New Booking System

From SteveL:

"It is also going to have the affect of folk only booking the lead member if they are not sure and that is bound to result in delays checking in, while things are sorted out and the correct payment calculated."

This has been suggested in a much earlier post to avoid having to input 2nd 'guest' DOB & speed up the booking procedure.

It will also save on any deposits paid & losses should cancellations occur.

I have mentioned before & not seen it commented on, that if you do multiple bookings (which the club have promoted this 'new experience' on) & you want to amend a booking to say take the grandchildren with, the amendment applies to ALL bookings.....

Another reason to keep it simple to just the lead member I feel!

It will be a shame if that happens, although I can understand it, as it will turn what should be a quick check in experience into a longer one and rather defeats what the CC were trying to achieve. Even those who have paid and declared all guests up front are likely to be inconvenienced, as at many sites there is not room to get round the queuing vehicles of those paying and amending bookings.

If too many members do this, with flexible pricing it would not be that difficult to charge a higher price for those booking in "guests" on arrival ,i.e make it cheaper at the time of booking. I guess the same could apply for those just arriving without a booking after all site manager's time costs money?

peedee

My argument is that if you have no choice but to lose money it is better to lose £8 rather than a much higher figure?

I agree especially as my excess on our travel insurance is £50 per person on a trip.

peedee

I expect the excess on The Caravan Club travel insurance when they introduce it will be at least that.

Changing to a deposit system was always going to be a massive move for members having had so many years of easy booking/cancelation. It seems strange that the club have also decided to add extra penalties like losing elements of the deposit if you want to make, what are, relatively minor changes. Was this really necessary? I don't suppose we will ever get any justification from the Club? It does seem that the Club like shooting themselves in the foot from time to time!

David

So today trying to book a couple of nights for 2nd week of November,  using web as I find App on a phone screen too muddled, to many bells and whistles on the GUI for a small screen.

Get as far a pay deposit, un-tick pay full amount, click proceed, tick reappears, try to un-tick, screen freezes, then it gave me a booking reference,  despite not having input any card details.

The idea of a web page or App is to have a simple and intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI) - one that can be used by IT gurus and non tech savvy users. Yes I have worked in IT and written programmes to support GUI's - these current versions are appalling.

Yes I support the requirement for a deposit, most sites out with the clubs expect it, but this wholesale changes to incorporate this doesn't seem to have been at all successful. 

Articles I've seen say it's based on a ferry booking system, bodging an existing system causes enormous issues when updates are issued. 

How many external users of all IT abilities did you have on your test panel?  Developers who wrote the system are not good testers in my experience.

I'm going to rely on phone or the site till this is sorted. 

I'm so glad to find this forum. I thought it was only me that was finding the new app and booking system totally garbage.....!

This is just a shambles heads should rule for this. I imagine a good slice of our membership money has been wasted on this project. 

I think you'll find even if you have paid in advance you will still have to check in before entering the site so will still have to wait in the queue.

It's certainly not only you look on Trust Pilot and Facebook there's many of us.