Secure you summer holiday for just £5 deposit

Although I am out of this now I didn't think there was anything wrong with the original deposit system. It was way fairer than anything out there in the commercial sector. Given the Club used to argue that a low deposit did not discourage people from booking and then cancelling at the last minute have we not gone full circle? Perhaps there is a deeper problem that we are not aware of. We have seen an unprecedented number of money off offers this year. Are people falling out of love with camping?

David

The fundamental problem is occupancy is down...

Is it? I don't see it like that at all. I'm almost constantly monitoring about six to eight sites and I can't get a full week at any of them for the next two months.

shift to motorhome ownership which is altering the style of camping and also where they camp.

Again looking at club sites when I'm staying this isn't the case, MH now usually outnumber caravans often by quite  significant amount and it's never lower than 50%. What was the latest figures? Highest ever membership and was it something like 70/80% MH owners? 

Whatever the cause of the decline the facts are facts.  

The Club has seven sites in the Lake District. Every one of them has availability every single day for the whole of the rest of July

No wonder Club managers are alarmed and are offering deals.

But that fact alone doesn't prove or show anything. It's in one area for a start. Also it's not totally accurate either, there are only six sites as I recall (and have checked), and service pitches on two of them are full on quite a few days. 

As a long time user of club sites in the Lakes I can't remember a time when they were full, can you? The majority of them are 100+ site pitches, one over 200, so expecting full sites is a big ask? 

You've alluded to this before (and usually choose different areas to make the same point, usually the SW) but is your measure of club success having club sites full in every area? Do club managers simply look at full occupancy figures to gauge how well the club is doing?

Of course what we don't know or can't tell from anywhere is how full these sites are, are they 80% full? 50% full, or maybe just full enough to cover their costs? This I assume is what club mangers will look at and as we don't know the data we can't wonder either.

As I posted on six sites I look at I can't get more than a few days but again what does that fact show?.

Now of course the more pitches filled the better and yes why not use offers to get more?

If a 10% or even 20% deposit is putting people off booking I can only assume they don't use non Club sites, especially the better quality commercial sites? Earlier in the year (before we decided to sell up) we had booked a few days at Castleton. On the morning of departure I was in so much pain with my knee I didn't feel it safe to drive. The fact that I would lose the deposit was neither here nor there. Somehow I had ticked the box to pay before arrival which was no issue as the Club gave me a refund minus the deposit. Exactly as the system should be. Had I been unfortunate enough to have booked a commercial site not only would I have had to pay a deposit but more likely the entire fee for my stay 4/6 weeks before arrival. Had I cancelled at the last minute I would have lost the lot. The latter has happened to me twice in the last couple of years. I understand that I agreed to the T&C's so no comeback but it does leave a nasty taste in the mouth. By comparison the CMC T&C's are so, so much more generous and it is difficult to understand why the Club feel the need to reduce the deposit to such a low figure, in fact half of what it was the last time we took deposits! I am in the same position as TW in that it no longer applies to me but it does seem like a 360 degree reversal of the reasons why deposits were reintroduced in the first place and as TW says it will no deterrent at all as some members will just not show up if all they lose is a fiver? If the Club feel that have made a mistake introducing deposits, why not just say so and go back to the old system of deposit free booking?

David

It was PD and EuroT who said occupancy was down and PD who suggested it was because of MH but I think not and your post backs that up.

I'm not bothered who uses a club site but obviously they are being used. I'm not not bothered that I can't get what I want, as always one has to book early for club sites.

I've no idea what schemes are available on non club sites but I can't see it being far different from a £5 deposit which is refundable under the rules, I assume these schemes won't give you back the payment needed to pay for them?

As to travel insurance this has been discussed before but many, if not all, have an excess, ours is around a £100 so really not applicable to club sites, and probably many non club sites if your deposit is under that?

CS said "Personally I think as it's so low perhaps it should be non refundable no matter what? And have a refundable deposit at 10%, take your choice?"

Does make you wonder if at £5 its worth the admin to refund? I expect the majority would be willing to give up a fiver? Having said that I still think there is a danger that having paid five pounds lots will not bother informing the site they are not coming. Two ways to get over that would be to go back to the old sanction system or perhaps a quid pro quo if want only to pay a five pound deposit the payment must be automatically paid on the morning of arrival? 

Regarding Ruf's point about  commercial sites, I can only say that Cofton and Wells Touring Park did not offer to reschedule the booking. I would also be surprised if insurance covered the cost which for the two sites was around £450. Despite having Covid on one of the sites I should have just carried and stayed at the site regardless.

David