Hard standing booking trial
Comments
-
Bladon Chains was several years ago, JVB
..I can remember being "advised " by a warden that we would need to move from our pitch in a couple of days, as they had taken a booking for a large RV and would only fit on the pitch we were on ,it was a few years ago and we did not move ,the RV "fitted
"elsewhere
...so you ('the wardens friend') disobeyed a direct request from another 'secret handshake member'.....?
tsk, JVB
0 -
I agree Tammygirl. And I am not prepared to take grass with the caravan so that a motorhome can have my hard standing
as a former caravanner I wouldn't expect anyone to, that's why I would much prefer to be able to book a H/S in the first place. At least then everyone knows what they can expect when they get to site, rather than the lottery we have have at the moment. One
of the main reasons that we don't spend much time on CC sites from April to October is that we don't arrive at 12 midday and the lottery of what pitch type. Winter is another matter as the grass are taken out so H/S is all you will get.totally agree....an opportunity missed methinks....
im now wondering if the club really wanted to be bothered at all with this 'hassle', perhaps just going through the motions for some reason.....a shame.
0 -
If someone had booked a grass pitch and when they arrived the grass pitches were to wet for them, would they not want to be on a hard standing , then what would happen to them that had booked a hard standing pitch.
if there was a spare unbooked HS then they could move to one (for a small increase
) but if all booked, then bad luck...this is the issue with giving more flexibility in the booking process...more choice of category at booking time, the less choice of actual pitches at arrival time
0 -
Bladon Chains was several years ago, JVB
..I can remember being "advised " by a warden that we would need to move from our pitch in a couple of days, as they had taken a booking for a large RV and would only fit on the pitch we were on ,it was a few years ago and we did not move ,the RV "fitted
"elsewhere...so you ('the wardens friend') disobeyed a direct request from another 'secret handshake member'.....?
tsk, JVB
How did you find out where wardens come from ?
0 -
....
0 -
It does seem that the survey has thrown up the result that most of us were expecting - that there's a clear preference for HS - and that has had a negative impact on bookings at the sites once all the HS are booked.
From my own booking patterns that could have been predicted. I book club sites that are all HS all year round. I book club sites with mixed pitch types only at times when grass pitches have been taken out of use. I have a rule of thumb that if I have to pay more than about £16 for a pitch then it will not be at a site where I might end up on grass which I consider to be a substandard surface and only worth a much lower pitch fee.
So instead of recognising that HS pitches are much preferred for advance booked pitches and using the information in a number of ways it has been decided to quietly drop the option. Alternatives could have included increasing the number of HS pitches, reducing the price of grass pitches, etc which would come closer to meeting the desires of members but clearly that isn't desirable to the powers that be.
Well I for one think it's extremely disappointing and it certainly won't increase my use of club sites in the future
0 -
I don't really want more HS .... Tesco & the like already have loads of them. IMHO (if I'm allowed one
) is that if you are able to book a pitch type, then it'll throw a spanner in the works re booking at any site. eg you can stay on a site
mon - wed on your pitch of preference, but have to change pitch thurs - sat because that type has been pre booked by others ..... and that won't please anyone0 -
I don't really want more HS .... Tesco & the like already have loads of them. IMHO (if I'm allowed one
) is that if you are able to book a pitch type, then it'll throw a spanner in the works re booking at any site. eg you can stay on a site
mon - wed on your pitch of preference, but have to change pitch thurs - sat because that type has been pre booked by others ..... and that won't please anyoneThat's probably why it's been quietly dropped.
I understand that the Club wants to maximise bookings at any site but for me the risk of ending up on a grass pitch is preventing me from booking a club site at all during peak season unless it's one of the Freedom sites where for £14 I can just about cope
with the vile green stuff just outside my van.My main holiday this year was spent on a mix of commercials and the other club's sites because they give me what I want - the ability to book a hardstanding.
0 -
I have highlighted this thread to the CM in the hope of getting a definitive answer, if one is available at this stage.
If, as, JayEss suggests that the ability to be able to book a hardstanding has reduced income because people go elsewhere if no HS pitches are available it could result in a loss of earning and depending on the scale that loss could be worrying. Whenever we have this discussion on HS v Grass there are always a relatively small number of people who want only grass but it seems that the reality is there are not enough people wanting grass to make a site viable if there is a mix of both? This could be, at least, partly solved by having a price difference, perhaps a £1 on a HS and -£1 on a grass pitch although I think to be totally successful it might need a larger difference. The other option is to increase the number of HS but this might not be in the gift of the Club depending the conditions of operating a site. As a motorhomer I would always choose a HS pitch over a grass one and would love to be able to book my preferred type of pitch. Hopefully the club will think long and hard before making a decision. Perhaps members would be more confident to book grass pitches if they had the certainly that they would be towed off by the wardens if conditions were bad but this seems to no longer to be allowed?
David
0 -
I totally agree about your last point. The wardens should be able to exercise their own judgement (they are not daft) and if someone is stuck and they think they can get them unstuck with the site tractor they should be allowed to do so - as they used to
do before someone woke up the safety elf0 -
I understood from one warden that the tractors are not plated to tow most caravans. The warden was certainly towing smaller lighter vans off soggy grass at Wirral a year or so ago and we towed a few off.
The fact that the warden could tow my van off a grass pitch would not be an inducement for me to book grass and neither would a price reduction unless it brought the pitch price down to £15 or less throughout the year. I just don't want to be on a grass pitch. Seeing as the CC won't oblige me by allowing me to book a HS I now go elsewhere. I won't be alone in this
0 -
Much depends on the ambience of the site. Some sites, Chatsworth for example, are all HS but the nature of the site means it doesn't look like a supermarket car park. Other sites that are all HS are really not nice. The usefulness of HS means that the
camping season now lasts all year as opposed to April to October before HS were introduced and that's not all that long ago.I can't agree with Jayess who clearly doesn't like grass. I much prefer grass in the summer and HS out of season but I do agree that there should be the facility to book either grass or HS.
0 -
In all honesty mbee1 I'm not canvassing support or looking for agreement. I'm just putting forward a possible explanation for why the trial may not have thrown up the results the CC wanted.
You see if I decided to book a few nights at Chester Fairoaks in peak periods for example for my family I'd be looking at paying £35 a night. If I turn up and all that's left is grass I'm the unhappiest of bunnies. Hence we book elsewhere. I strongly suspect that others feel the same way so instead of looking at different prices for different pitch surfaces the Club appears to be moving back to the current position of taking what's available. After all when we've arrived and paid there's not much we can do but get on with it is there?
Much better to go elsewhere and book your preference in my view.
I wouldn't say that I don't like grass by the way. It's more than that. I detest grass
0 -
There has been 2 occasions in the last year where we needed to stay near Warnham for at least a week, with less than 1 weeks notice (urgent family matters). Both times it was impossible to book Hunters Moon unless we moved pitch during the week. Because
you book the type of pitch, bookings were spasmodic with no clear 7+ days available on one type of pitch unless you book well in advance.Both times, the CC lost our business as we went to an inferior commercial site. Multiply our experience by the power of x and I am not surprised if it is deemed a failure.
The old way works best for us the majority of times.
0 -
ISTM that Jayess being on a grass pitch in high heels can only be a good thing. It will help aereate the grass ensuring the pitch remains in optimum condition.
0 -
nah, detailed report in the October (2019) magazine...
0 -
The info you require should be in the November magazine so we are told.
0 -
If, as some are suggesting, the reason for lack of info from the CC on this subject is due to members booking elsewhere if they cannot get a hardstanding pitch, then that would mean that members are clearly showing a preference for this type of pitch. If
this is the case then the CC should be honest about it and then do something about it, like spending some of the profits and make many more of the pitches into hardstanding ones. After the initial outlay it would save money on grass cutting, not have so many
pitches out of action due to waterlog and all those awful brown patches due to ground sheets.0
