Hard Standing Pitch Booking Dificulty.

Chrystal
Chrystal Forum Participant Posts: 231
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edited September 2021 in UK Campsites & Touring #1

When did the Club change the Booking System On Certain Sites From “Hard Standing Pitches” with electric to “Standard Pitch With Electric”.??.

 

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  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #2

    It’s always been that way and we have never been able to book pitch surface type. I think there might be one or two recently added exceptions to this but the general rule is, much to many people's disgust, that you cannot book a HS.

     

  • SteveL
    SteveL Club Member Posts: 12,303 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #3

    To add to the confusion, some sites with only Hardstanding pitches market them as such, whilst others show them as standard pitches. Therefore you can’t take the term standard pitch to indicate there are some that are grass.🤔

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #4

    See the recent thread started by A&J for confirmation that booking by surface type is not the norm.

  • tricia11
    tricia11 Forum Participant Posts: 131
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    edited September 2021 #5

    We, in the past ,have always booked by Caravan & Motorhomes own definition “Hardstanding with electric”!.

     

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #6

    Nope, sorry, it is the other club that gives you the choice.

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,044 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #7

    I don’t think you are getting a choice Tricia, for example YRPark says HS with awning, HS without awning. There are no grass pitches at YRP, so choice of pitch surface doesn’t happen. Where a Site has both, HS and grass pitches, the only choice you get with this Club is with or without awning. There might be an economy option, no electric, that’s about it.

  • redface
    redface Forum Participant Posts: 1,701
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    edited September 2021 #8

    So now would be a good time to cut through the murky system and organise properly graded pitch choices for club members. To cover requirements as listed above.

     Is anyone listening?

  • Whittakerr
    Whittakerr Club Member Posts: 3,472 ✭✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #9

    Or in my case disgust that I can't book a grass pitch. 

  • DavidKlyne
    DavidKlyne Club Member Posts: 13,860 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #10

    You may well get your wish. See my reply in the other thread.

  • Whittakerr
    Whittakerr Club Member Posts: 3,472 ✭✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #11

    Yes I've seen it.. I think you (or maybe someone else) posted it a while back when this topic was discussed. 

    That would be one change the majority of members would probably welcome. Let's see what else will be introduced, most posters have probably seen the thread about deposits. 

  • tricia11
    tricia11 Forum Participant Posts: 131
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    edited September 2021 #12

    Club Members for over 20 years and have always booked Hardstanding Pitches.

    Being Disabled having to use a grass pitch would be a disaster.

    Using a grass pitch for a Motorhome would be a disaster.

    Why is the pitch choice available on some sites and not others?.

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,669 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #13

     Does Southport actually  have grass pitches?

    Other than a one year trial on 3 sites a few years back, booking a hard standing, where there is both grass and HS, has never been an option since we joined back in 1998.

    If you need a HS due to disability, you need to ring the site well ahead of arrival so they can reserve one for you.

     

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #14

    Tricia, Kj is correct. There are no grass pitches at Southport so there is no choice, bookable or otherwise. As they are all HS, the booking page shows them as such, although the site plan refers to them as 'standard'. On sites where grass and HS exist, the booking page labels them all as 'standard'.

    Kj is also correct in saying it has never been possible to choose surface type when booking and he's been a member longer than I.

    .

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,044 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #15

    Correct Tinny. It’s the Club’s choice of wording that is misleading. If there’s more than one choice of pitch surface, you cannot choose.

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,669 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #16

    There is a small panel on the right on the site details screen where it states total number of pitches and number of hard standings, this is a reasonable guide as to whether there are likely to be any HS left when you arrive.

    In the peak school holidays in a popular area, if there is a large percentage of  grass pitches you are quite likely to end up on one.   This would also apply at other times if arriving on a Friday, Saturday, and even a Sunday.

    We had booked Stamford and on checking more closely, the week before arrival, realised the site was fully booked and we were arriving over the weekend, so even though there are not a lot of grass pitches, with sites so busy this year it was highly likely we would end up on grass.

    We found a nearby CL with fully serviced hardstandings instead.

    For touring late Autumn to Early Spring, grass pitches will have been taken out of use.

  • tricia11
    tricia11 Forum Participant Posts: 131
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    edited September 2021 #17

    Yes.

  • tricia11
    tricia11 Forum Participant Posts: 131
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    edited September 2021 #18

    At Southport in May, opposite our Hardstanding Pitch they had grass pitches.

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,427 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #19

    According to the site plan and Southport's webpage it is all hardstanding (171 of them).

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #20

    Care to tell us where?

     

  • KjellNN
    KjellNN Club Member Posts: 8,669 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #21

    Just taken a look at the Southport site and as said there are no grass pitches shown.

    If a van was on grass, maybe there was a problem ..........flooded pitch.....member taken ill.......car breakdown......and the warden had helped by moving them to a temporary location?

    Or old grass pitches no longer in use?

  • Chrystal
    Chrystal Forum Participant Posts: 231
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    edited September 2021 #22

    81 to 87.

    We have been visiting Southport Site for at least 18 years and they have had grass pitches. 
    Jow can you comment on a site you have not visited?.

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited September 2021 #23

    According to the site map of southport it shows 171  hardstand pitches out of 171 pitchesundecided

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #24

    How do you know whether or not I have visited Southport site?

    You can see for yourself the evidence of no grass pitches on the site page and on the site plan. One can only assume that the theory put forward by Kj is accurate but you really need to contact the club direct for clarification if you have an issue.

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #25

    Duplicate post

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #26

    We've stayed there and pitched along that side, all hardstandings, we had to pitch sideways. See the satellite photos. They may have been grass before the refurb?

  • tricia11
    tricia11 Forum Participant Posts: 131
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    edited September 2021 #27

    20 years plus membership and we have always booked a Hardstanding pitch with electric. Never ever had a problem until this month. 😱😰

  • tricia11
    tricia11 Forum Participant Posts: 131
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    edited September 2021 #28

    We were there in May this year and member were using the grass pitches opposite our pre booked hard standing pitches.

     

  • Tinwheeler
    Tinwheeler Forum Participant Posts: 23,142 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #29

    How strange that a club council member has been campaigning for years to allow a change so we can choose surface type when booking. You surely aren't suggesting he's got it wrong? 

  • JVB66
    JVB66 Forum Participant Posts: 22,892
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    edited September 2021 #30

    It can not have been cc site you were booking unless a servised pitch as the vast majority of club sites ,there are standard pitches with or without awning on the booking pageundecided

  • Cornersteady
    Cornersteady Club Member Posts: 14,427 ✭✭✭
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    edited September 2021 #31

    well if you've been sites where there are no grass pitches then of course they won't be a problem. In the 22 years I've been staying at sites you have never been able to book a HS pitch - apart from the few sites in the trial.