ACSI ID Card
I purchased a combi-subscription this year and the books have arrived but I cannot decide whether I need to order the ACSI ID card at an extra cost of 4.95 Euros. I know at least one site in France that has asked for it but I guess the alternative is to show or leave a passport.
Any thoughts?
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A couple of the sites we stayed on last year just kept the ACSI card. We didn't need an extra ID card.
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In the past we got ID card with our RP however last year we didn't use RP so purchased the Camping Carnet card from ACSI, we are not keen on leaving a passport with the office.
Many sites that we used did retain the CC until we left/paid but there are added benefits of having one, some sites give discounts(non Acsi) and there is also public liability cover with the carnet so 4.95€ is not a high price to pay for the additional benefits it brings IMO
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HG, ACSI will print you a so called ID card with any name and passport details you care to give them. It has no photograph, no guarantee of who you actually are, and wouldn't get a 21 year old into a pub in Plymouth. It all reminds me of the Press Accreditation cards on sale at print shops in Bangkok. They cost about as little and are worth about as much.
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Ha! Good comment.
I dont mind paying this fairly small amount but like to know what I am getting. We stopped using RP many years ago and now the motorhome insurance includes recovery. I buy worldwide annual travel insurance to cover all our overseas trips.
That's settled then. A trip into the unknown with no ID card and no Camping Key card.
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Exactly so, Eurotraveller.
We bought one once and were never asked for it.
Some sites ask for your details, some ask you to fill in the details.......on some sites we show them our 'old' card to enable them to copy down the details.
The odd site has kept our ACSI card by way of security, to ensure that we 'remember' to pay before we leave.
Incidentally, I would never leave our passports with anyone.....it's far too important a document to let it out of your possession.
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No idea what the ACSI ID card covers but Key Card and the CCI card, the latter available from the C&CC and the AA, give you third party insurance in case of an accident on site. Worth carrying in my view even if they are not demanded by some sites. It is also worth carrying photocopies of your passport details to hand over instead of your passport.
peedee
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They only need the passport because they have to collect information from it. There really is no reason to leave it with them. Let them take the information, then give it back to you. Yes it may not suit their timescales, but that is their problem.
A lot of hotels these days have a scanner that they put the passport in and then give it straight back to you.
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They only need the passport because they have to collect information from it. There really is no reason to leave it with them. Let them take the information, then give it back to you. Yes it may not suit their timescales, but that is their problem.
A lot of hotels these days have a scanner that they put the passport in and then give it straight back to you.
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We almost always use ACSI sites when in Europe. Almost every site has wanted to keep our card until we had paid. I was once asked for my passport at a municipal site. Apparently the local police wanted the details. I agreed to let them photocopy the passports but refused to leave them with the receptionist. She understood but then kept the ACSI card against payment.
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Then leave it, would be my choice.
If they need to collect information for the police (or whoever) then they can take the details or photocopy it.
This requirement to leave information about who you are has been a requirement in the UK since the 1970's. Since when has a UK hotel asked you to leave your passport with them?
The truth is that they ask for your passport as a guarantee that you will pay......or they are too lazy to take the details there and then.
Never part with your passport, is my advice.
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We seem to be the only country that feels this way about our passports. At one site we were on in Portugal last year the office was closed upon arrival, however the security guard was allowing you to go in and pitch up but asked for passports first. I objected to this and offered him the Camping Carnet, which he did eventually accept. The other people waiting to enter Dutch and German were happy to hand over their passports laughing at the 'Britisher' that is until I spoke to them in deutsche.
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Near the end of a ten hour bus journey in Malaysia a British woman began to cry. She had just realised that her passport had been handed in at her last hotel, now 300 miles away - and she was wondering how to get it back.
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As AD says, re Croatia, there are sites that will not let you in without taking your passport, which,at a site we use regularly, is returned the next day when you have to confirm your stay and party details.
It is a personal choice of course but, having spent 4 days travelling 1200 miles to get to my chosen site I am not inclined to argue the toss, in a foreign language, when the only outcome will be that I do not get onto the site.
Were the site or staff to give me an uncomfortable feel then maybe it would be different but then I would simply go to another site.
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