Trying to book 2 weeks at a Club Site
I have been searching the web site for 2 days now. Every site Ive checked I cannot book one full week let alone two. Midweek is fine, most of the time, but weekends are always full.
Any suggestions?
Comments
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Start booking next year now........
Seriously, club sites are very popular and you may have left it too late for peak times on popular sites....
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Are you trying to book for the main holiday season in popular areas? Perhaps looking a bit further away might help; alternatively, what about CL's? There are so many of those in really nice locations. They're often not booked up, we've found a few at short notice.
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Mmm......I'm going to assume this is a genuine request (you'll have to forgive my cynicism, T, but CT has had a number of first time posters starting controversial threads over the past 2 or 3 weekends).
So when and where are you trying to book? Have you looked at the late availability page which is showing plenty of availability at a variety of sites over the next 3 weekends. Unless you're being very picky I doubt that there is absolutely nothing to choose from. Further ahead, let us know exactly what you're looking for - there are plenty of folk on here very knowledgeable about alternatives to club sites who would be more than willing to help out.
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If you are trying to book popular sites at peak time at relatively short notice I am surprised that if you have been caravanning for 30 years you have not come across similar problems. I take it that you are not knew to the club?
As Moulsey says if you give some detail we may be able to suggest alternatives. Some sites are very popular and particularly at weekends and at this time of year.
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its genuine.......ive looked suffolk, dorset, hampshire....for july or early august.
Ive actually booked France but Ive got to cancel due to illness in the family. I need to be in the UK just in case I have to go home at shprt notice.
I didnt kow there was a late availability page. I will take a look
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you can search by dates and area/counties here and it will give you the sites that have pitches for those dates. Just tried it and White House beach sites has spaces July and August
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Crossways Club Site, Dorset is showing full availability through all of July and August Technical, not sure if this would suit? It's a while since we have been, but I recall we had a nice holiday down there, with lots of places of interest to see, some good walking, plenty of NT and EH places to see, and not far from some lovely beaches. Not sure of course exactly what you are looking for, but it's also not a bad run from South Yorks, easily doable in a day. Hope this helps.
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If you don’t have any luck try phoning sites .
i always book the days they have free then keep phoning to make up other days or keep phoning .
Also try c& cc they have a few in Dorset also all the new forest site. They have hundreds of pitches ,Take care though some don’t have any facilities.
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I had a similar situation 3 years ago and found a great non club site (yes, they do exist) which had a 13 day slot free. If club sites are not more or less full for summer by now it would suggest there is sonething wrong, especially given the massive increase in caravanning in the past 10 years. I phoned the club but they too couldn't find anything ( we needed a fully serviced pitch, preferably somewhere in the south/south west). Be brave and........ try a non club site.
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For a start Im looking end of July beginning August so that narrows it down a bit.........Ive seen the sites with week long vacancies and we dont want to visit those sites.
The sites we want at the times we want are almost available its just weekends that are fully booked.
Its a shame. we like club sites but I think we will be doing commercial
Thanks for the suggestioin everyone
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End of July/ start of August is obviously going to be a very busy time and even good commercial sites may be difficult to book at this stage.
Hope you find something that suits - are you looking for "family" sites or would AO be of interest?
If all else fails, come back again, let us know exactly where you want to be and I bet someone will be able to suggest a site or two!
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Hm, that's narrowed your options so late in the season now unfortunately. You could take a risk and book at the site you fancy (if you have one in mind) and wait to the last minute to see if the weekend comes up, giving you the full holiday. So long as you cancel 72 hours before you are due to arrive, you won't have to pay anything. We have done this a few times. Or you can press on with your search and find a nice commercial, and book that. There are plenty of nice ones around. Use UKcampsites, that will filter your likes or dislikes. If you want to stay with the Club, what about a split Site holiday? At least with the Club, if you do have to go home for health reasons, you won't have to pay for all the time you have booked. You probably will with a commercial.
Those two weeks are the old "stop" weeks traditionally in SYs, and a lot of Yorkshire folk hit the road at this time, sites are very busy.
I think if you want someone to recommend a site, you will have to be a tad more forthcoming with your needs/ preferences, otherwise folks are stabbing in the dark. Hope you get sorted.
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The main reason that I bought a motorhome was to enable me to look at the weather forecast and go away at relatively short notice. I use the Caravan Club sites as I am single so it is far cheaper than it would be on a commercial site and usually cheaper for me than a CL as they charge for the pitch and not per person. Due to the Club allowing people to book so far in advance, it is often difficult to book on the more popular sites if it includes a Friday or Saturday. I work midweek so usually book on a club site for Sunday and Monday and stay elsewhere if I wish to go on Friday and Saturday as well. Not perfect for me and you but I am afraid that the Club is never going to please everyone as the only alternative is to book well in advance which you were unable to do and I don't wish to do!
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Thanks everyone. Managed to book a commercial site listed in the Handbook, in Suffolk, and even got a full service pitch...read it up on Tripadvisor first and it got excellent reviews. Then I thought Id try to book a CL in Norfolk...on the way back home.....and I got in one that ive tried to book loads of times but its always been full........so from fully serviced to fully unserviced....but we can cope.
Very happy with what we have so alls well that ends well
Thanks again for the comments
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Come July 4 you will be able to book for two months wth certain minor restrictions,then next year amend the dates you require and ditch the rest, remember the 72 hour rule though,
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Just spotted this and it is in the same vein as a letter published in the magazine recently, and which received a few replies in the most recent edition - all of which had the tenor of shooting the messenger!
I have also found it frustrating to be unable to book a full week at many sites less than a few months in advance. It is even more frustrating to arrive on a site that you coudn't get a full weeks booking for to be told that they willl have cancellations at the start of the week - by that point I've aready made alternative arrangements. The warden described this as "the Countryfile effect"!
Can I suggest the issue is the ability to book then cancel 3 days in advance without any charge.
I appreciate many people want a break from their busy lives at the weekend and if they want to stay on the same site every weekend then they can block book, however if they don't have to pay then it is the equivalent of putting towels on the deck chairs!
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This block booking is a myth in reality. The club has stated that it actually tracked the number who actually did this and the number was very small, and then of these an even smaller number actually cancelled.
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Can I suggest the issue is the ability to book then cancel 3 days in advance without any charge.
That is it in a nutshell,and if you believe this is wrong then use the system,pre book all the weeks you need and amend within the 72 hr rule, my pen is ready for july4 😇
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The OP was looking for sites in July/August in the middle of June. I'd venture to suggest that with the new system there will be no trouble in getting those dates for all but maybe a couple of club sites for next year. It has nothing whatsoever to do with block booking or the cancellation scheme (though I'd have no problem with extending that to 5 or even 7 days) or lack of deposits. Those are all red herrings. On this occasion the OP simply left it too late I think.
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