (or other) consequence to canceling, then people will do so if it suits them. The fact they they prevented someone else making a booking won't concern a selfish person.
Whilst I understand that it frees up a pitch at extremely short notice, this may not suit very many members who like/need to book leave etc from work, or simply want a known itinery.
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The club has had the present 72 hours rule for a number of years now they would have changed it by now if they thought it would be to their advantage. I believe it to be fair to members and to the club. If you plan ahead the present system works well and the 72 hour won't affect you, if you can travel at 72+ hours notice then you can make use of it and so club bookings overall are held. Personally when wanting an unplanned weekend booking I've not noticed a hugh supply open up the Monday/Tuesday before. the system works well enough for those who use club sites a lot.
I can't understand why those who say they are using club sites less and less are that vocal on here about the 72 hours rule?
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I can't understand why those who say they are using club sites less and less are that vocal on here about the 72 hours rule?
Its one of the reason I am using Club sites less and less, I just cannot be bothered to wait for cancelations to fulfill a requirement.
peedee
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What would be more interesting than worrying about how long the cancellation period is would be to understand why people cancel. The Club only seem to collect very basic information on this score. However it would, perhaps, indicate what the major causes of cancellations are and could perhaps be an indication that a longer cancellation period would not make much difference. Perhaps the Club have already looked at this and its possible that it has confirmed that 72 hpours is the best compromise?
David
I agree that it would be interesting to know the reasons, David. But I'm not sure how the Club would ever really find out.
I'm fairly sure that no one who cancels gives the reason "because we couldn't be bothered" or "because we decided to have a bbq at home that weekend instead". It's far more likely that they will say that their car broke down, we thought the weather would be bad etc.
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7 days 14 days stop talking utter bollocks this thread needs closing ,I'm going away for one night in 2 weeks time ,anything could happen in that time so how the hell can I know if I need to cancel or not this applies to every member in the caravan club
,leave it as it is and those meddlesome ones that want to alter it can buzz off elsewehere ,and yes I am getting angry because of the arrogance of some folk on here grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrPutting aside your shocking language........we have never cancelled a booking due to bad weather in 20 years caravanning and about 10 years of tenting before that........so maybe you are being just a little too precious about wanting perfect weather. Frankly,
cancelling because it might rain is not a good enough reason for cancelling at less than a week's notice in my book.The extreme rain conditions that you referred to elsewhere are very often forecast reasonably well in advance (even by our met office!) so can be avoided. And I'm fairly sure that the CC would excuse a late cancellation for the conditions that they had in
York and elsewhere this winter.0 -
Ian, I agree with you.
Unfortunately some members feel they are different to the rest of us who just get on with things.
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Whilst I have no eveidence to support this I expect that most reasonable members will cancel earlier rather than leave it to the 72 hours if they know well in advance they were not going to be able to take up the booking.
David
While I agree most will cancel well in advance you can find evidence of what I believe to be significant cancellations. On page 3 of >this
thread< for the weekend of the 11th-13th March of this year, I pointed out that during the 48 hours preceding the 72 hour deadline, availability increased by 12.25 percent or 446 pitch nights became available, 346 or 9.5 percent of these in the 24 hours
before the deadline!As someone who only books when I want to go and turns up in all weathers, I find it frustrating to find that the pitches you wanted were discarded at such short notice.
peedee
Write your comments here...At that time of year it is quite possible that the spike in pitch availability was down to site staff bringing more pitches into use
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Same as you Ian. Camped and caravan need for 32 years, only had to cancel once in all that time, and that was half way to our site. My Dad was dying, so that was a good enough reason to set off back home. Luckily he pulled through, but we lost our two weeks
touring, couldn't leave him. It was a CL, we had paid the lot up front, something like £175. We phoned to explain, said please relet what you can and didn't quibble about what they couldn't. They still had a business to run. Just one of those things. We did
manage to get away to cottage booked for our third week, that was a tad more expensive!We have managed to get dates on Club Sites that we want, first drop of rain and nearly always some cancellations, what irritates me more is the week ends booked up while mid week is empty. Meaning that getting a full week can be awkward.
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Whilst I have no eveidence to support this I expect that most reasonable members will cancel earlier rather than leave it to the 72 hours if they know well in advance they were not going to be able to take up the booking.
David
While I agree most will cancel well in advance you can find evidence of what I believe to be significant cancellations. On page 3 of >this
thread< for the weekend of the 11th-13th March of this year, I pointed out that during the 48 hours preceding the 72 hour deadline, availability increased by 12.25 percent or 446 pitch nights became available, 346 or 9.5 percent of these in the 24 hours
before the deadline!As someone who only books when I want to go and turns up in all weathers, I find it frustrating to find that the pitches you wanted were discarded at such short notice.
peedee
Write your comments here...At that time of year it is quite possible that the spike in pitch availability was down to site staff bringing more pitches into use
You can believe that if you like JVB but I don't. Why leave it to the last minute to introduce grass pitches?
peedee
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Whilst I have no eveidence to support this I expect that most reasonable members will cancel earlier rather than leave it to the 72 hours if they know well in advance they were not going to be able to take up the booking.
David
While I agree most will cancel well in advance you can find evidence of what I believe to be significant cancellations. On page 3 of >this
thread< for the weekend of the 11th-13th March of this year, I pointed out that during the 48 hours preceding the 72 hour deadline, availability increased by 12.25 percent or 446 pitch nights became available, 346 or 9.5 percent of these in the 24 hours
before the deadline!As someone who only books when I want to go and turns up in all weathers, I find it frustrating to find that the pitches you wanted were discarded at such short notice.
peedee
Write your comments here...At that time of year it is quite possible that the spike in pitch availability was down to site staff bringing more pitches into use
You can believe that if you like JVB but I don't. Why leave it to the last minute to introduce grass pitches?
peedee
Write your comments here... because they took a chance and used their own experience to release pitches as the sites were starting to get near capacity
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You can believe that if you like JVB but I don't. Why leave it to the last minute to introduce grass pitches?
peedee
Write your comments here... because they took a chance and used their own experience to release pitches as the sites were starting to get near capacity
I still don't believe it, wrong time of year to be opening grass pitches. Most sites remained closed for the winter until the following weekend. Your clutching at straws JVB.
peedee
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