Booking pitches
I'm sure this has been asked before but why isn't it possible to request a H/S pitch when making a booking. Its no good saying that they are allocated on a first come basis as I want to know I'm on a H/S pitch, especially on sites which are open all year and my booking is for the winter months.
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You need to ask this question directly to the Club.
With the Camping and Caravanning Club the choice when booking is:
Grass
Grass with ehu
Hardstanding with ehu.
On some sites there are also super pitches.
There are price differences with each.
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This has been asked for so many times. The simple and short answer is that it is not possible at the current time.
The longer answer involves various theories as to why the club doesn't allow it such as lost income.
There are a few workarounds (which I'm sure people will say shouldn't be necessary):
Book a service pitch - these are mainly all HS.
Only club use sites that are all HS.
Use sites that have a high proportion of HS pitches.
Check with the site direct that the grass pitches are not being used. This actually happens on sites open over the winter.
Don't use club sites.
And the last (which will generate some posts) get there when the site opens at 12 or 1pm to get the HS pitches.
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Many of us are hoping that the ability to book either grass or HS will come soon, but meantime I think you can stop worrying about winter, as CS said where there are mixed pitches the grass ones are not in use over winter.
Ring the site to find out the date on which "winter" starts.
We also joined the other club, mainly to use their insurance, but have found that as we are over 60 we get a decent discount, which makes them less expensive than the CAMC for us, and we can book a HS.
Downside is they require a deposit.
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Always book a super pitch then , but they aren't available at all club sites & pay a premium cost over the price of a standard pitch you'll get your H/S pitch.☑️
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It is a good question and one many of us would like an answer to. There can be no technical reason why the Club don't offer this service as they allow us currently to book several types of different pitches already, like a serviced pitch, an awning pitch or a non awning pitch. I can only imagine that the Club, not the members, feel they would be at a disadvantage if they allowed hardstandings to be booked. A year or two ago they did experiment with allowing the booking of hardstanding on a limited number of sites. Apparently this was a failure because it caused confusion! If that was the case it clearly wasn't given enough publicity and should have been network wide rather than just a few sites. This would have enabled a simpler message to be put out to members.
We are, apparently, awaiting an upgrade to the booking system, although it's all gone very quiet on that front since the fanfare earlier in the year. Whilst some fear that might include the reintroduction of deposits many of us hope it will include being able to book a hardstanding should we wish to do so.
David
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"Its no good saying that they are allocated on a first come basis as I want to know I'm on a H/S pitch."
I must say I agree with this 100%. It is such a cop out when people use the old "first come first served" excuse.
Having said that I have never found myself on a grass pitch, except on those sites which only have grass (and which I tend to avoid). But I do always try to arrive within 30 minutes of the earliest arrival time; but never before it even if I have to sit in a lay-by somewhere, which I have had to do numerous times.
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"I must say I agree with this 100%. It is such a cop out when people use the old "first come first served" excuse."
It’s neither a cop out nor an excuse, it’s reality - the factual state of play. Please don’t blame the people who merely state the way things work.
I agree that pitch booking by surface type would be an advantage but that’s something only the club can address while the rest of us are left guessing and playing 'first come, first served'.
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I don't think there is any technical reason why we can't book H/S pitches, it seemed to work OK for the trial, so it must be possible. The reported reason for stopping the trial was that it caused confusion(to whom), it's fairly easy to tell the difference between a hard standing and a grass pitch. The only confusion would be for those people who booked one type of pitch and then changed their minds when they turned up, probably the same people who turn up early. I think it's just a change of policy that's needed, but of course the members aren't being listened to as usual.
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when it suits .... the mantra on this forum is to go elsewhere if you don't like the rules you signed up to, however on this topic it seems that it's OK to try to get the rules changed to suit.
If you want to guarantee a hard standing, book at one of the many many clubs sites that have gravel virtually everywhere .... there's loads of them up & down the country.
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Forgive me, not sure I understand the first paragraph but totally agree about booking site with HS only if that is what is needed. Afterall they are in the majority and it will guarantee what is required.
However, if the conditions are expected to be clement for the duration of a stay I would not mind grass if the site is in the locality I want to be in. Sometimes au natural is quite enjoyable!
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What is being suggested is that the Club offer their members an additional service of being able to book a hardstanding pitch, nothing to do with rules. You have always proclaimed your liking for grass pitches so how are you disadvantaged by members being able to book a hardstanding?
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How about book a hardstanding and pay a £20 (or first night fee, if less than £20) deposit, non refundable.
Even better, book a specific pitch, but pay up front, with a sliding scale of 75% refunded if you cancel within a month of arrival date, 50% refunded if you cancel within a week of arrival, but nothing refunded if cancel later than that? For all those who worry about not being able to turn up, the Club can sell you Holiday insurance, like cottage rental agencies do. Everyone has to pay at some point, so does it matter when? Up front, or on arrival?
Those like touring on a whim won’t need to pay deposit or insurance fee if they book on the hoof, just pick up whatever pitches are free on request or pop in.
Just a though, until we find out what the Club has planned later this year.😁
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Yes this topic has been on CT before & there was an official HO answer so maybe if you were to contact them they would be able to answer your query “why isn't it possible to request a H/S pitch when making a booking."
As you post “I want to know I'm on a H/S pitch, especially on sites which are open all year and my booking is for the winter months.” Then as others have said there is the option of booking a serviced pitch which will usually be on H/S.
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with regard to actually being able to stay on a site the 'ethos' is 'first booked, first served' (you need to book early for some sites just to get a pitch..).
for actual pitch choice its 'first come, forst served'....(you need to arrive early for some sites to get the pitch type you want...)
wouldnt itnbe far easier to have one more 'choice' option as part of that booking to secure what a customer wants...
just to return to an oft quoted 'hotel' comparison, can you imagine having to arrive early to get a particular room type as its 'first come, first served'?...
as it is, its just part of the booking pocess, simple.
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I have no desire to be able to book a hardstanding as the present system suits me well enough. In the last 15 years I must have made over 200 visits to CC sites. I have never had to take a grass pitch. If the ability was there to book a HS pitch then I would book one or go elsewhere if non were available to book. I do use some all grass sites without problem though. Why do I prefer hardstanding in the main? Not because of a fear of getting bogged but purel because I dislike getting muddy shoes.
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We do not mind what pitch we have and in the winter it is most likely we will be on HS wherever we stay as most late and open all year sites take out their grass pitches anyway our dog is not keen on HS pitches for walking on ,and when the weather is like our summers, seem to be getting drier,with heavy showers,the ground still remains firm so she enjoys keeping cool under the van on grass
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present system is fine for us, much prefer a mixture of gravel & grass.
Grass is good, however, if we should arrive at a site where there has been a lot of rain would probably opt for some sort of HS if available but this sort of choice would be more and more difficult because there are more users who are afraid to get their tyres a little bit dirty so would always opt to book a HS, if this option was available.
but that said dont often use club sites, find them too stressful, starting with this arrival thing of getting in early, or before the alloted time, just to get a pitch.
In the past have rocked up late on a Thursday night bagged a pitch before the Friday rush, set up the van and then gone home, or just stayed with the dog until rest of family arrive, lots of people did this at the Witterings, non club, just to get a decent pitch, but to old for all that mlarky now.
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These days Thursdays are the new Friday for arrivals so you need to get to popular weekend sites on a Wednesday to "bag" a "good pitch?" we have for some years now booked sites Wed to Wed
when we were working (before 1994) we used to get our getaway weekend site on a Thursday and commute into London by train on the Friday for poets day
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If the ability was there to book a HS pitch then I would book one or go elsewhere if non were available to book
if available but this sort of choice would be more and more difficult because there are more users who are afraid to get their tyres a little bit dirty so would always opt to book a HS, if this option was available.
Thanks to ET and Ruffs
I think the above two quotes may show why the club may not want to offer booking a HS, too many people would try for it and go elsewhere if they had all gone?
Sort of I'll take the risk and go to a (mixed pitch) club site and take the risk of not getting a HS but definitely wouldn't go if there was none left?
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All is going well. Club sites are pretty full for next weekend. Nothing need be done to attract more customers. No changes are necessary. Or am I wrong?
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you seem to be fixated on sites being full as the only and true measure of 'all is going well'. are you really that short sited (see what I did there?)
I have no idea but only a comparison of club sites v non club occupancy, or a comparison or occupancy figures compared to previous years would tell anyone that, Do you have those figures?
Also are you saying that being able to book a HS (and what this thread is about remember) would make more people cone to a club site?
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what you saying POETS day is now on a Thursday?, perhaps one of the policies of the government in waiting is not so daft afterall
Thanks to ET and Ruffs
I think the above two quotes may show why the club may not want to offer booking a HS, too many people would try for it and go elsewhere if they had all gone
correct
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It is quite difficult to judge the demand for change on a group such as this because the number of respondents actually replying to the subject is usually quite small. This are a couple of fairly large CMC Member Facebook pages so I posed the same question as raised by the OP. In less than 24 hours there have been over 430 replies. The current breakdown is 85% in favour of being able to book a hardstanding and 15% either against the idea or not too bothered.
David
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I think the above two quotes may show why the club may not want to offer booking a HS, too many people would try for it and go elsewhere if they had all gone?
That is my thought CS
Sort of I'll take the risk and go to a (mixed pitch) club site and take the risk of not getting a HS but definitely wouldn't go if there was none left?
Just about sums it up for me
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How important being able to book HS is to a person does, I suspect, depend on their most common arrival times. When working and with children in school would leave home probably around 6pm with less pitch choice on arrival. Now I arrive on site usually within 15/20 mins after the earliest arrival times and I am therefore more likely to get a HS.
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