Booking Fairness... Time for a Rethink??
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I thought earlier but all I can positively state is that it was no deposits in 2005 and that was when online booking started. If deposits were cancelled then it would equate to £15 now. (For some reason I was thinking deposits had been £20 previously when I picked a figure of £30)
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I'm not sure even the £25 level of the C&CC would make much difference. If it's a really appalling weekend weather wise, those that would have cancelled still will in my opinion. They may even feel a sense of justification, as they are being charged for cancelling.
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Just what I have always said with regard to weekenders Steve. With a bad weekend forecast do they choose to loose £25 or 'loose' a further £60 in site fees, fuel and cafe lunches to escape the rain?
A bit different probably for those out for longer periods
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Agreed, Steve. It's not the level of the deposit that affects no shows but the very fact that such a deposit is forfeit anyway that results in some people not bothering to advise the site they won't be turning up.
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A bit of irony on you here PD saying how people have forgotten the price of deposits when you clearly have
It was not just £10 but £5 non returnable.
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As said it was £5 and non refundable, also the most expensive site at that time was £10 per night for a couple plus a max of £2.20 for EHU, and £1.45 in the summer months. so you were paying £5 deposit against £12.20 for one night, that is 41% and I say again non refundable. Yes I know the greater the number of nights the less the effect of the deposit but for a weekend it was still a considerable amount. Also it was £5 for each different site,
Do people really want to go back to that?
For interest the cheapest price per night per couple was £4 per night plus EHU. So using the cheapest with EHU, you were paying a £5 deposit for £5.45 overnight fee.
I would say that the non refundable part and being up to almost the per night price, or just under half probably accounted for people not letting the club know if they intended to cancel. Hence the decreased no shows when deposits were scrapped.
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yes +1, as shown
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Peedee
I think it must have been in 2003. In 2004 we went to Hawes and I remember speaking to the warden about the booking system which had just changed. Apparently the HQ and site POS systems were not compatible so a deposit taken at HQ did not transfer to the site so that was when they dropped deposits.
David
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Then both Peedee and I must be suffering from memory loss as I remember £10 deposits! It might not have been for very long before they changed to no deposits.
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How do you know deposits would affect bookings in that way? You think it would but you cannot know for sure.
Btw, C&CC's minimum deposit is the total cost of your stay if it is less than £25. One night for £17, then thats what you pay up front.
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I can only recall it being £5 for each booking, but we had done using Club Sites mainly by 2001, we preferred CLs then. We happily paid the full total of our stay to get the CL pitch we wanted at the time we wanted. It is/was a very popular CL😁 We booked as we left as well, a year in advance😂
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again how do you know this? Are you basing this on any real data that you have, or just your speculation? I seen to recall the club once publishing real data, the average number of booking on booking day, it was something like the average was four bookings over the year and average length was about 5 days each time.
Also why as someone who claims not to use club sites so much why are you so bothered about this?
Of course one could say the only possible reason (your own words) is of course you can't get on a club when you want to?
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Again do you have any real data on these other sites? How do you know that sites that operate deposits put a brake on advance bookings?
What observations? that you can book a pitch? Well as I said before could be due to other reasons, not as good quality, different facilities, prices...
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Thanks, PD, for agreeing.
Isn't that what we all do - relate to our own experiences and judgement? It doesn't make any one of us right, though, as we each form our own opinions.
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The £5 deposits and non arrivals did seem to be more than the present system
One reason was at the time members could also book more than the one site ,not as now, for the same dates, and if on long journeys could and would book several sites on route and stop at the one most "convenient" at the time
Block booking weekends at popular sites was also back then, even with the deposits ,but i know of at least one site that Non arrivals,were "monitored" by the site staff (as also most bookings were done via the sites direct) and prolific non arrivals were "advised" that later bookings would be cancelled
The later £10 pound deposit was introduced as a "deterent" but when the online system was introduced ,it was not at the time thought a viable proposition to keep taking deposits,which at the time some thought was wrong ,but seems to most , to have been working so far with memmbers and site staff
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It does seem that organisations and private sites that do take deposits ,are normally showing vacancies at all time of the year, compaired to the cc system, which seems to atract quite a few comments about unable to book as they are "always full"
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Personally I find it difficult to compare other sites to the CAMC. The club shows availability on a calendar. Many only tell you once you have put your dates in and offer suggestions if unavailable, there is often no easy way to see overall monthly availability.
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Steve
I don't think it that difficult! I appreciate the Club booking system has more clarity than others but if you can't book your intended CMC site you start looking elsewhere. OK you have to take a few more steps to get to the information but it is there and I have found (as JVB suggests) you often find vacancies that don't exist on the CMC. Whether that is because the site is less popular, or that it takes a deposit or in the case of some requires full payment up front it is difficult to say but if you want that pitch it doesn't really matter.
David
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It take it the grass pitches were also included with the 50% you quote and what time of year was that? as we have not ever noticed the site showing full and not being .the only time recently was when half the site was not in use because of the repairs after the fire
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Well for someone who is not bothered you do seem to be making a lot of suggestions to change the way things are done? (including charging for EHU in the past) . It doesn't make sense if you are not bothered?
Who are you giving these 'sensible' suggestions to? And for what purpose?
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