Chatsworth check in - why queue?
I always wonder why there is a queue to check in at Chatsworth. There is always a warden near the end of the lane before the bridge so why doesn’t he or she;
1 Have the arrivals list to check you off
2 Tell you whether you’re booked on a red, white or blue peg
3 Give you the site map with the relevant peg highlighted
4 Tell you to pitch accordingly and go to reception after you’ve pitched to pay
Once you’re checked off they know you have arrived so if you don’t go back to pay they can come and find you. Not exactly rocket science or doesn’t the club trust members to go and pay?
No queue!
Comments
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Have you asked the Wardens or the Sites Dept?
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The lane is narrow as is the bridge but once you’re in it’s fine. The only other thing likely to hold anyone up is if you decide to pitch on the first road in. That happens to some extent now anyway.
We like to arrive as close to 1pm as possible to make the most of our time and we’re only 40 minutes away and we’ve timed it to perfection if there are no roadworks. Even arriving on the dot at 1pm, as we did yesterday, we were 7th in line to book in and quickly followed by another 6 units so by the time I’d been asked to move over the bridge the queue was well past the bend in the lane.
Seems to me that a little change like this would help keep traffic flowing. They’ve even put notices in the toilet now advising people to avoid entering and exiting the site between 1pm and 2.30pm to avoid being held up!
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I know you're an early bird, ET but 5:00am is a bit OTT isn't it?
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It works really well at Rowntree. The only thing that held all of us up on our last visit was the first van in which unhitched onto a reserved pitch by the front of the queue, a big twin axle which took several minutes to manoeuvre even with a mover. I would say it's usually a good system but the lay outs and approaches to sites themselves can cause hold ups whilst pitches are taken.
I would definitely agree the Rowntree system is a good one.
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There was a small queue to book in here yesterday, the first one then proceded to "look"forthe "best"available pitch the second one then caught up on the firsts second lap, who had chosen his pitch,so the second decided he could not posibly be held up and proceeded to go "round" the first digging big furrows in the soft ground , in the mean time the third arrival was approaching the first arrival who had just unhooked his car and then drove round the site at speed to tell the warden where they had pitched, only to then come up behind the third who was backing on to his pitch ,so also drove round the third arrival also putting deep troughs in the soft ground, there were now two grass pitches that needed repairs,
The warden on this one couple site had already told arrivals to take care as the ground was very soft,as he says "it's the bank holiday crowd they are not real carravanners"
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The club does pick up a certain amount of feedback from members on here so I feel the OP has pointed up a useful suggestion, although I think when we were booked in at Chatsworth previously a similar method was used. Perhaps different systems have been tried there already?
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it's part of the game isn't it? Sometime you wait, sometimes they have to wait for you
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ah, but what if you're not booked....?
anyhow, nice to see a bit of inventiveness and flexibility, although this is exactly how I've been suggesting the smooth operating large sites 'in other areas' have been doing it, to prevent queuing in places where it's not desired.
my picture below shows a site with no room to queue outsite the site (it would impact the Avenue outside (although it is extremely wide....) so guests are just let straight in past the pinch point and park up beyond reception, on the right as in the photos, again not impacting the comings and goings of others but removing the queuing issue.
guests then stroll leisurely around the site, pick their pitch, confirm with reception and then (one van at a time) drive of to pitch up..
none of the queuing, no cars doing two or three laps to sort out a pitch, no driving around some poor member who's trying to site his van, no scarring of pitches, no......
anyhow. there is another way, and it looks like CC might be trying to move towards something different on specific sites.....
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But then most of us would do the same,the next "problems"are of course that when they have booked in and been advised of the idiosicrasis of the site, will then not advise the office what pitch they have chosen,and wonder why the barrier does not open or they cannot access the toilet block
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We have had to queue at Chatsworth, having arrived at about 1:45. However, we have stayed at the site since the year it opened, arriving any time after 12, on bank holiday weekends and never having to queue. We sometimes met a car and caravan exiting the site, but strangely enough it was no problem, there are or were pull over places on the road. We’ve always wondered how motor homes have managed to go out any time during the day, if there is insufficient room to pass. Surely they are not advised not to go out any time between 1 & 2:30. So how Was there no need to queue years ago?
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are you suggesting that members are 'confused'....as in when booking a HS?
surely not?
folk seem to manage elsewhere, is it a club thing you're referring to?
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When we arrived at Chatsworth last December on a Sunday (we chose Sunday as general traffic conditions are better than a weekday) we had to queue, in fact there were well over a dozen units waiting to get on site. The system suggested might work but the site roads at Chatsworth are quite narrow so you might just be transferring the problem from the site access road to to roads around the site. Last year at Broadway the warden directed us into the site ahead of other tow units waiting to book in and told us to pitch up and come back and check in. I imagine his thinking was that a motorhome might be less disruptive in terms of pitching than a towed caravan? So wardens do use their discretion.
David
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....and why is there a 'Rush period'?....because there is an 'arrival time' and whatever this is set to, there will be a clutch of vans arriving in sync to make the most of there time away...who can blame them....
the system designed to alleviate the issues of queuing is the very thing that causes them in the first place.....
remove this artificial 'bow wave' and folk will arrive when they're ready, spread out throughout the day to reflect the different preferences of us all, the distances travelled etc,......
no queuing, but the office needs to be geared up to accommodate a change like this...again a fixed 'routine' (opening hours) becoming part of the issue...
queuing can be alleviated but it would take a change in mindset (and a few processes) to acheive this....while the desire isn't there, posts on this subject will remain popular on CT.
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no queuing, but the office needs to be geared up to accommodate a change like this...again a fixed 'routine' (opening hours) becoming part of the issue...
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A very good point BB. There are a number of efficiency measures which would assist.
On a site with multiple on-site employees there need never be set break times, or set office opening and shutting times. Shift patterns could easily be arranged with each employee taking their breaks and starting and finishing their responsibilities at differing times. Availability would immediately improve and result in increased efficiency.
K
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Meanwhile......on a lovely CL not too far away...........
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BB
I assume you have not been to Chatsworth? The access road to the site from Baslow is very long and narrow. Even with the few placing places it would be very difficult for units to pass if they were leaving as others were arriving. There really is no alternative at Chatsworth. Other sites might be different. However perhaps the Club sticks to this system of no arrivals between midday or 1.00pm as a means of making it fair to all members to get a fair crack of the whip in getting the pitch they want?
David
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David, I'm booked there for later in the year and can't wait to savour the experience
however, I agree with you that, on a 'particular' site like this, it might be an issue....but I was also agreeing with the OP in that a little more smart thinking might make the best of an awkward entrance process...even at Chatsworth.
beyond that, there's a lot the club could do to make the general arrivals process a little less rigid, but this takes a desire to make things more flexible for its customers which inevitibly means a review of sites to decide if a change can be made and then a change in some processes to accomodate that decision....
one small step for man....but three huge ones for CC....
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