Frustrated -Booking Sites
A month or so ago I looked to book a week away in the South, anywhere from the New Forest across to East Sussex. I was not able to get a week from the 15th May. In the end we booked 6 nights at Fairlight Woods on the 16th.
Yesterday , out of interest I looked at last minute availability and nearly every site is now available to book for a week.
it must be time for deposits to be taken, it’s just ridiculous. I am being driven to commercial sites where deposits are generally required , so availability of pitches is a true picture of what will be available when you wish to travel .
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I think that's very likely, JV. It's the time of year for it.
We both know there are many reasons other than cancellations for pitches becoming available.
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Urchin, this is the third post on this subject in the past few weeks. You should have perhaps added your complaint to "What's the point in the Club if sites are full" which is being monitored by the Club or even "All booked up near us"
I fully sypathise with your views. Given the long dry spell we have had in April I would have expected, and have found, all grass pitches to have been open on the C&MC site I recently visited which inceidently was fully booked in February but mysteriously had dozens of available pitches when I arrived in mid April for a 5 night stay.
peedee
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We are still under a pandemic and the situation is very fluid. People may have booked, maybe a long time ago, expecting things to be better then nearer the time are still a bit anxious about travel and/or using sites. Added to the uncertainty is the are foreign holidays on or off question, I wonder when the go ahead for that happens how many more 'staycations' will be cancelled on club sites.
All sorts of reason why booking and cancellations are happening, including grass pitches. This shouldn't be taken as a normal year and neither should decisions made based on it.
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This shouldn't be taken as a normal year and neither should decisions made based on it.
While I agree it is not a normal year its for the Club to make decisions not only based on evidence encountered this year but in previous years.(hopefully they have it?)) I believe the problem is not going to go away in the future unless there is change.
peedee
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Peedee,
I wasn’t aware of the other posts and would have added to them had I been.
I understand some of the reasons that are being stated in the responses, but that just doesn’t resolve the frustration of not being able to book a site when pitches subsequently become available at a later date.
Perhaps the information on that site could be updated to state that grass pitches could become available from a certain date dependant on the weather. It would at least give you a chance of booking a site you want when you want.Although the site I originally wanted is now available, I am not into cancelling bookings unless it’s unavoidable .
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Many members booked early when it was advised that site could open in April , then cancelled when it was expected that the facilities blocks would be closed
They then started rebooking when toilets on sites that could be "covid secure" (there is a HMG ?notice at this site saying it is secure)
Now it seems cancellations are coming in as members were hoping that restrictions would be lifted before the 17th
As most I think would know that we are in very strange times as now, so any desitions as to whether to introduce deposits I would have thought ,would be when ,if ever, we get back to some sort of normality
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Urchin, I think the difference between now and years ago is that we now have a website where availability can be seen. Before this, you would never have known if availability fluctuated.
If you look around you'll find the other threads to which PD referred.
PS Here's one of them
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At the risk of sounding like a broken record my advice would be just to hang in there for a while. If you have a specific date in mind book what you can and go back a few days later to book the rest. It usually works for me. About a week ago I was looking to a week at Southland on the IOW, odd days here and there but not a week. Went back one morning and there was a full week available. Same thing happened today. Wanted a few days at Kessingland and only managed to get one day. Went back into the system and a full week available so booked what I needed. I appreciate some will find this a bit of a faff but it seems to work for me over and over again.
It is possible that some are cancelling because of the upsurge in the Indian variant, in fact there was a post on a Facebook group where someone had cancelled a stay at a Norfolk site because they didn't want to drive across the country from Wales, they are now staying local so they are probably not alone.
David
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I sympathise with the OP, but we have to recognise the transparency and technology of the clubs booking system allows us to see these fully booked situations, and, let’s not forget, also when vacancy gaps appear in them. There’s plenty of holiday (of various types) booking systems which you wouldn’t even know if they were full, because they wouldn’t be advertised at all at that time if full. Having that visibility allows us to consider alternative sites or dates easily.
And the full situation is not limited to CMHC sites, there’s plenty of private/commercial sites we’ve enquired about recently which are full at times.I’m with DK in booking what CMHC sites we can, and watching and waiting for gaps to appear; that has worked for us too.
But, I have to say that I consider a major advantage of CMHC is the opportunity for members to book, and amend/cancel, without charge. If that was not the case, I for one would question why be a member if you wished to use that type of site (ie not CLs). It’s interesting that, as a result of the pandemic, many travel and tourism providers are now offering flexible booking, with easy changes - not just due to COVID circumstances. I suspect this greater flexibility might be here to stay, so I say well done and thanks to the club in being ahead of the game.
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I would suggest that there were many CL's in the area you were interested in visiting, at the dates you wanted, that had both H/S and EHU, very similar to the facilities provide by the club, that had a pitch available to book. Did you not think to have a look for one of them?
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The few CL's I have used have been excellent. However the major problem for me as a motorhomer is that they are often quite remote. I do occasionally come across CL's which are near places within reasonable distance half to a mile away but that is pretty unusual. Likewise those near good transport links are also fairly rare. When I find them I make a note of them. We found a lovely CL at Beccles but that has now closed as a touring CL and now just offers permanent accommodation in the form of Pods and Houseboats.
David
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The medium term forecast of poor weather is probably a significant factor in cancellations too.
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Please, Please please, listen !
Start taking deposits for site bookings so far in advance. This will stop all the speculative bookers that just choose a pitch on Caravan Club site in case nothing else comes up.
Just been away to a CAMC site that was booked up solid early and then late on had pitches available.
We went on to a 2nd site that was an affiliate site that required a deposit and were talking to another CAMC member. We told him where we had been the week before and he openly admitted that he had booked the Looe site a year in advance "Just in case", nothing else came up. (Some sites don't take bookings until after Christmas).
You do not get this problem at Camping and Caravan club as they expect a deposit.
By all means, even offer a refund of deposit if cancelled say a couple of months before, this would deter many from just booking a pitch whilst they look around. I asked the afore mentioned member if he would have booked the pitch if he had to pay a deposit even though he would have been able to get a refund and he said "NO!"
Some of us still work and have to arrange leave months in advance so cannot be flexible and leave till the last minute.
Like, Urchin, we are more often booking with Camping Club or commercial sites, which are often cheaper.
If I book with good intentions, pay a deposit, and circumstances change, which was the case 2 years ago due to family illness, I expect to lose my deposit. However, that Commercial site actually refunded my deposit without me even asking. I immediately booked another week with them.
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Buckland, this had been debated time and time again. Have you read the links given in the earlier posts and the Q&As from the AGM? They give varying views and the club's standpoint. There is some change in the air apparently but we don’t know what it is.
I think it’s important to realise that last year and this year have not been 'normal' and it could be foolhardy to base any assumptions or changes on booking events and site occupancy over this time.
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I would think that many points about booking have been looked at by this club.
And as pointed out several times. There are numerous reasons for pitches to become available at "short notice" on sites ,not as you and others suspect only cancelations but then as also posted before very many commercial and ccc sites do not attract the High volume of people that this clubs site tend to
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"If you have a specific date in mind book what you can and go back a few days later to book the rest"
...and this advice is often given....which is fine if thats the only site in the running...if you need to hedge your bets and also book an alternative, it cant be with CC as you cant have two bookings open for the same dates.
if the preferred site doesnt yeild cancellations, then youll have no alternative unless that is with a third party, which may include deposits, which would/might be lost if the club site does come up trumps...
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