Arrival times. Even the club get it wrong!
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It is perfectly relevant to quote overseas experience to demonstrate best practice. If it can be done successfully “over there” then why not “over here”. To quote other UK sites that have similar restrictive rules smacks of complacency - everybody else does it so why can’t we?
Surely the Club should be leading not following. There is absolutely no reason at all to stop flexible arrivals and there is a benefit in reducing queuing at reception.
What makes the Club restrictions even worse is that there is no pitch booking system. When you turn up you are free to choose any pitch then go back to reception to check in. Seems to me you should be able to turn up any time, choose a pitch then check with reception.
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I think that is a good point. It is comparing like with like.
On the club sites I have been to, especially in peak or at weekends, sites are full or within reach of full and I have found it difficult to predict the leaving pattern, sometimes it is a steady rate, sometimes all early, but on Sundays it is as near to 12 as possible. But over the peak months in summer this leaving pattern changes day by day. If the club suddenly said it was from 9 there would be even more of a queue as people would arrive from then onward and no pitches could be free till 12.
Maybe that could work over there where sites are not full or the system works for other (cultural) reasons.
I know that Edinburgh sites work from 9am but apart from peak weekend when I was there last Easter the site was never more than about two thirds full so could accommodate that system.
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and on sites where there are no free pitches till 12, or less pitches than the number in the queue?
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Named UK site if you wish...Polmanter in Cornwall with 250 touring pitches, bigger than most Club sites, different arrangements for arrivals, different way of staffing, and a much more welcoming tone...
"Our security barriers are open from 0630 to midnight, between those hours you can park in our visitors car park.....You are welcome to check in from 9a.m. on the day of arrival and we aim to get all pitches prepared for you to pitch by midday at the latest"
At the latest. And check ins from 9a.m. And in the UK. And arrangements are in place for arrivals in the early hours of the morning too.
The Club site midday queue is not the only way.
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"You are welcome to check in from 9a.m. on the day of arrival and we aim to get all pitches prepared for you to pitch by midday at the latest"
Sounds good. I don't know that site, et , but I note that there's every possibility, particularly in peak season, that pitches won't be ready before midday anyway, even if that is their aim. Have you actually used it? Presumably they must have a very large waiting area inside their security barriers, certainly larger than would be the case on most UK Sites.
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Ooh! I just looked at Polmanter's prices for next summer - from £45.50 for a HS serviced pitch plus £12.50 per extra adult over 15, £10.50 per child over 3, £5 a night per dog. No wonder they can afford a higher staff ratio. Imagine the uproar if a club site cost £70 or so a night for a "typical" family!
Edit - et - you were a little selective with your quote about arivals, weren'the you. Here's the complete statement -
"Our security barriers are open from 06:30 until midnight. Between these hours, you can park in the visitors’ car park and walk to your pitch. You are welcome to check in at Reception from 9am on the day of arrival, and we aim to get all pitches prepared for you to pitch up by midday at the latest. To help us with this, we ask that you vacate your pitch by 10am on the day of your departure. If you decide to travel overnight to beat the traffic, and arrive in the early hours of the morning, there’s a special late night area (the first field to the left as you arrive). THIS AREA IS AVAILABLE AFTER 12AM ON THE DAY OF YOUR ARRIVAL. If you do arrive before 12am you will be charged for an additional night. Simply pull in there."
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Looking at where Polmanter is on a map, it's so far South West that I bet most visitors dont turn up till 9pm not 9am.....
I reckon they're on a pretty safe bet there................
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It’s a good looking site with lots of attractions but some of those HS pitches look a bit cramped and close together.
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I think the only resistance is to the unfair comparisons made, WTG.
Check out my earlier post for the reasons we can’t do a straight comparison, wherever the alternative site may be. I’m willing to listen and consider but none of us are in full possession of enough facts to prove cost effectiveness and, goodness knows, site fees attract enough complaints as it is.
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"Why are some members reluctant to listen to what others have learned from their trips, no matter where they were taken?"
Oh, I'm not reluctant to listen at all, WTG. Indeed, there's little choice given the frequency and length of some posts. The problem is, that even when one listens, reflects and then agrees (in this case about some arrival arrangements), others, in their desperation to find anything to criticise the club over refuse to accept the fact that the club actually operates a system as good as, if not better than much of its direct competition.
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The op was about arrival times and as posted by several it is a UK wide "problem ?" for some? but as we say all uk areas of the leisure industry have a requested arrival time,it can be ,as we have found when speaking to club site staff "flexible"if the site is able to acomadate such a request,but as most will know nothing is set in stone when a company/club has so many sites in such diverse areas in a small country,
everyone if wanted can "cherry pick" the information that they would like to portray to enhance any "discussion"
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Not so. Many drive overnight and take advantage of free parking facilities from midnight onwards and then 9 am. check in. You really have to think outside the Club site way of doing things
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And nothing will change, as the world renowned UK engineering experts are still needed to assist overseas, an area controller i went "over there" in 1978 to to advise the Dutch on how our GN electrics were kept under such tight control after they had been impressed the way we did it on a visit to our Depot
ps i think they still use it
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Because very often the benefits of over there are exaggerated just to have a pop at the club.
When, for example people talk about price they neglect the incidental costs, of ferries, additional insurance, exchange rate, high mileage and worst of all they invariably compare high season here with the low season site charges over there.
I enjoy touring both here and there but I do leave the rose tinted glasses for others
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I agree we do not do "over there" with our LV any more, and those that still do (normally at off peak prices) but never is anyone allowed to mention that i have noticed this year, the negative reviews of the sites,there was another one today
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rather naughty that et, selective posting?
Think I prefer the club's approach, at least you're on your pitch
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I tend to agree with this view. There is no problem with comparing the differences if it is relevant to original post. No one has exclusivity of new/good ideas but often markets are very different and what might be appropriate in one market will not always translate to another. It does sometimes seem to me that those that push to change things come from people who by their own admission have very little experience of using Club sites and even if the the changes they suggest were made would still be unlikely to use CMC sites. I therefore wonder what the point is behind the intervention. It is the same as trying to compare Club sites with other clubs or commercial sites. They all have their point of difference which they see as giving them a market niche which they exploit so it wouldn't do for them all to do the same? I like to think I am quite widely travelled in Europe and the UK and once nearly got hung,drawn and quartered for suggesting a lot of Continental sites could learn a lot from the Club. But we all have to accept the two markets are very different. Surely the joy of travelling both home and abroad are those differences?
David
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agree fully
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