No News Yet on the New Booking System

Posted on 01/11/2021 13:56 by peedee

new pitch type ('aire pitch') to be sold via normal booking system to add useful extra capacity to sites and to provide extra dimension for touring vans (caravans and MH)

BB, Here is what the Club said about this at the 2020 AGM

"At the beginning of this year (2020) we commenced an exploration as to whether this is something we could viably offer. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, this project is currently temporarily suspended, however it is planned to re-initiate in 2021".

2021 is nearly at an end and to my knowledge nothing has yet happened.  Meantime others are cracking on raising the need for such facilities and over a hundred official Aires have been established in the last year along with ongoing trials in other areas.

peedee

 

 

Posted on 28/10/2021 13:51 by Takethedogalong

Dynamic pricing is actually happening via the Club, but seems limited to the Experience Freedom network at the moment. Friends of ours had to give up on touring last year, but they still enjoy Club Sites, and have younger family members who do still own a van. So they are using the very nice Glamping Pods. Last night, catch up conversation, and they are off to Cayton Bay late November, they have a Pod booked at...................£34 per night🤩 That includes heating, all towels and linens and wifi. As we said, at that price, why drag out the tourer?😁

I hope that they do dynamic price pitches, as spur of the moment tourers, we would love to pick up an on the day overnight stop for cheaper than usual.

Posted on 02/11/2021 12:45 by ErnieJH

What worries me about the proposed new booking system is the idea that as part of would be the introduction of deposits, to me this would be a retrograde step and would not solve the supposed booking problems.

There many aspects

The deposit, would it be a fixed amount, say £50, or would it be a percentage of the booking fee. If it’s a fixed amount then it could be more than the cost of a one night stay which would mean the wardens giving a refund when you arrive on site. If it’s a percentage, what would it be 20%, 50% or what.

The other fact is that deposits would favour the richer members who can afford to pay whatever is needed without thinking about it, whilst penalising those who have less money available, families on limited income and poorer pensioners and there are many around

Of course at a stroke it would reduce one of the main reason for being a member of the club for some undetermined benefit and introduce an additional level of administration.

 

Posted on 02/11/2021 13:56 by EmilysDad

... The other fact is that deposits would favour the richer members who can afford to pay whatever is needed without thinking about it, whilst penalising those who have less money available, families on limited income and poorer pensioners and there are many around

I can never get my head around that. You pay the same in total for the holiday whether it's all when you turn up like now or a percentage before hand & the remainder when you turn up.

Posted on 02/11/2021 13:27 by DavidKlyne

Thanks Rowena for passing the comments in this thread on to the decision makers.

I somehow doubt the Club will go down the punitive route of high deposits, I would fully expect them to be either around £25 or the cost of one nights site fees. The problem with the latter is that in high season, as previously discussed elsewhere that could be £40/50! That is why I would guess it would be nearer £25, at least initially. Having said that if it was based on one nights site fees it would at least be the same as the money you loose if you leave a site early so there would be a degree of fairness. Whether intentionally or not deposits, especially if based on one nights site fees will impact more on those that book many sites far in advance. If that is the case it would be interesting to see if that has any impact on availability if many bulked at paying deposits so far in advance. Perhaps something else to consider is what T&C's will be put in place regarding refunds of deposits and how close to the arrival date these will be given? Perhaps there should be some latitude built in to allow last minute changes to itineraries. 

To be able to book a particular pitch surface will be the major advantage to me as it removes any uncertainty. Some have mentioned whether there should be a price differential between, for example, grass and hardstandings. Whilst I would be happy to pay a pound extra for a hardstanding I would question whether it was fair. Sure a grass pitch has higher maintenance costs than hardstanding? If depends if they take initial cost into account. Whether electricity should be option I imagine would be more difficult to administer. Without costly upgrades to the system it would be difficult to isolate multi socket electric points? Without it would be open to abuse?

David

Posted on 02/11/2021 13:56 by EmilysDad

... The other fact is that deposits would favour the richer members who can afford to pay whatever is needed without thinking about it, whilst penalising those who have less money available, families on limited income and poorer pensioners and there are many around

I can never get my head around that. You pay the same in total for the holiday whether it's all when you turn up like now or a percentage before hand & the remainder when you turn up.

Posted on 02/11/2021 16:30 by KjellNN

I can sort of understand it, especially if you were booking a tour and the deposit was a fixed amount, or one nights fee, per booking, as David was suggesting.  

Yes, it has to be paid eventually, but if you were using several different sites and booking them at the same time,  it would soon mount up, and those on low incomes may budget so much per month to set aside over the year for holidays, and not be able to find that large an amount well ahead.

CCC take either 25%, or £25 if the total is under £100, or the full fee if that is under £25.   This is refundable if cancelling more than 31 days ahead, and possibly moveable to another booking if you have a good reason for needing to cancel.   Payment of the remainder is on the day of arrival.

 If CAMC were to have more punitive conditions, that would be bad.