Arrival times. Even the club get it wrong!
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Two points in your post Cyber.
My observations when I arrive on site just after 12 O'Clock is that there are a good proportion of motorhomes arriving around that time and whilst I am setting up. If you are a 'late arriver' you may not be aware of this. So obviously not all motorhomes visit places on route to the site.
You presume that those arriving just after 12 are doing so in order to get the 'best pitch'. I am not sure that this is generally the case but I cannot presume to speak for all. I choose to arrive just after 12 for a far different reason. We visit an area for 5 nights and move to the next chosen site. If the next destination is home then we leave just after 9am to avoid rush hour. If to another site then we time our departure accordingly. The next site is often 2 hours drive and so we leave about 10am quite often. As we don't wish to stop on route we want to get on site, legs down, have a sandwich and a brew and head off from the site with as much of the afternoon available as possible. 'Best pitch' does not come into the equation for us. I have no desire to spend time sitting and twiddling my thumbs before setting off which is why we dislike 1pm arrivals.
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...and for the new generation of campervan tourers, the next site may only be 1 hr, or even less as they may tour in a 'more stops, fewer nights' process...
hence the dislike for even a 12 o clock arrival....any time after 10 ish should be allowed if there are spaces....if not, wait in the car park (there seems to be an emphasis on these.....) and then get on the next available pitch....
if there's a 1 pm arrival time and some have left at nine, what's the point of keeping that pitch unoccupied for 4 hrs just to comply with the arbitrary 'rules'...if there are no access isues, get your customers pitched as quickly as they require it.
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Rhetorical? I think you may have confused me with someone else then!
Harping - rude and insulting - hardly, I'd have thought? OK, then you keep repeating your implication that set arrival times are a unique "problem" on club sites whereas I've suggested that it's pretty much universal practice on UK sites (even apparently the commercial site you're on at the moment.) Surely even you have to admit that's true?
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I have to smile at this theory of "best pitch" bagging. Is there really so much difference between pitches on club sites that would back this up? Club sites are not "holiday park" sites so do many folk spend all day on site to the extent that they must have a "best pitch". I think it's more likely that, like us, people just want to pitch up and make the most of the first day of their break. I certainly haven't seen any evidence that there is a significant difference between caravans and MHs in that respect.
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Best pitch for us is HS and one with some sun preferably evening so we can sit out with a beer, try to avoid the ones under trees or tucked away in a dark corner. However we know if we arrive late then choice will be less often having no choice just the last pitch left but as we would normally move on next morning its not such an issue really, just accept the situation.
Phoning sites in my experience it has been an answerphone 80% of the time. Maybe just the sites I have called and not indicative of the whole network, but I have generally got a call within an hour or two. Just because the phone is not answered does not mean the warder is cutting grass, cleaning toilets etc, it could just be they were dealing with a customer, tradesman or similar.
Arrivals, we sort of mix and match sometimes arriving early like on Saturday at Seacroft as we had GD with us so wanted to spend time with her, but also later in the day if it is a long journey or we have been out visiting somewhere. When we had a caravan it was more important to get there earlier for us so we could get set up and then out for the afternoon.
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Our arrival time on site usually depends on how far we have to travel to the site. If our journey from home is more than a 100 miles we don't have an issue with either a midday or 1.00 pm arrival time. Where it becomes more difficult/inconvenient is when we travel shorter distances between sites if we are on a tour as that usually means hanging around on the site we are leaving for longer than we would like, but that is just us.
There does seem to be a degree of "anxiety" or "impatience" exhibited by a few new arrivals. We have probably all witnessed the next arrival in the queue behind you rushing to the Reception to be dealt with out of order of arrival. Many wardens are wise to this and insist of dealing with people in order. Is this because they want to make sure of a hardstanding, a pitch near the toilet block or perhaps be next to friends, who knows. Perhaps some don't trust the booking system and think that even with a booked pitch they will be turned away!!! Nought as queer as folk as they say.
David
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On our bolthole since the the mid 1980s there are a few pitches that we "avoid" if possible
as there are also some pitches that if available we head strait for
,there are one or two sites we have been on before that we have marked on the site maps (lovely now coloured?)that we "like"
or not
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Phoning sites in my experience it has been an answerphone 80% of the time. Maybe just the sites I have called and not indicative of the whole network, but I have generally got a call within an hour or two.
Might depend on the time of day? I avoid 12pm till 2pm usually
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...and for the new generation of campervan tourers, the next site may only be 1 hr, or even less as they may tour in a 'more stops, fewer nights' process...
And others have said that the campervan tourers apend the day exploring etc and arrive on sites later. I suppose that, like the rest of us, they are all diffferent
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Why would some one leave home at 0900 when they have "planned?" their route and know when booking what time is the "requested" arrival time if the journey is going to get them there to early ?
we will need to leave our first site to move on at 1200 on the friday as they are full for the weekend,and the earliest arrival at the next (commercial site) is 1400 and not before, as we have already checked both sites on the phone, and the journey is 45min max the only concesion we have is the warden at the cc site may be able to let us stay in the car park if there is space, but that would be for two outfits
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If a site has a 2pm arrival I will usually decline to book it.
My eldest daughter has a 6 berth static that she rents out and will often offer those booking it the chance to arrive early. In some cases very early! Last weekend she had a couple with children booked in for Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights. Arrival time is generally 2pm to allow for cleaning etc. She phoned them and asked if they would like to arrive Friday evening for no extra charge. They arranged to phone when they passed over the Flint bridge so that Sam could judge their arrival time. There is a key safe but daughter prefers to meet and hand over the keys. It is less disruptive to pop up Friday evening than to be available 2pm on the Friday. The charge was £90 a night but the couple handed Sam £300 as they were grateful for the added time.
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There is no option on the commercial site as it is our annual group meet which is also part of a weekend music festival and 7 couples are useing the touring part of the complex with numerous others while 9 other couples of our "party"are in holiday lodges as are some of other guests that are attending,the times have been amended this year "to minimise congestion at reception?"
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Not always the case, CY, a smallish M/H and separate car, arrived on site at 10:30 this morning, just as we were going out, and were allowed onto a pitch.
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We do very similar, ET, although some of our journeys between sites are as short as an hour's trip, so we subsequently leave as late as 11:00.
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".....any time after 10 ish should be allowed if there are spaces...."
Well, as I've said, BB, I do agree with you on that where there are no access difficulties (but let's keep that to ourselves, don't want the whole world knowing, do we?
)But you seem to have missed the point, or swerved the issue, which is that set earliest arrival times are pretty much standard on all UK Sites and not unique to the club. In fact the club's time of midday (on most sites) is pretty generous compared with the other club (1pm) and many commercials (often 2pm or even 3pm!
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full+1
And again if the stated arrival times are not to your liking then find a site in the UK that is, but that may be easier said as M says many large sites operate in the same way as the club, or even worse.Perhaps CLs might be suitable?
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no, I'm interested in (and debating the OP in respect of) club arrival times...
i know many other places that handle arrivals in a totally different way to CC...yes, they are overseas, but this has no relevance whatsoever...
its just a 'better way' (IMHO) of getting customers onto pitches more quickly...
you might think it's itrelevant to mention overseas sites, I don't.
we are talking purely the mechanics of allowing vans onto site when there are spaces, and not forcing a queue to form into approach roads.
whether other uk sites do as the club does, I care not....I'm not posting on their forum expressing an opinion.
perhaps if a site I used had a policy i didn't agree with I might let them know, in person, or perhaps by email...I might also tell them that sites I have used elsewhere seem to manage the logistics of arrivals more smoothly.
however, this is CT and i am concerned with the club's arrival times.
my view is that they could 'do better' and have seen examples in action which demonstrate this.
it matters not where I saw it.....its just example of something better.
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Mmmmmm.....so you're solely concerned about club sites, BB. Mentioning that other UK Sites have the same arrangements as club sites is irrelevant but mentioning that overseas sites have different arrangements is relevant. Interesting logic that!
Would it hurt you just for once to admit that someone else has made a relevant point (in this case that virtually all UK Sites have similar arrival arrangements?)
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my view is that they could 'do better' and have seen examples in action which demonstrate this.
Where was this seen BB? Have you seen this 'better' method in the UK?
it matters not where I saw it.....its just example of something better
If it was over there it is of no relevance, this is UK (club) sites we are discussing and the touring practices of over there cannot be compared to over here. We have to deal with what happens in the UK. It may be totally impossible to have an over there structure here.
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yes I could not understand that either?
Once again over there is better
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no, wrong again....
my point is perfectly clear...
when discussing the club's processes, I happen to think that there is room for improvement....if I see places employing better processes I will happily quote them.
we are talking arrival times....I've seen better examples of managing customers onto site...so I've mentioned it...
ok, that example happens to be from sites I've seen on the continent....it doesn't matter, it's an example of a different (better) way of doing things.
if, when discussing. another aspect of CC life, i knew of a UK example of 'it' being done better (not closing showers, etc) I'd quote that....the fact that it might be a UK site is again irrelevant...
its just describing an example of a different way of doing something...
if the world couldn't make use of better processes/ideas because they didn't come form their own little island, we'd still be living in caves....not caravans
sorry if you (and yer mate) find this difficult to grasp...
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Perhaps it would be more constructive to have details of a good arrival system on a site comparable in size to a club site, say, Malvern,
If we knew how many staff are employed on the comparable site, what the daily turnover of units is in peak season in particular, how the operators organise time for grass cutting, facility cleaning etc, then we might be able to see how the clubs' system could be improved by comparing the two. Once that is achieved then it should be possible to establish whether the other system could be adopted by the club on a cost effective basis.
I think to say better systems exist without supplying all the other detail is painting a very broad, but sketchy, picture and I doubt many are in a position to know all those details.
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I do not think anyone but yourself is unable to grasp that the way that UK sites has in the past and will into future manage arrival times and has been a very successful method, as in most of the UK leisure industry as they all have a requested arrival time
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"sorry if you (and yer mate) find this difficult to grasp..."
Blimey, BB, and you reckoned my use of the word "harping" was rude and insulting!
You make it hard work, even on something we agree about!
Look at this sentence of yours from above - "whether other uk sites do as the club does, I care not....I'm not posting on their forum expressing an opinion" Well you're not posting on any overseas site's forum but it doesn't stop you from expressing an opinion on them, does it?
OK, BB, you seem to find my point hard to grasp, but you be Michael Howard to my Jeremy Paxman if you like .... "Don't you agree that the club is no different to virtually all other UK Sites in having a set earliest arrival time"? (A one word answer will suffice!)
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