2022 ACSI Books
Comments
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Getting tired in mid France we drove into a village, the name sign said it was called Gouzon, asked a lady if there was a campsite and she said go through the square and over the bridge. Site was totally empty so spoke to a boy who was fishing in a ditch and asked if it was open. He said go on in and mother will come round later and put the hot water on. Job done. Who needs ACSI books!
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I'm sure we've all pulled into some interested and unexpected places for the night without resorting to an ACSI card, however it's a good companion to supplement the array of sites out there, and at a great price if within their dates.
don't follow it slavishly, just another useful tool along with the the other 'directories' and websites we use to cover all aspects of a tour..
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ACSI MH data includes a 6 pitch aire in Gouzon with map, pictures, address, GPS location plus opening dates and pricing (free). You could have all of that information in advance without asking anybody!
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Hopefully ours will be lying on the mat when we get home in a few days time
We do tend to use the Acsi for our first search but if nothing suitable then tend to look elsewhere.
We did get caught out this October in Spain while staying on a site, our stay straddled a holiday weekend. True to the sites honesty and lack of greed they didn't charge us the full rate for all 4 nights, slightly more but not as much as they should have according to the book.
Watch out in France and Belgium in May as quite a few holiday weekends then, not all sites come off the Acsi rate but some popular ones do.
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Of the eleven (13 in some departments) public holidays, it seems there are 3 and another one in the first week of June.
1 May (Sunday): Labor Day (Fête du premier mai)
8 May (Sunday): World War II Victory Day (Fête du huitième mai or Jour de la Victoire 45)
26 May (Thursday): Ascension Day (Jour de l’Ascension, 40 days after Easter)
6 June (Monday): Whit Monday – also known as Pentecost Monday (Lundi de Pentecôte)0 -
Mine arrived today. Hasn't been used for the last two years so given the current uncertainty, I shan't rush to fill in the discount card this time in case I'm unable to use it and may be able to pass it on.
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For those of us who’ve renewed the ACSI App subscription, I note that new information is promised ‘early in January’. Unfortunately it seems the motorhome pitches data will be available in Dutch, German and French only. I’m sure it was previously available in English? A rather odd and annoying change.
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I haven't renewed since 2019 and am hanging back this year although hoping to go through Germany to Austria in May but looking at my route there is not much in my old book that entices me to buy.
Incidentally I note the number of UK sites has reduced appreciably
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10 UK sites, what an embarrassment. Anybody would think we don't have motorhomes or caravans in the UK. France for comparison has 3018 sites. I think I'm off to France.
Colin
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That just about sums it up.
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But the British camping market is far less seasonal than it is in France. Also with the BH peaks in trade in the UK it leads to very disjointed holiday season for a discount system. However the main point is that it costs a considerable amount of money to be in ACSI scheme, probably thousands of pounds each year. So unless a campsite can see a clear advantage in accepting the ACSI card it is probably not worth it?
David
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Fair enough Dave, but over a 300x difference in sites?
Colin
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But Colin there were never that many UK campsites in the scheme. In 2018 there were only 30 UK sites in the ACSI site directory. I imagine that COVID has also had an impact on the remaining UK sites in the scheme? France is not a genuine comparison. Here in the UK we have a large number of indigenous campers that tourer, probably from Easter to October half term and many before and after those dates. My experience of touring in France from April through to October is that there are relatively few touring caravans beyond those that they bring out of storage for the summer season. They tend to have more motorhomes, many of which use Aires. It therefore makes perfect sense to have a discount scheme to encourage UK, Dutch and German campers to fill what would otherwise be empty campsites. I have been on a few pretty empty French campsite that were in the ACSI scheme. I think we just have to accept that the UK camping market is different from France and other European countries. Vive la Difference as they say
David
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Continental sites don't crank up prices at the hint of a BH unlike UK sites. Full price period generally only covers July/August and sometimes but not always Easter. UK sites crank up the prices for every half term plus any available BH and, in the case of CAMC, a week either side just to make sure they capture everyone.
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A quick check on a random CAMC site shows 16 different price changes...
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I know when I looked at sites in NL for our aborted 2021 trip the periods for use could be difficult to work out. Odd weeks appeared where eligibility was not available.
Colin
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I just picked Black Knowl as we'd been there recently....45! come on, club, get real.
one site we use in the New Forest only has low, med, high and these only switch a few times throughout the year...
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45? 😧bonkers!
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