New Site Booking System

I appreciate that quite a lot of people view CT but dont contribute, and the changes have been in the magazine twice.

However, I would expect that the majority of members have no idea of the changes yet to come. I base this on my own experiences of communicating with a large group of people in writing and by e mail and still found many, many didnt take in the info they were being given.

The fact that the Club has given advanced notice but has not implemented immediately (correctly) will mean that those who simply skimmed the magazine, and just noticed "something about some changes" to the booking system will not have internalised this.

I predict absolute uproar once people start to have to pay deposits. Given much of the rationale for the changes is supposed to be to make bookings easier, I foresee another problem in the short term. If I have understood correctly, all existing bookings are to be converted to hard standing without deposits, and members being given the opportunity to amend, which many wont bother with. So, some will assume that when they arrive on site they will be able to select a grass pitch even though they are now booked for a HS.  I guess that will sometimes be OK and sometimes not. But the other possible scenario is that those booking once the new system starts will find a shortage of HS pitches for certain dates and sites, and so the Club will not have made things easier for them.  Possibly, with pitch surface selection, it will be more difficult in this first year.

We dont have any sites booked yet, CAMC or otherwise. We havnt even decided when and where we are going. First trip will be March, but probably not a CAMC site or CL.

I do think what will be fascinating, and we may have to wait until the end of 2023, is how the preferences for HS & grass pitches work out, and also the Serviced pitches - given some say they book a SP to guarantee HS pitch.

I do feel for the wardens for this next year - they are going to have a lot of explaining to do, I think.

Pretty much my take, too...

when I was first working in IT and started giving presentations, a colleague of mine gave me this advice...

"tell 'em what you're going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told them"

even then, often the message didn't get through😉

im confident the first time many will have come across the changes will be when they try their first booking and then the 'absolute uproar' can begin...

But doing the logical thing is an anathema to those at HO.

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So ... I will repeat what I said many pages ago ...

With this change to the booking system, the Club voluntarily gives up it's enviable USP 🤷 An act of self harm. In turn, this means the Friendly Club and Commercial sites no longer need to improve their offering or keep prices lower to compete ... so who are the loosers? You. Me. All of the touring community. I guarantee the competition cannot believe their luck ...

The deposit system as we currently understand it, discriminates against families as they have to pay considerably more than a (often boomer ?) couple for the same size pitch. To be fare, the deposit must be charged according to the pitch type and not the number of occupants. (If you rent a cottage, it is a fixed price regardless of the number of occupants)

For those that need to cancel at late notice I feel for you. You pay an annual membership fee and pay a higher pitch fee than all other comparative sites ... you deserve better.

Most members are unaware of the proposed changes. Caravaning friends and neighbours knew nothing until we alerted them. Our kids who are busy training the troops or delivering babies and are so busy with their jobs and COVID had no idea.

To the person who suggested that youngsters want everything laid on and were happy to spend £100s for a few days glamping is wrong. Youngsters are buying caravans (and tents) in order to provide affordable holiday(s) for their kids. Caravan storage here is circa £250 covered per annum.

The rationale for introduction of deposits to increase pitch availability does *not stack up*.

There are a huge number of cancellations but the way they are calculated is misleading. Add to that the number of 72hr cancellations that are then resold and the argument again falls away.

The *only* reason to introduce deposits is to generate cash flow especially during the winter when members are thinking of sunnier times. I think the Club has been persuaded by Accountants who have never experienced a CAMC lifestyle and to be honest are not invested in whether it is successful or not.

 

 

 

 

They said that about the name change, having too many grass pitches, too many hard surface pitches, upping prices, Adopting Glamping & pods, not letting Moho’s use facs for free, letting folk get food deliveries. . .ad infinitum, yet the C&MC are still here & going from strength to strength. Thru the decades things have changed yet C&MC prevail👍🏻. They will be here when you & I have long gone TT😊

 

The deposit system as we currently understand it, discriminates against families as they have to pay considerably more than a (often boomer ?) couple for the same size pitch.

You make a very valid point. If the reason for the deposit is to prevent multiple speculative bookings, there is no need for this disparity. A more reasonable way would be a fixed charges of say, the full price if less or  £25 for up to 3 days, £50 for 3 days to a week, £75 for a week to 10 days and £100 for anything over that.

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The deposit system as we currently understand it, discriminates against families as they have to pay considerably more than a (often boomer ?) couple for the same size pitch.

Very true and I hope the club picks up on this, but a few points, firstly as been pointed out somewhere there is an easy fix to this which gets a family the same or even cheaper deposit than a couple, and secondly if a family is using a site where children are charged a pound a night it isn't going to be that much? A14 night stay for two children the deposit will be an extra £5.60.