Seacroft Arrival Time
Every now and again I pop in and read the posts on the other Club's forum. I notice that somebody posted that there is a notice on the reception saying from next year arrival time will be at 1.00pm rather than the current midday. I was wondering what the rational for this would be? Seacroft has a wide entrance. If it is a concern about units queuing onto the main road wouldn't that be the same regardless of when arrival time was set? I have no objection to a later arrival time if the access is narrow or restricted but I am puzzled why it would apply to Seacroft, anyone know? Picture of site entrance from road outside the site.
David
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It's common sense David. ----------To allow the site to be cleared of all departing units before the new arrivals. It also allows the Holiday site Managers to inspect the vacated pitches and if necessary tidy them up.
Don't see why the CMC can't adopt a similar policy, i
K
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If the access road is wide enough David (my memory and your piccy say that it is) it makes absolutely no sense. If there were a lack of stacking room causing a problem at 12pm (no idea if there is a problem) then by 1pm presumably more people will have been able to make that arrival time thereby compounding any problems!
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I'm not familiar with Seacroft, but, to me, this is symptomatic of the shortcomings of the clubs fixed arrival/departure arrangements . I can think of 4 or 5 other club sites we've used (none of them "honeypots") with absolutely no access problems at all. To restrict arrivals to noon or 1 pm and departures to noon (allowing for warden's discretion
) makes no sense to me whatsoever. 2 -
We found on at least two C&CC sites this year that queues were forming at the entrance at 1pm whereas we have never encountered this before. It wasn’t units arriving early and forming a queue but people arriving at 1pm, or thereabouts.
It suggests to me that people who used to arrive at 12 are now adding to those who would always have arrived at 1pm and causing a bow wave of arrivals. Surprisingly, the staff weren't geared up to cope with such large numbers of arrivals which further added to the delay.
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It suggests to me that people who used to arrive at 12 are now adding to those who would always have arrived at 1pm
Exactly what one would expect TW. I normally arrive at 12 as that is the earliest permitted arrival Naturally I will therefore arrive at 1pm if that is earliest time. I wonder how many C&CC sites have sufficient stacking space?
This is also a problem with some 1pm arrivals on CC sites. Just my opinion but it would have made better sense for such sites to have retained 12 O'Clock arrival but to have had 11am departures. A number of commercial sites have 11am departures I have found.
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It (the CMC) has! Seacroft is a club site
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I thought nobody else had noticed
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totally agree, M..
really useful to arrive after 1pm now the clocks have changed, set yourself up (caravanner, i mean), then decide its totally pointless trying to do anything as its getting dark....
bad enough in the week for someone enjoying a longish stay, but now put this into a weekender's context, where they cant get away on Friday (for whatever reason), pitch up on Sat as in my example above, set up by 2:00-2:30, sit in the van and have tea, then next morning have to pack up and be away by midday Sunday...
im surprised any weekender would put up with this.
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We don't do two day breaks. Rarely did when working usually minimum 3 nights. Would not have gone away at this time of year for less than 5 nights or longer. When we go away mid December we will pitch up and by 1pm will be having lunch in Morreys before doing a bit of shopping. 15 nights away.
Even in Summer I dislike a 1pm arrival
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On the question of 1.00 pm earliest arrival time as some of you will know the C&CC introduced this generally two years ago and we observed the effect first hand on their site at Scarborough in June. Having been allocated a pitch near one exit gate which overlooked the arrival gate and large car park we saw the effect on a number of days. This site has a much larger arrivals area and car park that any CAMC site that we have ever visited but by 1.00 pm it was completely full more than once and there was a queue onto the lane outside. It was not possible to exit the site from the gate near us due to the queue. The enforcement of the 1.00 pm arrival time was rigid and nobody was allowed on early. So I have to agree that the move to a 1.00 pm earliest arrival does not seem to be an improvement.
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Moving the earliest arrival times to later does not make sense to me. Better to make the lastest departure time earlier. All you are doing by moving the earliest arrival times to later is giving those that travel longer distances a chance to join the queue.
peedee
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Indeed PD it seems to serve neither the club nor the general road users. There must be another reason for this adverse decision surely other than arrival/departure problems. Is this a fantastic new policy that CC have decided to use to 'improve' user experience?
Indeed as for giving people more time to join the queue I have found that in general when I arrive at site for mid day that there may well be 2 or 3 vans already waiting at reception. Not to say that they have arrived unduly early. On 1pm arrival sites there has generally been far more queueing to book in.
1 pm arrival seems to have been as popular with C&CC members as their deposit system and one month cancellation period!!
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1 pm arrival seems to have been as popular with C&CC members as their deposit system and one month cancellation period!!
Yet the membership has never been higher, so what is so attractive if not the above.
As with this forum, it’s the vocal minority that give the impression something isn’t globally popular, the truth is in the figures and if the above points you mention were such a disaster, this would reflect in the statistics the C&CC produce, yet it doesn’t. Why is that? Why is the C&CC doing so well?
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I totally agree with the above, the majority of departure outfits are on their way anyway by 11 and just a few tend to stay till the last minute, this way has a lot more advantages than arriving at 1pm and being mid afternoon before you are settled and relaxing into your break. We use a few commercial sites as well with this set up and apart from 1 which incidentally has arrival and departure at 12 with no problem whatsoever
they all function perfectly well and everyone are happy campers 
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I also remember back in the day when some sites had departure by 10am....again everyone was happy and a good time was had by all I don’t recall grumbles that it was too early though I don’t think these were CMC sites to be fair.
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No, i know YOU dont, Alan...my comment wasnt aimed at you, as you know.
but there are many working folk out there for whom this is their caravanning life, apart (possibly) from a longer break in the summer...or Easter (if then can get the site booked...
).IMHO, for this type of break, 1pm is virtually a waste of time and effort, yet some have to put up with it, to me its a barmy system....
at this time of year, to have someone sat outside a half empty site waithing for an arbitrary 'opening time' before being allowed to pitch is officialdom gone mad..
if we really must have 'separation' between those departing and those arriving (not necessary in my view) then why not move the departure time rather than the arrival time, as we know that leavers can stay later with wardens discretion should the site be quiet.
what we cant do (generally) is get an 'early arrival' dispensation, so i say make the departure time (say) 10 am and have arrivals at (say) 10-30 (if there HAS to be a gap...)
those wishing to extend the end of their stay can do so with WD...
and the weekenders at least get something resembling a weekend for their money.
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When the C&CC introduced the site wide 1pm arrival rule, there were a lot of complaints, many aimed at Rob Ganley IIRC. Despite this, the Club wouldn’t budge, stuck to their guns and it must have been the site managers as a whole that had influenced the decision to bring the rule in, clearly it wasn’t the membership. So, with the Seacroft site, is it as a result of something the wardens have requested? Maybe it is?
What I do know is, whilst the C&CC still have some staunch opposition to the 1pm arrival, it has been widely accepted and because 99% of the site managers across their network enforce the rule to the letter, the issue of early arrivals and the arguments that produces on this forum, is never an issue at all.
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Looking at the C&CC prices for April I can understand why the over sixties might choose to make a saving on site fees with their age discount. Also their honey pot sites seem more accessible to those not staying just for the weekend with minimum 3 day booking. Couple that with the ability to book hardstand.
I can book a 5 night stay last week in August for 2 seniors on hard stand at Braithwaite Fold for £31.50 a night. I assume this to be a HP site as it was when CC had it and also minimum booking period of 3 nights. Why would that not be popular.
The ability to book well ahead and be able to get on prime sites coupled with age discount seems attractive to me.
As for increased membership - I have swelled the numbers by one!! Will I use any of their sites this year? That totally depends on the route and what is on offer location wise. At present for example I doubt that I would use them at the likes of Leek or Great Malvern simply based on terms and conditions and their arrival time. Any cash saving does not really concern me at present. I have no idea as to the standard of C&CC sites these days however but presume that they are OK
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A pub in the town has a board up saying Breakfast 9am to 12.00, Lunch 12,00 to 5pm., Dinner 5pm to 9pm. In other words customers are welcome at whatever time they choose to arrive. And customers are always right, aren't they ?
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‘because they can....’ that about sums it up. Regardless of what happens elsewhere, the two clubs make the rules and if consumers don’t like it, they have the option to vote with their feet (read money)
If either of the two clubs introduced ruling that was incredibly unpopular, this would be reflected in their respective bank accounts, as it is, this doesn’t seem to be happening.
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If either of the two clubs introduced ruling that was incredibly unpopular, this would be reflected in their respective bank accounts, as it is, this doesn’t seem to be happening.
I don't completely agree Nigel. Somebody who is a regular user of C&CC sites for example is presumably happy with the quality of their sites and pricing. May also be happy to book hard standing if arriving after work in particular. The arrival times change to 1pm. That does not mean that they will vote with their feet. If they are weekenders they may frequently arrive later than this anyway even if taking an afternoon off. When they do travel after work they may well value the hardstanding - I probably would. If they are older folk they may like the discount. Most, if not all, commercial sites that I have used have had a 1pm or later arrival. Many reasons not to vote with their feet.
If CC brought in deposits I would remain with them as most sites do require a deposit and as long as they remain flexible that is fine even if not appreciated by me. If they decided to also bring in deposits with one month cancellation window. I would not appreciate it. I would still remain a member however as such terms are widespread and many, such as me, use them for additional services. I have joined C&CC as, whilst I do not appreciate either their booking terms or arrival times they are no more onerous than commercial sites.
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Yes, generally, as long as there are more advantages to be gained, certainly my membership remains as I suspect it does for most. As you say, there are things which I object to, with both Clubs, but there are also lots of things I like. So, they’ll continue to get my cash.
With regard to the change at Seacroft, it’s for the club to explain it rationale on this one, not for us to guess.
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a good point in your last paragraph. While we argue about it on here, as you say, there are a lot of happy members/users who either put up with the rules/procedures for some strange reason, or maybe just are happy as it is?
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While the C&CC have Holiday Site Managers who manage their sites according to the Company rules, the CMC warden staff have been very lax at enforcing their own company rules. If the company arrival time for a particular site is after 12.00 noon or after 13.00 hrs, then that's what it is, its the Warden's job to enforce those head office rules. The warden should not make up their own rules by letting selfish people on to the site before the time set by their bosses.
Of course there is always the option of having a "free for all" where people can roll up and drive round and round the site from early morning hours as some have advocated. That would obviously have to be decided by Head office, ------ so if you want that, contact head office and put your ideas forward.
K
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