C.L. site bookings.
Hi all. On a very nice site at Sandwich Lakes Fisheries in Kent. Weather has not been great but having attended a rally with C&C.C. local D.A. decided to stay on at The M.H & C C. pitches. What a shame to be told by the Manager, who squeezed us in, that having a full booking for the weekend one unit did not turn up. No phone call, no notification, no apology, he had been turning bookings away because of being full. Come on people, politeness cost nothing Mum used to say.
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Comments
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Not sure the story section is the right place for this.
However, on the main point, I've long advocated that the club should support CL owners by applying the same standards to them as to club site bookings - i.e. the CL owner should pass details to the club and more than one such instance should invoke some kind of action.
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It would appear that this is becoming a more and more frequent occurrence. We were on a CL at Dornoch last month and they had about half a dozen no-shows in 3 weeks, including over the bank holiday period, and again the owner had lost other bookings and hence income because of them not showing up. Had they bother to phone and say that they were no longer coming then the pitches could possibly have been let to others.
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I agree that the CL owner might have lost two nights booking that he could have had. However I cannot condemn the non arrival out of hand as no idea what happened.
If as Nellie says 'at Dornoch last month and they had about half a dozen no-shows in 3 weeks, including over the bank holiday period, and again the owner had lost other bookings' this is a very bad state of affairs and obviously unacceptable behaviour'.
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No shows are from reports, more likely to be those that cannot bother to advise the site concerned, rather than those with a real emergency as they are the ones who will contact to advise the site
On club sites one No Show will not have the impact as a cl who loses a Fifth of their income
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This is the one and only reason we started taking deposits for all bookings, not just Bank Holidays as previously, from January this year. Last year, between January and September 1 in every 4 bookings got cancelled. Usually last minute, often the day before arrival and sometimes even on the day of arrival.
We didn't want to start with deposits as it's lots more admin for me but we were left with no choice. As you have said it's a loss of 20% of our income but also prevented those we turned away because we were full from having the pitch.
This year we've had very few cancellations so far. One lady who didn't want to pay her deposit (despite much chasing on my part) eventually admitted she'd also booked elsewhere for the same Bank Holiday weekend. Those who don't want to pay their deposits are those who are not sure they're going to turn up!
We know some people have very genuine reasons for cancelling but the sad fact is that most cancel because of the weather or they simply 'had a change of plans'.
We have a very clear cancellation policy on our website which also goes out with every email and our confirmation email refers to this policy when asking for the deposit.
Nicola
www.skybarnfarm.co.uk
Telephone: 01522 681218
Email: enquiries@skybarnfarm.co.uk
Site 920, page 392 of the 2019/2020 Sites Directory
Read our many wonderful reviews!6 -
I sympathise with CL owners. I'm more than happy to pay a deposit and have only ever once lost it because we had to cancel. Even then though I did contact the site in advance, so that they could try to fill our spot and I accepted the loss of deposit in good grace 😊
My hubby works offshore, so occasionally he will have to go off earlier or arrive back later than his rota has set and we have had to cancel the odd trip. I always contact the owner and apologise and usually try to rearrange our visit.
We recently stayed on a popular CL after the owner emailed me to say that someone had cancelled so a space was available for us after all, (I had been told they were full when I originally enquired). Over the weekend a further unit never arrived at all so that particular site would have lost revenue from 2 pitches instead of just 1 if the people cancelling "our pitch" hadn't bothered to let the owner know they couldn't make it.
I do accept that sometimes you don't know peoples' circumstances, but that is why I fully support deposits!
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I don't mind paying a deposit, it shows intent. However last year I paid a deposit for a booking 3 months in advance. Four weeks prior to going I got a date for going into hospital which was the same as the cl. I cancelled but was not offered a refund so asked. Refunds are not given under any circumstances was the answer. I wonder if my booked pitch was re-let. 🤔 I used that site several times as an overnight stop just off the M5 on the way south. I just looked for another last week on the way down.
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similarly, I had to cancel a booking I'd made with a CL and also lost my deposit. I cancelled about 3 months before hand but was given the same reply regarding re-letting the pitch and of course we have no way of knowing one way or the other whether the pitch was re-booked. I'd considered ample notice.
I now make bookings a day or two before hand, if they're full, then I phone another CL etc
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