One Day Bank Holiday Weekend

 

Well I am here to moan about the poor process that the caravan club operates.

I work full time and have a family. I am also self-employed so time with my family is precious and limited.  Over the last few years it has become increasingly harder perhaps impossible, to book and plan our holidays.

Firstly we are forced to decide on a working day in December, when, where and how long we would like to go to any destination for the year. It’s like a rugby scrum as the website is so busy and overloaded that it keeps crashing and the page needs refreshing.

Secondly, if you’re lucky enough to get the site you fancied and got through on the website, you can’t book it because someone has only booked the Saturday but either side of the weekend is free. This seems to be on all of the sites including bank holidays or summer holidays.

I don’t think I am ‘just unlucky’ as I have noticed a few people comment in the caravan magazine (March issue 2016). We generally try and get as many weekend breaks as we can but due to the nature of the booking process and people being allowed to book one night we have been forced for the last few years to book on private sites, with our friends who have also been members of the caravan club for years.

It is now decision time for us as yet again for the Easter breaks we have booked a private site near the Lakes.

Shame on you Caravan Club! We pay membership for a service we cannot receive and yet your happy to take our monies each year. 

I think the main reason you are finding this problem is mainly not due to people booking only one (Saturday) night, but rather what you could call "overlapping bookings"

Consider the scenario of people wishing to maximise their time away, as we used to do when we had only school holidays in which to caravan.

Work finishes too late on a Friday for many to get to their chosen site, so most will start their break on the Saturday.

However, at the end of their break, they don't want to go home till the Sunday, so they also book the Saturday night, thus making the holiday 8 or 15 nights.

So Saturdays are in great demand.

Then there are the "weekenders".  Some can arrive on Friday, so book Friday and Saturday nights, but others may not be able to arrive until Saturday and wish to make the most of things so book Saturday and Sunday nights.

As far as banning anyone from booking only a Saturday goes, this is not on.

Consider those who may be travelling to and from, for example, ferries, we don''t all live close enough to the ferry ports to be able to make the journey in one day, so we need to book the Saturday night on the way down, and another Saturday night on the way back.

Or they may be travelling to a site that is too far to reach in one day.  The result is the same.

No wonder Saturdays get booked up quickly!

What a lovely welcome to a new poster!

Who has actually been posting since 2013. Hardly new.

 

Well I am here to moan about the poor process that the caravan club operates.

I work full time and have a family. I am also self-employed so time with my family is precious and limited.  Over the last few years it has become increasingly harder perhaps impossible, to book and plan our holidays.

Firstly we are forced to decide on a working day in December, when, where and how long we would like to go to any destination for the year. It’s like a rugby scrum as the website is so busy and overloaded that it keeps crashing and the page needs refreshing.

Secondly, if you’re lucky enough to get the site you fancied and got through on the website, you can’t book it because someone has only booked the Saturday but either side of the weekend is free. This seems to be on all of the sites including bank holidays or summer holidays.

I don’t think I am ‘just unlucky’ as I have noticed a few people comment in the caravan magazine (March issue 2016). We generally try and get as many weekend breaks as we can but due to the nature of the booking process and people being allowed to book one night we have been forced for the last few years to book on private sites, with our friends who have also been members of the caravan club for years.

It is now decision time for us as yet again for the Easter breaks we have booked a private site near the Lakes.

Shame on you Caravan Club! We pay membership for a service we cannot receive and yet your happy to take our monies each year. 

I think the main reason you are finding this problem is mainly not due to people booking only one (Saturday) night, but rather what you could call "overlapping bookings"

Consider the scenario of people wishing to maximise their time away, as we used to do when we had only school holidays in which to caravan.

Work finishes too late on a Friday for many to get to their chosen site, so most will start their break on the Saturday.

However, at the end of their break, they don't want to go home till the Sunday, so they also book the Saturday night, thus making the holiday 8 or 15 nights.

So Saturdays are in great demand.

Then there are the "weekenders".  Some can arrive on Friday, so book Friday and Saturday nights, but others may not be able to arrive until Saturday and wish to make the most of things so book Saturday and Sunday nights.

As far as banning anyone from booking only a Saturday goes, this is not on.

Consider those who may be travelling to and from, for example, ferries, we don''t all live close enough to the ferry ports to be able to make the journey in one day, so we need to book the Saturday night on the way down, and another Saturday night on the way back.

Or they may be travelling to a site that is too far to reach in one day.  The result is the same.

No wonder Saturdays get booked up quickly!

 

Very well said (written)

"We generally try and get as many weekend breaks as we can....."

Ah, so its you stopping me having a full 7 day week at the site?

I am joking but you can see that there could be lots of reasons why people find certain perceived booking patterns frustrating.

jomo65.   Just because a site is showing "yellow" on a particular day does not mean that members are only booking a single day. As KjellNN explained very well, there is probably an overlap where members take two day breaks either side of the said day, thus the middle day is full while days before and after are not showing as full but are probably very near to it, this also happens on other days of the week so is not conducive to Saturdays, hope this aids KjellNN's explanation...

If I was self employed, with a partner, and or friends that I go with, then I would get well organised before the bookings day, decide as a team not to limit my location to a particular area, but have a plan B then:

make some time as a self employee on bookings day to make that special booking

or

let my partner make the time to be the one to make that booking

or

see if my friend and/or his/her partner could make the booking

Its not an ideal scenario, but if you need a specific location, with specific needs on possibly the busiest weekend in the year, then it's possibly the best option. 

 

Well I am here to moan about the poor process that the caravan club operates.

I work full time and have a family. I am also self-employed so time with my family is precious and limited.  Over the last few years it has become increasingly harder perhaps impossible, to book and plan our holidays.

Firstly we are forced to decide on a working day in December, when, where and how long we would like to go to any destination for the year. It’s like a rugby scrum as the website is so busy and overloaded that it keeps crashing and the page needs refreshing.

Secondly, if you’re lucky enough to get the site you fancied and got through on the website, you can’t book it because someone has only booked the Saturday but either side of the weekend is free. This seems to be on all of the sites including bank holidays or summer holidays.

I don’t think I am ‘just unlucky’ as I have noticed a few people comment in the caravan magazine (March issue 2016). We generally try and get as many weekend breaks as we can but due to the nature of the booking process and people being allowed to book one night we have been forced for the last few years to book on private sites, with our friends who have also been members of the caravan club for years.

It is now decision time for us as yet again for the Easter breaks we have booked a private site near the Lakes.

Shame on you Caravan Club! We pay membership for a service we cannot receive and yet your happy to take our monies each year. 

...I think you are being a bit off course with how you percieve the booking system ,as by the  majority of posts on here in Dec were quite positive of the ease of the updated system,and as for Sat only bookings that is really just summiseing as it more likely to be overlaps, with some arriving Sat through to the following Sun  and so on,sorry if as a new poster it will not be the answer you were hoping for but it is how the system has worked  for the majority

Saturday does seem to be a significant change over day in my experience. We just got back from Baltic Wharf, a small site so you are very aware of what is going on. We stopped Sunday to Sunday, but a significant number of long stayers departed on the Saturday. Incidentally we also, when we were working, used to use Friday, Saturday and Sunday as travelling days, so each one would be spent at a different site if going any distance.

No great surprise really that Saturday is busy. Still an awful lot of people employed Mon to Friday, so of course Saturday is start of weekend for most, unless they have time to get away to a close location on the Friday after finishing. Neither OH or I worked Monday to Friday, so we never had a problem in 30 years getting away on other days of week. Traditional change over day for cottages, hotels, B and B's, although a good few are Friday to Friday as well.

so someone who wants to book just one night wouldn't be able to since you want to change the current system to suit your needs? Why are you different to anyone else and deserve such special treatment?

For sone reason club sites are in demand at peak times and at the moment the booking system is fair to all.

Write your comments here...although I agree with you, why would the many retired members want to book bank holiday weekends anyway ? Sites are much more pleasant and uncrowded away from School holidays and Bank holidays, so those that NEED their weekends away, can get them.But I also think that NO section of the Membership should be treated any differently from any other, we had to find our own way through it when WE were working and had young children. The Club is doing a good job IMHO.Those who cancel repeatedly after booking DO get censured, so no change required there.