New Site Booking System
Comments
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Just highlighting peedee that we all are and use our leisure vehicles differently. And yes that's on a non facility site which are more popular than ever before.
21 night stays are more common than you think!
JK
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I would be very interested, JK, in how often the "residents'" motor caravans are taken off-site, as compared to the tow cars.
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Morning to you JK, I'm also bored......waiting for my ferry😉
my point about having a MH was that it supports 'our' touring style better.
any member staying 'religiously' 14 or 21 nights can do it just as easily in a MH or a caravan.
when you turn the thing around, and look at folk who wish to (say) 'move along a coastline' as we did on our return from Portugal a few years back, dropping into an Algarve fishing village for a day's explore, dinner and a single overnighter (to be repeated several times along the way) works best for us in a MH - especially when you don't need to call on a site for the stopover.
my point was that, the fishing village might be dead boring and off we go the following morning, or it might have a wealth of personality, a few good restaurants and a cracking beach.
once we've found this out we can decide how long we wish to stay.
if we had to decide months ahead which of those places we had to stay at and for how long, we'd have found another way to do things.
the van supports what we do, not the other way round.
when we do return from Spain, we have a 4 week summer 'tour' (not all CC) to coincide with a concert we are attending, so dates are more fixed around that...the sites before it and after it...but, even in the uk, this is not something we specifically like to do, preferring to look around a week or two before each 'off' to decide where to go, weather dependant, of course.
I can see how bringing a wholely CAMC tour together on the booking system might be made an easier process, but it's not one we will be likely to use as we generally have other providers (THS sites) scattered in between, some of these with unknown durations.
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In the area of JK's site it would be a very brave person who took a MH bigger than a small camper off site, other than on the odd occasion. That could explain MHs having longer stays and not moving much in several parts of the Westcountry.
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I think the "working through the route" bit posted by Nav is perfectly clear, Gray. How else can you decide how many nights to book where, especially when you also need to consider what may be available at your chosen site when you do come to book, which is becoming more of a problem these days. Throw pitch surface booking into the mix and it gets even more complicated!
We often have places we are 100% sure we want to visit, also some dates when we need to be at a certain location, so these are secured first, then the route between them filled in.
Also, as you say BB, some places will turn out boring, others more interesting than expected, and that was the advantage of the easy booking and amending with CAMC, we have quite often altered our plans at short notice when on a tour.
We use only a few CAMC sites these days, going more for CLs and CCC sites, lower site costs mean more nights away. Once the new booking system kicks in, the loss of the ease of changing plans, and the risk of losing a deposit, will mean we will be booking even more often with cost in mind in the first place.
On length of stay, the longest we have stayed on one site was 10 days at York Beechwood......lots to see in the area.
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Might depend on what influenced the MH buy? Wanting to tour around an area, or because they are easier to set up, travel in, and pack up than a caravan? Some MH’s are used like caravans, but with four wheels and an onboard tank. Nothing wrong with that of course.
We used to do 28 day stays in one place with our caravan. I think longest stay we have done on one site in last eight years of having MH was the 7 nights we had last September at Marazion. Interestingly for us, it stayed on Site more than usual as well, but maybe because we went down for cycling event. However, that week was book ended by moving on at least every 2 nights going down to SW, and returning, so we did tour different areas of country. Only 2 Club Sites though……..
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Due to my wife's unpredictable illness that occurred 4 years ago I have found the sites booking system useful , we have used the clubs sites in preference to other alternatives.
This was a major consideration but now there will be no advantage booking club sites.
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There are many like you and now in the last couple of years my OH ,,and as I have posted on here, several times ,but so far it has just received nil response or negative replies from other posters who it seems have not realised just how many are in our situations,
With the lack of response from the club also although a staff member who posts on here seems to think this website is being "looked at?" By EGH staff ,
Maybe as I have been told that points as what we have raised. are another case of "we have not thought about those situations?"
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It might not be as bad as you think JV. Ok, the honeypots will get booked up, and there might be a scramble for pitches July/August, but I suspect a good few Club Sites will have space certainly mid week. The prices will put many off, and, there are bound to be a lot more who will think like us and not book ahead because of the deposits. There are some really lovely CLs and private Sites out there that might fill the gaps for you, and you will be touring in an easier outfit, so hopefully you will still get away as easily, with a few compromises. I can’t see the whole of FM getting booked up outside of school holidays and possibly the odd weekend. 🤞
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The many posts on here and other forums ,against the throwing away of this clubs USP ,and no longer need to be a member, maybe is just talk rather than action ,
If action then it could well be a case of this club shooting ones self in the foot,
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I think it’s just business moving on. The “Club” element only exists in the Centres and rallies, a good deal of the pricing structure and business model has been changing for quite a while, and the fortunate position the Club finds itself in, that of camping and touring seeing a huge increase, has made the time right to out the old, and cater for the future, to put it brutally. The Club had been somewhat reliant upon a hard core of loyal but ageing Members, along with their offspring keeping things going, but this is different. This is new intake with no pre conceived ideas or expectations, so future proofing the income and bring it into line with most other holiday providers is now. That said, as JK has said, there will be someone who can look and listen to individual claims for returned deposits, so all is not lost. Hopefully.
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With regard to your first paragraph, JV, I too am in that situation but am able to see the bigger picture of the membership and operational needs as a whole as you will have seen from my posts in the other thread.
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It is the club that was out of line with every other commercial and other club sites
If the clubs way was the way forward, then others clubs and commercial sites would have gone the clubs way .
Though i suspect many of those posting, are part of the 25% speculative booking members of the club
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I have never made a booking I didn’t fully intend to honour.
Although I preferred the old system, I am not complaining about the new as I see the sense of it.
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All the fuss and complaining is about the fact the club was very different from commercial and other clubs thats what makes it so attractive to many of its long term loyal membership, it's financially in a good position it's supposed to be a not for profit organisation catering for it's membership.
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Been a member for over 25 Years
Also a member on the other club, and use commercial sites ,deposits have never been a issue
Why and how is the club different from other clubs and commercial sites ?. If it was so different i would not use the other club or commercial sites, as far as i can see there is little to no difference in practice, and reality
As for being a non profit organisation, depends what you mean by profit / non profit, what matter more is how profits are usedIt is the, at least 25 % of speculative booking members that abused the system, that has caused the change , so please direct your post to them
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.....as for the difference
1 ) I dont need to pay a deposit
2) I can amend the booking up to 24hrs before
3) I can change my mind while on site and move on earlier or later to a different club site
4) I can leave early and get a refund
5) I can choose my pitch on arrival
Based on my experience of pitches filling up as soon as they become available I dont believe these changes will result in extra availability
I am not a so called speculative booker, if there are any I don't believe they effect my ability to book.
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You and TMTO miss the point. The unsubstantiated remark by TDA referred to the comment that many posters here were suspected of being speculative bookers. It was a slur on us.
"Though i suspect many of those posting, are part of the 25% speculative booking members of the club"
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Your logic is flawed. The Club tells us 25% of bookings are cancelled. That doesn’t indicate the Club thinks they are speculative, merely that for a huge variety of reasons, 25% were cancelled. They don’t tell us how many of those 25% were rebooked, or moved to different dates. But you have chosen to make generalised comments about those who aren’t particularly in favour of the move over to deposits.🤷♀️
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As posted that figure was only posted when evidence was put forward to it seems make a case for the change when asked before the club would not or more likely could not give a figure
As when the club were trying to make a case to reduce some retired and working staff concessions it was proved to be completely wrong as no records were kept to substantiate the figures
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The Club will have the figures JV. No business as big or as professional as this wouldn’t know how each Site is performing. Every business uses figures to underpin a case for change. The Club has just chosen it’s moment very carefully. The problem is how some “lookers in” choose to interpret this information.
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Wasn't it this club that proferred those reasons for closing some non facility sites? That is, they knew how much "traffic" that each site generated. They'll know and if they don't know then they aren't fit for purpose. Every organisation should know what is happening below decks so to speak, well everyone except HMG obviously.
It was interesting to read what JK posted about how popular the Non-fac sites were. What a crying shame the folks at EG don't take any notice.
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On the wrong track!
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I wish I had your confidence on how EGH kept records, as i can assure you I have seen via some site staff how poor record keeping is is some areas
Two examples of how EGH are on top of the finances they are? I will not mentions the seasonal site ,but we were visiting just after it opened, the site staff were wondering why the previous year the water bill for their site had almost quadrapulled ,,they thought they had a bad water leak,?so checked the meter which was a completely different reading ,only to find they had been billed for a full fat all year site Twenty miles away by EGH finance dept
Second example EGH had paid the bill for refuse pickups sent in error by the refuse company to the site, and had been forwarded to EGH for payment even though the it was closed
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