Should we be able to Book Hard Standing?
Posted from another thread.
I don't believe this will happen any time soon. The reason is simple. Many sites have a third of their capacity on grass. Given the vagaries of English summers of late if I was advance booking and only grass was available I suspect that I (and many others) would not book the site. A different kettle of fish if it was last minute with a good 7 day firecast and only grass available perhaps. It was noticeable this September on 4 sites that the ground and weather conditions over a three week period were good for grass. Despite this very few opted for grass except at weekends when hardstanding was taken. When booking a 5 week tour in June/July next year we discounted a CC site in an ideal location for our tour as it had 30% (or less ??) hard standing.
I think that the fact that there are insufficient hard standing for our recent summers is an unpalatable fact. I doubt if as many as 10% would book in advance for grass. Also they may find that their bookings, maybe booked 6 months earlier, are cancelled in bad weather.