New Booking System

Just made a booking today for Red Lion Touring Park in Stafford for October. No deposit asked for, the same as the last time we used it.

Why do you need specifics? It's almost as if you don't believe people when they say that some CLs (like the one I am currently on and the next one I will be moving to) and Commercial sites do not need deposits. 

Sure there are some that not only want deposits but the whole shebang weeks before arriving. We tend to avoid those as well. Only ones that we book very late and are committed to will get that but we'll continue to use sites that don't need deposits and some that do. 

Just accept they are out there.

But it was not really important how many were later resold from the point of view the Club were coming from. They were facing a lot of criticism that members could not book holidays because under the previous system it was so easy for others to book in advance and cancel without penalty. A large slice of those cancellations were very late in the day. I am sure many pitches were resold but it didn't solve the problem of people booking speculatively and then cancelling at the last moment. The Club wanted to improve general availability. They decided that a deposit system was the only way to achieve that. Now all that is history, we now have a deposit system and I would suggest there is no going back regardless how much we might like to analyse the reasons and motives of the Club?

David

Before deciding to spend an extortionate amount of money and completely alienate your main customer base it was extremely important to know what amount pitches were re sold and what your actual occupancy levels were.

A deposit system and or. extending the previous system instead of trying to bolt a UK based system onto a Continental booking system  and then trying to make them work was it seems not going work unless you  it seems by reports are an IT guru I have spoken to quite a few members on the three sites we have used since the unanoused implemtation and some had no idea it was in operation and those that has tried to use it including some non IT site staff were unable to wade through what is requested to get any easy results

Sorry, but I find you too confrontational to debate with, so as I said earlier, they are out there, all you have to do is look for them🤷‍♀️ I don’t fancy having my site preferences, my choice of how I holiday picked apart by others. We are away hopefully next week, and to date I haven’t parted with a single penny.

Regarding cancellations, I for one would have liked the Club to have provided more realistic facts and figures around the numbers of pitch nights that get cancelled at short notice. We have always made great use of picking up late cancellations, either by setting off early somewhere, or tagging on extra nights onto our holidays, and I am sure others out there will do the same. Therefore, we only have half a story used to justify the imposition of deposits and vastly extending the cancellation period.

It’s actually these huge changes to Membership terms and conditions, the cashing in on booking hardstandings, the disappearance of the MWD, the loss of being able to choose a pitch from a number of like options that I find more annoying than the pathetic if slowly improving booking system, along with the poor communications used. It’s still sugar coating itself with the “club” name, but it’s now just another commercial holiday agency trying to screw every penny it can from its customer base. ☹️

There is no point in going over these questions about what the club did or didn't do but it's a fact that nearly a million cancellations occurred and many members objected to speculative bookings that filled the system. A deposit puts the brakes on speculation and allows others to book the holidays they want.

Regarding discounts mentioned by TDA apparently these are in the pipeline.

So that's it from me. It is a big change and  change is always unsettling but it will settle down.

Comment from moderator: Part of this post has been removed

I wonder if CAMC did any survey into what devices people use to access the booking site? 

Screen size can make a difference in navigating the new maps and filters etc. Not to mention, the different operating systems between desktops etc and mobile devices.

I always use a large screen desktop for CAMC (because I can!), but I expect a substantial number of users just use the App on phones.

A deposit puts the brakes on speculation and allows others to book the holidays they want.

Thats news to me brue. As we book well ahead, I regard all our bookings as speculative. It’s just now we may loose a deposit if we cancel due to unforeseen circumstances. Nothing else has changed. Well except for the fact we won’t be booking as many CAMC sites and more C&CC ones.

I wonder if CAMC did any survey into what devices people use to access the booking site?

They will have a lot of information from their analysis of data detailing access to the web site. They will almost certainly know which operating systems and browsers are used and a breakdown of popularity along with IP addresses and which are popular search terms and pages etc.

peedee