Secure you summer holiday for just £5 deposit

"As I posted on six sites I look at I can't get more than a few days but again what does that fact show?"

possibly as a result of more MH's, have not used a club site for maybe 2 years but the commercial sites i visit i have noticed that lots of MH's only rock up for a couple of days, 1 site i have used has changed its booking policy to a minimum of a 3 night stay, owner said he had complaints that regular customers could not book a 4 day weekend as before because Friday's were often booked but not Saturday and he put this down to MH's

as for loosing deposit, have had to cxl 2 commercial sites for July, because my OH has a badly broken wrist, both gave me a 12 month credit for my deposit, which i thought was very fair. Most large commercial sites have their own insurance scheme, so for not very much money you can cover your deposit and full fee if necessary.

I believe also, that if you have EU travel policy in force you can claim your deposit/fees on this policy provided you have proof of booking ?

If the Club feel that have made a mistake introducing deposits, why not just say so and go back to the old system of deposit free booking?

Have you ever known the Club to admit they were wrong?

Again it's interesting andor funny that when the club appears to respond to comments on here then it's never received well.

It was 'we need deposits' then when they came in, there were numerous posts against it, with I recall comments along the lines of the club having all this upfront money to get interest on and how bad is that?. Now a sort of halfway (well 3/4 back) house has been done which really benefits us all rather than say that's a very good deal the opposite happens. No doubt when this offer goes we'll be back to the opposite view -again.

No matter what the club does it's alway not well received by some.

No me it makes no difference what-so ever. The pitch fee has to be paid for at some point but I'll glady pay less.

It was PD and EuroT who said occupancy was down and PD who suggested it was because of MH but I think not and your post backs that up.

I'm not bothered who uses a club site but obviously they are being used. I'm not not bothered that I can't get what I want, as always one has to book early for club sites.

I've no idea what schemes are available on non club sites but I can't see it being far different from a £5 deposit which is refundable under the rules, I assume these schemes won't give you back the payment needed to pay for them?

As to travel insurance this has been discussed before but many, if not all, have an excess, ours is around a £100 so really not applicable to club sites, and probably many non club sites if your deposit is under that?

Again why so bothered Burt, you don't use club sites?

But has any business ever done that?

They don’t have to admit anything really, all the changes/offers since the initial change to deposits is a good indicator that changes have been needed.

We don’t have any issues with deposits, it’s the 21 day cancellation period that we don’t like, but I suppose the Club is just doing what any other holiday providers do. But, as I’ve said previously, the “Club” imposes this on fee paying Members.

We had to come home a night early last time out. We intended staying while around 7.30 pm to avoid traffic. Merely as a matter of courtesy, I range the site owner to let her know we were leaving. She insisted we had our last night fee back, despite me saying no, tried to suggest putting as a credit for us for next time, but no, insisted. It will be the first place we go back to when we can get away again. Lovely small site, and I wouldn’t expect a Club/commercial site to be this generous, but what customer care is all I can say.

Well it could be seen that the offers made so far, £5 off, 10% dspoists, were so successful in getting more people onto club sites, indeed how many on here have posted to the effect, that further offers could do even better?

It's a business decision pure and simple. Jet2 makes these all the time, low deposits, offers... so do Ryanair, yet their planes and holidays are mostly full. 

Personally I think as it's so low perhaps it should be non refundable no matter what? And have a refundable deposit at 10%, take your choice? 

CS said "Personally I think as it's so low perhaps it should be non refundable no matter what? And have a refundable deposit at 10%, take your choice?"

Does make you wonder if at £5 its worth the admin to refund? I expect the majority would be willing to give up a fiver? Having said that I still think there is a danger that having paid five pounds lots will not bother informing the site they are not coming. Two ways to get over that would be to go back to the old sanction system or perhaps a quid pro quo if want only to pay a five pound deposit the payment must be automatically paid on the morning of arrival? 

Regarding Ruf's point about  commercial sites, I can only say that Cofton and Wells Touring Park did not offer to reschedule the booking. I would also be surprised if insurance covered the cost which for the two sites was around £450. Despite having Covid on one of the sites I should have just carried and stayed at the site regardless.

David 

It's not the deposit that has stopped me booking Camc sites, it's the price per night. 

On our return from France 2 weeks ago we didn't have a single night booked for our journey home. 

We didn't have any trouble finding sites in the right place that had availability.

One site we stayed on was booked over the phone 3 hours before getting there, pitch allocated (but could change on arrival) paid in full.

The site was good, big gravel pitches, good facilities block, ehu on every pitch. No staff on site just the code for the barrier to enter, £24 a night. The owner lived close by and was available on the phone if needed.

Would definitely use again. 

Nearest club site was Thirsk, £27.50 a night on grass, old facilities. 

My issue with CAMC sites is that many are several miles away from anything, such as pubs, supermarkets, bus stops etc. We have a motorhome and cycle around once pitched using our racing bikes. Which is better for the environment than driving around in a motorhome. This needs the weather to be dry at the least. UK weather is not reliable. The idea of sitting in the motorhome for a week waiting for the rain to stop does not attract. Therefore we tend to book late.

Recently there was an offer over high season if you stayed a week, which we tend to. However it had to be booked by 30 June and you had to be more than 21 days ahead of arriving. Why? It certainly doesn't make us likely to book anything. The discount should apply for late bookers over the whole period. I assume they want to fill pitches.

I find I use sites less ofen as the years progress and look at affiliated sites first as they're often cheaper.