Virtual Brochure
I'm a member of UK Campsites and they have a brilliant feature called a virtual brochure. This allows me to store all the sites I've painstakingly searched for and shortlisted to visit in the future and write my own notes about them too: and my membership is FREE!!!
Why can't the CAMC also have this feature? It is such a pain trawling through the website,(searching for sites that I can't quite remember the exact name of) with its many idiosyncrasies and determination to be "user unfriendly".
Is this too much to ask?
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Absolutely and definitely 😂😂😂
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Agree virtual brochure is very useful over on UKCampsites. I think with all confidence I can state it WONT be happening on here anytime soon.
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Wow a spreadsheet: I’m impressed! I have a notebook which I started when we went on our first ever trip (1 night at Fowberry Farm, Bamburgh which I gave 4 stars to😁). However, I've been too lazy to fill it in over the last couple of years...
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On google maps, when logged in, you can save specific locations in folders. When planning European trips, I use it to both save interesting visit spots/POIs and also caravan sites which have been brought to my attention by recommendations on this forum. A click on the pin on the map links to the website of that location.
i find it helpful to create different folders, and actually have applied the same process to an Australia trip planned for next year.
It’s also useful because I can then open this folder when actually in whichever country, and use that saved itinerary on any device (phone, iPad) as a sat nav/route planner.
of course, it would work equally well in the UK, although funnily enough, I’ve never done that.
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It also allows you to search with a quick map feature, with really useful filters for criteria.
Can we have similar for club sites and CLs?
I can find a site in seconds that meet my requirements. No trolling through maps and books. Even the last bastion of printed media, the phone book has been ditched. Why do the club spend a small fortune on producing this immediately out of date document and posting it at further expense.
Use the savings to maintain decent search and book facility with a decent GUI.
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Why do the club spend a small fortune on producing this immediately out of date document and posting it at further expense.
Use the savings to maintain decent search and book facility with a decent GUI.
If I want a site near Barmouth, for example, then a digital map is fine. If however I want a series of sites and to plan a route using available Club sites then I want a map where I can see at least half the UK at a glance.
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Some of us like the Club Sites Handbook, find it easy to use and can find what we want quickly and easily. (We don't even need to remember the exact site names("the bells").)
We have chosen not to have an i-phone, don't always take a tablet or laptop with us, have not subscribed to the Club wi-fi and don't always use Club sites.
When touring parts of the UK without booking or extending a tour, we have found the Club Sites handbook, the CCC Big Sites book and a book we received with MMM magazine sufficient for us to find sites.(We are happy with this method but acknowledge that some others will find it old fashioned or not to their liking.)
I wonder if those who do not require the Club Sites Handbook and wish to save the Club paying some printing and postage costs have contacted the Club asking if they can opt out of receiving it.
Why should those of us who value and use the book be prevented from having it? Equally, why should those who do not want it have to receive it?
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I used to keep a little handwritten book with a few details of each site visited and good and bad points. It’s still useful for contacting those sites no longer on CL network. If I could be bothered I would use iPad nowadays, but all I record now is log on passwords for WiFi!
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But the point I was making is that you cant find it easy.
Say I want a site with full serviced hard standing, caravan pitch, allowing dogs, with fishing, within a 10 mile radius of a town, then you simply can not find these in the book without spending hours trolling through dozens of pages with useless graphics and pointless descriptions. And then you have to unfurl the map and cross reference.
Use UK campsite, or pitchup for the search and all this immediately available, it gives me 5 or 10 possible hits in a 10 mile radius with exactly what I need. They also have the facility of reviews, photos, and availability of the pitch type I want with a link to google maps.
Then there is the fact that the club have to issue endless corrections, changes and revisions every month so the site you eventually find may have changed details.
Why the club can not have a decent user interface for the search and allocation of pitches is beyond me, it is their primary function, their core business objective and they are many years behind the commercial booking websites.
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The sites App allows you to do most of what you want for club sites, affiliated and CL's. All at the same time, or separately. Then easily get detailed info, including availability for club sites, locations, directions and a link to your devices default map. As nevchap mentions it also allows you to store favourites.
I have no idea why the search functionality does not include service pitches. This is something we have been asking to be included for a long time and seems a strange omission. However, in other respects the App is fairly comprehensive.
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Good ideas all round here.
I'm another UKCampsites member and fan - we use it at home to plan before we go, and the virtual brochure, with access to site reviews and much more, is excellent and flexible.
I too like its search within x miles radius of The Chosen Spot, with filters for what you're seeking. Much quicker than the C&MC site, and includes many of the club's sites too.
But like Dunelm, we choose to have no smartphone, so don't access apps, and while we do take a mifi & laptop, we don't tend to spend much time on the net once we leave home, so for users like us, continuation of the book & map seems useful, as does allowing non-users to opt out.
Save paper, save postage, spend the money on improving this site - what's not to like?
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Dunelm: I’m not trying to score points (I'm genuinely interested to know!), have you never had a bad experience relying on the club handbook on your travels? It's just quite often the information is incorrect or quickly out of date (with regard to sites closing etc).
However, returning to my original point I still think that a virtual brochure (where the only sites in it are the ones you've added yourself with your own notes etc) is a very useful tool when planning a trip. I really can't understand why it's not a feature of the club website. We are planning a big trip to the Scottish Highlands next year and I've already got 10 sites stored in my UK campsite brochure😊
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UKcampsites is an excellent way for tourers to find out what sites (Large and Small) are available in your chosen touring area. The CMC handbook only gives info of CMC sites, Cl's and Private sites who advertise in the handbook ( known as Affiliated Sites) All this info is included on UKcampsites anyway..
Since it seem that some customers still want the CMC handbook and some don't , to save sending unwanted Handbooks involving wasted expense, those who want the handbook should opt in and pay a surcharge of say £ 10.00. ------------The CMC would'nt lose any money, in fact would benefit financially, and everybody would be happy. ---- Except those who are never happy anyway.
K
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We use a mix of methods to research sites, handbook still worth having to us. We still have a big book of sites from the 1990’s when we joined CCC for a year, Surprisingly useful occasionally!
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Kenine, if you are a member you will know that membership fees cover the literature we are sent, including the Sites Guide. If people don't want it they should be able to opt out.
The CCC has a digital membership at a reduced rate (£5 less than print membership). This is much better than your suggestion that people pay more for something to which membership already entitles them.
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In answer to your question, I never have had a bad experience using the club handbook on my travels. Despite what Phishing put in the opening line of his last contribution, I do find it easy.
As I have already stated, we have two other books which we take with us if we are touring. This is easy for us and suits us.
Have you contacted the Club directly with your suggestion?
Have you let them know that you don't need the Sites handbook?
If so, what was the response?
The CCC offers digital membership for a reduced rate for those who don't want information in print form. Maybe this is something which CMC could do and it would save some costs. It would also allow those of us who prefer print format to continue having what we require.
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Spurtle!🤔😂
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I stand corrected. 😂😂😂😂
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Thank you dunelm, As a customer of the CC/CMC for over 30 years I was aware of that. What I was suggesting was to make the CMC finances more efficient and save waste by not sending out literature to those who had no need.
I took a digital member of the C&CC ( the friendly club ) as soon as it became available and have never regretted it, it is a great idea. After all everything a member of the C&CC needs is on the Web.
K
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A spurtle by any other name will stir as well
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