How do you feel about paying a deposit on CL site
Comments
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I would think it is likely that the CL's that take deposits have a much higher turnover.There seems to be much clearer communication when deposits are taken between the owners and the visitors.
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I love the positivity of this thread! Thank you all for supporting paying deposits to CLs and understanding why they are sometimes necessary.
I currently only take deposits for Bank Holidays and special events as, up to now, no shows haven't been too big a problem plus we have only been open since July 2013. However as we get busier, which we are doing, I can see a time (maybe next year) when I will have to start taking them for all bookings. I'm lucky in that we have online booking and the system records the payment and whether it was cheque or bank transfer etc. which makes things so much easier.
However, GrandmaMoley is correct when saying credit/debit cards are not cost effective. We do also accept payments via Paym but not many people know what that is it seems, as well as bank transfer and good old cheques.
As Cholsey Grange has said thank you for your understanding.
Nicola
www.skybarnfarm.co.uk
Telephone: 01522 681218
Email: enquiries@skybarnfarm.co.uk
Site 1026, page 400 of the 2015/2016 Sites Directory0 -
We don't take deposits and have very few "no shows" which are frustrating when you have turned others away, but we do take all your details at the time of booking and will report every "no show" to the Club. This is more of a hobby for us and we don't
want the hassle of a trip to Dundee or Perth to pay a cheque in, or having to do the calculation when booking someone in on arrival and remembering how much deposit to deduct. Just want to keep it simple and not stressful.David www.perthshirecl.co.uk
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Iwas looking to book a cl last week and i noticed that they requested a deposit of £5 per night which i thought was quite a lot if staying for 10 days or so i dont object to paying £10 or £15 but i thought £50 was a bit high [i know it is deducted off the
final payment ]even so.0 -
A large deposit may reduce the number of cancellations but it may also put some people off booking in the first instance. Especially if their circumstances (such as work committments) make cancellation more likely. I think all CL owners need to look at their
own circumstances and decide whether to ask for a deposit and how large it should be. Clearly there is no issue from the perspective of the willingness of members to pay them and cancellations are not as big a problem as some would make out. In 36 years of
caravanning I have only ever cancelled one booking (due to the car breaking down) and I suspect that I am not that unusual in that respect.0 -
I think that CL's are the jewel in the CC's crown and we do need to do everything in our power to keep them happy.
For most of them the season will be very short and their ability to make a reasonable income from their investment in time and money very limited, For that reason to lose just one out of the five permitted is an immediate reduction of 20% of income. Not good!
For that reason alone I would support the request for a deposit system.
The maximum of 5 rule is very limiting for site owners, and as I understand it, it is based on the law rather than an arbitary club ruling. If that is correct, then the law would have been formulated many years ago, - long before the surge in Caravanning and the annual seasonal pressure on sites.
Perhaps now is the time to pressurise for a change in the law to allow perhaps up to 8-10 vans instead of 5.
TF
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I suspect for most members who choose to use CLs, the limit of 5 pitches/5 visitors maximum is one of the prime elements that makes them so special. I am guessing that most CLs are not provided to be big money earners, but have been a good method of either
diversification (farms) or extra income where generous people are happy to open up their homes to visitors. Some have built on their success by having a second CL/CS area adjacent or close by, while others have sought planning permission to have a small private
site with over 5 pitches. For some CL owners, going down the route of opening a CL gives them a taste of what is involved in running a site before taking the full plunge and growing the site into something that might be a full on business venture.We are happy to pay a deposit on a CL we have visited before, and that gives us all that we expect. If visiting somewhere new, we will either just ring prior to setting off, and take pot luck that a pitch is free, and pay on arrival, staying longer if it
suits. As we tour all year round, we do appreciate considerate CL owners who are flexible if ground conditions are poor, or weather so bad it is dangerous. To be honest, we have never had any problems, and have never not turned up to a CL we have booked.0 -
You have a good point, there re the special nature of CL's and the fact that their small size was one of the factors that makes them so special. I totally agree. But my suggestion of 8 -10 would still keep them small and most sites would stay at 5. But having spoken to a number of site owners they explained the problems to me.
They say that more and more of us are demanding EHU's and a better standard of site in general. ( Just grass cutting and appearance, although some expect toilet facilities!! ) All of that involves significant expense on their behalf. - Yet for most, the busy season of full occupation is very short. It is then that they occasionally have to turn people away because they are up to their 5. That hurts when the return on their investment is very low anyway.
I totally agree that very few indeed are in the CL business to make money. All I was saying was that for a significant minority the ability to have a slightly larger number of vans in high season might make all the difference when the question of "is it worth bothering?" comes up.
Like you I love the CL system it provides much greater flexibility to us. I just want to make sure that it thrives.
TF
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Yes we hope so TF as well. Caravanning has evolved so much since we first started 30 plus years ago, and people require so much more on the whole nowadays. It must be a fine line for a lot of CL owners, balancing expenditure on certain aspects over income
they hope to generate. I have to think that location is still the prime consideration though, somewhere pretty and well maintained, with lots of things to do and see will probably still thrive with few add on extras such as Ehu and maybe HS. Our favourite
CL has nothing more than a tap, waste and EHU, but to guarantee a pitch April-Oct we always had to book a year in advance. Others we have visited have lots of extras but are no where near as popular. Very difficult sometimes for CL owners to know just what
to provide. We always paid up front for our stays as well, happy to do it as we never changed our plans.0 -
Years ago the Caravan Club used to charge a deposit for all sites whether a Center rally, a CL or main site. There was never an issue of no shows, nor of multi booking then cancelling just before departure. The system worked very well!
Charging of deposits on rallies and for CLs is and always has been at the discretion of the centre committees or CL owner. Since the club stopped charging deposits for their sites cancellations and no shows have gone down.
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I think that CL's are the jewel in the CC's crown and we do need to do everything in our power to keep them happy.
For most of them the season will be very short and their ability to make a reasonable income from their investment in time and money very limited, For that reason to lose just one out of the five permitted is an immediate reduction of 20% of income. Not
good!For that reason alone I would support the request for a deposit system.
The maximum of 5 rule is very limiting for site owners, and as I understand it, it is based on the law rather than an arbitary club ruling. If that is correct, then the law would have been formulated many years ago, - long before the surge in Caravanning
and the annual seasonal pressure on sites.Perhaps now is the time to pressurise for a change in the law to allow perhaps up to 8-10 vans instead of 5.
TF
The problem with campaigning to up the limit is that, given the general antipathy towards caravans amongst the general public (and politicians) due to the association with the traveller community, any change may remove the excemption altogether. There would
actually be a high risk that trying to alter the law would be counterproductive.The 5 van limit also does serve a purpose for some people who like the quiet of a small site. These people would not be in favour of increasing the limit.
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On the whole, I think deposits on CLs are not a problem. Slightly different scenario for Club Sites. We had a couple of interesting conversations yesterday with two sites, both reasonably close in area we want to visit. Both were fully booked for one of
the days we needed. The first we tried, an AS site, took deposits. We asked what was the likelihood of getting a cancellation, answer was "none at all, because we take none refundable deposits, and people nearly always turn up." We contacted Club Site in same
area, no deposits taken. Same question, "yes, more than likely someone will not arrive or cancel late if weather is poor, shouldn't be a problem getting the night you need". We have booked Club Site.0 -
Whilst I don't have a problem with C/L's taking deposits, particularly for peak periods when they need to maximise their occupancy, I think there is an aspect to this issue that hasn't been addressed, namely whether the CL is actually suitable for the unit.
Allow me to explain.We tour in an 8m long motorhome, hardly an unusual unit.
On a number of occassions, having phoned in advance to check availability and ease or otherwise of access, we have met with problems when we arrive at the C/L.
We've met low trees; narrow gates off narrow lanes; pitches no more than 6m long with a hedge at the back; and diagonal pitch slopes that totally defy levelling in a motorhome. And then of course there's soft ground.
In every case the response has been on the lines of "I didn't think you meant that big".
I'm not having a go at C/L owners, the vast majority of whom do an excellent job and are not in it for the money.
But there is definitely an education issue here. The Club C/L inspectors need to make sure site owners are aware of the size of many modern units (including some twin axle caravans). If the site can't take the unit, that's fine. Just please don't say it
can when it can't.It's bad enough having to move on and find an alternative site in those circumstances. If a deposit had been taken based on assurances given at booking, then I can see some quite unpleasant conversations becoming necessary to get a deposit back.
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We have been to a few cl sites that we would not attempt to get in narrow lanes with hedges hanging over the lane. To my mind the inspector's are not looking at the bigger picture how to get a combined length of 40 feet down these narrow lanes and narrow
gateways. Sorry to go off the subject but carrying on with the latest thread0 -
I think you are correct AD, we remember Club Site deposits being £5 per booking, which was a rather paltry sum in terms of the total amount of the booking overall. But back to CLs, personally we are happy to go along with whatever the CL owner decides is
best for them to manage their site. If it is a busy, popular site where a no show would cost money, then charge a deposit. If it is a quiet, can nearly always get a pitch CL, then we will just take pot luck and either book late or just roll up and enquire.We always research new to us CLs carefully, and nearly always phone and ask relevant questions, such as access, ground conditions, and we use Google Earth etc... To try and work out what to expect. Must be more difficult though with larger units. But if
a bus, bin lorry or artic can get in, then we will give it a go!0 -
We've only been asked for deposits when booking in advance for peak periods eg. Cornwall in July/August and I certainly didn't have a problem with that. Neither would I have a problem with paying deposits for weekends etc either - for what we pay and what
we get in return its a no brainer - long live the CL.0 -
No problem with paying a deposit, just wish owners would get with the 21st century. Ability to pay by bank transfer or paypal would be a lot easier than faffing about with cash/cheque and having to find a stamp to send off an envelope.
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I would hapilly pay a deposit as long as it was fairly easy to do.
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