New booking system with deposits
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Having used a couple of C&CC sites in the last month their system of taking the initial deposit and then automatically collecting the balance on the morning of arrival on site works pretty well. You get a confirmation by email that the money has been taken. I am not sure how much the Club should pander to those members who don't use conventional methods of payments. I can perfectly see that there are some in society that don't have the wherewithal to have bank accounts but surely that cannot apply to any Club Member because how do they pay to tax and insure their car or even their membership fees? Divergence from normal payment methods costs extra money and its an extra cost we as members have to share?
David
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I truly struggle to see the downside of deposits🤷🏻♂️. If your break costs £200 you pay £20 up front followed by the rest when prompted, it’s that simple, there’s no smoke & mirrors & no one is ripping folk off or even remotely like that👍🏻
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Evening
Some people may just perceive that the act of paying a deposit might put them off booking speculatively
Just saying
JK
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Pick the place you want to stay-book it-pay deposit-arrive-pay the rest-enjoy👍🏻. If you’re not sure-don’t book. If you’re a person with integrity & you cry off losing the deposit you’ll accept it. It really is that simple(to me). I’ve never got a scam going on or looking for wriggle room or getting something for nothing🤷🏻♂️
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There ya go, dumping on the baddies. . .Re(Flippin’)sult😊
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Maybe for some, but really, for me anyway, all that's happened is the 72 hour window is now 21 days. If I cancel before that I'll get my money back anyway, and I suppose all I'll 'lose' by paying that deposit up to that time is the (almost non existent) interest it would have made in the bank. Also if I made a booking for next June it is pretty speculative even with paying a deposit?
But yes it might for some I agree
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Same here, although for us it will even the playing field. If the advantage of no deposits is removed, so is one of the reasons for booking a CAMC site over an alternative. On getting our MH we joined the C&CC to give us more relatively easy booking sites to choose from. Although clearly location plays a big part, we still found we were booking more CAMC than C&CC. As we have liked all the oppositions sites we have stayed at and for us they are often cheaper, this will almost certainly change.
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We do not have a problem with deposits as long as this clubs system? is a good as the ccc seems to be that we have used
The problem we have is with OH it could well be we have to cancel at less than 21 days instead of as present the 72hrs ,and getting a refund,,,
This club will need more staff on their hotline or those working from home as many it seems still are it seems with East Grimstead offices now smaller?
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it can't be any good for the clubs finances.
That remains to be seen. The C&CC don't appear to have suffered as a result of demanding deposits. Pre COVID, they were more profitable than the C&MC. If the Club finances do suffer it will more than likely due to prices and the economic climate not deposts.
peedee
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I agree, PD. The cost of living, not least the cost of fuel, is going to have a bearing on the amount of money people spend on leisure activities.
When folk first mooted the idea that deposits were stopping people booking, it was way before prices started shooting skywards. Now it seems to me that inflationary increases in general (and that inevitably includes site fees) might be the cause.
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PD - I think Arch was referring to plenty availability now in his post, ie causing lower income now?
I would think deposits will help the club's finances a bit, all that money they are getting up front possibly up to a year in advance. I'll be booking our usual June/July walking trip for 2023 when I can and it will cost about £80+ in deposits (going on this year's prices). That £80 wouldn't make much money (pennies?) in interest but if others (hundreds? thousands?) are doing the same the club will. If I was cynical I might be tempted to think that's why the club is bringing them in as I don't think it's going to make much difference to availability apart rom as you say moving the 72 hour rule to 21 days.
Although I think it depends on the site as to availability, the ones I've been on this year have been just as full as in 'normal' times, in fact on two it looked more so even midweek.
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PD I'm confused by your post as he did say that in his post:
There's plenty of availability now and has been all year
But as I said I suspect that it depends upon specific sites. I can't get in to one of my fav sites for an extra weekend till October, and midweek is only a few days at a time.
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It remains to be seen if destroying their own USP is beneficial for the Club or not.
As membership drops off over the next few years as the Staycation brigade return to foreign pastures post-Covid, they may rue their knee-jerk response.
Hopefully this unnecessary change won't alienate the established membership to the point where the combination of high prices and an inflexible booking system result in a significant reduction in bookings from Club members who have loyally supported the Club for many years.
I'm not hopeful though.
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Perhaps worth pointing out that current bookings are still being made under the old system, so not yet impacted by deposits. There is no indication that deposits will be retrospectively applied to those bookings unless amended by the booker. Whether there is availability will very much depend on the popularity of the site in question. I looked to change one of my existing booking in October for a different pitch type but only days are available, not the full week.
The Club have always maintained that the reasoning for the change to deposits has been the disruption of late cancellations. They could have changed the cancellation T&C's to 21 days but clearly felt that was not a sufficient discouragement to speculative bookers although it would have improved late availability over a wider time span. Some won't be deterred by a deposit but they are banking that most will be unwilling to pay a deposit months in advance which they are at risk of losing if they don't cancel in time. I suspect we will never know if its a quest to harvest money from members to improve cash flow by taking deposits? Administratively it could cost the club a lot of money in terms of refunds which might debunk that theory?
The cost of living will obviously impact on the club's finances I imagine. But that is true of all holiday types surely and there seem to be no unwillingness for thousands to risk being delayed at airports! Members holiday intentions may well change, perhaps shorter distances for weekend or concentrating of main holidays, we have yet to see.
David
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It will deter multiple bookings for the year ahead, deposits are costly on this scale. It's unfortunate that we're entering an inflationary period, there is never a good time to make changes but at least the income stream for CAMC improves. I hope there will be more "offers" to keep members on board. Taking has to be balanced by giving!
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+1, I’m one of the ‘is it worth it’ mindset, at the mo yes it is👍🏻. As you say-‘taking has to be balanced by giving’. If in the future I feel I’m not just a cash cow then I’ll be happy with C&MC. Offers?🤔, if something is on offer for £500 on the open mkt but C&MC has an offer for £100 discount on the same product yet at the outlet I see said item for £600 then that isn’t an offer to me, there is a lot of that sharp practice about everywhere☹️
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Deposits may deture those, as us to do long tours with multiple sites ,which now works as if not booking all the sites early ,can and has scuppered a tour because of availability of pitches,,
It may? make putting a tour together less of a long term neccesity but will be quite expensive up front in the first place
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I think the availability of pitches will increase due to the cost of living shooting up, fuel alone is around 1/3rd higher & expected to continue to go up. That will increase availability for those who don’t have a tight to medium budget🤷🏻♂️. I read by August fuel will be £10 a gallon.
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I think you're right, I've thought the same. We are fortunate in that we're not on a tight budget. But I think there will be quite a few people who will think twice about going away just for the weekend, especially if they can only get on to a site early evening after work, and have to leave again on the Sunday by noon. Is 1 full day worth all that fuel? I think the 2 recent emails I received from the Club, telling me there are still pitches available on some of the most popular sites, bear witness to that.
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It's the perfect time for the club to release the the changes it cannot fail to be a success the present financial climate seems to be having the effect of making more pitches available, at the end of the year extra pitch availability will be put down as the successful working of the new system, the reduction in clubs finances will be blamed on the financial crisis, a change managers dream set of circumstances.
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Thanks DavidKlyne for directing me towards this thread after multiple searches didn't give me any answers. I've no problem with the Club changing to a deposit scheme - it will deter those speculative block bookings for popular sites. The implementation of it could be a bit of a nightmare - hope it's been thoroughly tested before it goes live.
CAMC's silence of late on the issue is a little puzzling too - there's no harm in a Comms person putting out a "bear with us, we are changing the system" message, instead of us all finding out via the back door of discussions and F*cebook
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Have to agree about being kept in the dark
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