The CC in their wisdom have an up to the minute booking system via the t'interweb. But if you don't book within the first couple of days of the web being opened you have no chance. We can only go away at weekends and Cumbria is booked up for the whole of this season. If you phone on a Friday morning there may have been some cancellations. But I can not do that - I need a couple of days. There are endless cancellations and no shows because of this system. Something needs to be done. Why not allow only say 5 bookings to be made in advance. Or if you can only book more than 3 days in advance - so weekends can only be booked a week in advance. After all who knows in January what you will be doing the third week in August? It is a shambles and needs to be sorted. Any Views? MC
Book Early
- Thread starter MJC
- Start date
Have you made your views known to the CC, unless they are informed of your concerns how can they do anything about it?
I've just looked Cumbria and there's space at lots of sites - but you have to select 'Pitch with awning' - all the 'pitch without awning' places appear to be full for every day of the whole season!! I think if you look again there should be pitches - there are certainly pitches available even during the school holidays at sites I've just looked at.
Thats really odd -if you look at the CC sites in Cumbria there's nowhere booked up at all now - even the bank holidays. A couple of weeks ago every weekend was booked. I know - I tried. Now its clear. Don't know what's going on. Maybe its the tonic the doctor gave me - taking too much gin with it.
Val the reason there are no pitches available without awning is because every pitch has room for a awning,it had me fooled for a while. J.Lo
Just looking at it from the Clubs angle Mandy, you say you can only go away weekends. I'm sure they would rather see the pitches booked up all the week rather than just with weekenders and empty the rest of the week. I'm sure it's not your fault but I'm sure that is the way the Club will see it if you complain.
Given the average age of CC members and the recent cold weather there should be lots of pitches available soon ;O)
I have this problem every year as we can't book until last the minute but when we get a cancellation the site seems to have loads of free pitches.
The system is wrong and they should bring back a deposit system.
Brian
I have this problem every year as we can't book until last the minute but when we get a cancellation the site seems to have loads of free pitches.
The system is wrong and they should bring back a deposit system.
Brian
Alan I have written to the cc a couple of times. I asked for it to be a letter to the members (it is a paying club) but they did not publish it. I have put 2 ideas to them - you can only bok more than a 3 day stay in advance of 2 weeks or you can only book 4 or 5 in advance - so you can't book for the whole year at one sitting. Anyway they say they area victim of their own success - thanks for that. As for weekends/weeks - I tried to book 2 weeks at one site in Tenby or Norfolk - I couldn't do it because the weekends were full. As I said I looked at these sites before and they were full - today they are not - there is something gone on here. And I do know how to use the website. Please give me some credit. It is a big problem and I have trieed to speak to the cc. People on sites are fed up. The CC are not bothered.Mandy
Hi
Not trying to down the CC, but there are many sites in Cumbria, from the North to the South, we booked up last year about a week before, NOT Keswick as we wanted something different, try the site out near Portinscale, never been there but been passed it dzens of times looks pretty good.
Not trying to down the CC, but there are many sites in Cumbria, from the North to the South, we booked up last year about a week before, NOT Keswick as we wanted something different, try the site out near Portinscale, never been there but been passed it dzens of times looks pretty good.
I don't bother booking weekend, if I want to go out for a weekend I just check the C C website for weekend avallabilty and decide where to go.
Mandy,
I have just checked the "late availability" on caravan club web site and except for Easter weekend there are plenty of vacancies on many sites.
You say people you have spoken to on site are fed up.Most people i have spoken to are more than satisfied, however i am in the retired group who may look at it from a different angle.
Hamer
I have just checked the "late availability" on caravan club web site and except for Easter weekend there are plenty of vacancies on many sites.
You say people you have spoken to on site are fed up.Most people i have spoken to are more than satisfied, however i am in the retired group who may look at it from a different angle.
Hamer
I must have been exceptionally lucky in past years because this year was the first time I wanted to book a weekend and I couldn't at my chosen site. Every other time I've had no problems booking a pitch. The reason I probably couldn't book was because it was Easter and I left it too late.
One of my favourite sites in the Lake District is Low Manesty. I've just done an availibility search for that site in June, July, August and September and all of those months theres pitches available. Contrary to what you said Mandy are you sure you know how to use the web site?
One of my favourite sites in the Lake District is Low Manesty. I've just done an availibility search for that site in June, July, August and September and all of those months theres pitches available. Contrary to what you said Mandy are you sure you know how to use the web site?
your not on your own with noticing the club sites are allways fully booked, we use the burrs quite a bit and have to book at least 2 month in advance.
i have tried to book the site for this weekend but as expected it is showing full, however i know from past experiance that if i ring on friday they will allmost sertainly have pitches available as people will have rang to cancell.
I think its great to be able to book the sites online and not have to pay a deposit but a lot of people tend to abuse the system and book all year then cancell at the last minuite if they do not wish to go, i find these people selfish and its not in the least fair on those that cant get a booking, a much fairer system would be to leave it as it is but if you cancell more than say 3 bookings within 6 months then you lose the right to book anymore and have all your future bookings cancelled, unless of course you have a genuine reason other than you just cant be bothered going or your going some where else.
another thing ive noticed is the growing tendency of some retired members who now book wed to fri to avoid the busy weekend but by leaving saturday they are stoping the club from taking more lucrative weekend bookings.
i have tried to book the site for this weekend but as expected it is showing full, however i know from past experiance that if i ring on friday they will allmost sertainly have pitches available as people will have rang to cancell.
I think its great to be able to book the sites online and not have to pay a deposit but a lot of people tend to abuse the system and book all year then cancell at the last minuite if they do not wish to go, i find these people selfish and its not in the least fair on those that cant get a booking, a much fairer system would be to leave it as it is but if you cancell more than say 3 bookings within 6 months then you lose the right to book anymore and have all your future bookings cancelled, unless of course you have a genuine reason other than you just cant be bothered going or your going some where else.
another thing ive noticed is the growing tendency of some retired members who now book wed to fri to avoid the busy weekend but by leaving saturday they are stoping the club from taking more lucrative weekend bookings.
How can you be sure that it is retired people? Anyway I don't see any harm in a person leaving on a Saturday. It may be annoying but then I am sure we all do things that are annoying to others.
ICEMAKER.
In response to your comment above;
"another thing ive noticed is the growing tendency of some retired members who now book wed to fri to avoid the busy weekend but by leaving saturday they are stoping the club from taking more lucrative weekend bookings"
I am a retired person (due to disability not age) and like to go away Mon, Tue, Wed or Wed, Thur, Fri. That way I avoid the weekend madness.
I do NOT block book like many inconsiderate members but simply ring the site a few days before to see if they have a pitch available.
As a club member I have just as much right to stay a few nights midweek and leave on a Saturday morning as you have to stay at the weekend.
I am not being inconsiderate, I am simply trying to enjoy as many short breaks in the caravan as I can.
Steve
In response to your comment above;
"another thing ive noticed is the growing tendency of some retired members who now book wed to fri to avoid the busy weekend but by leaving saturday they are stoping the club from taking more lucrative weekend bookings"
I am a retired person (due to disability not age) and like to go away Mon, Tue, Wed or Wed, Thur, Fri. That way I avoid the weekend madness.
I do NOT block book like many inconsiderate members but simply ring the site a few days before to see if they have a pitch available.
As a club member I have just as much right to stay a few nights midweek and leave on a Saturday morning as you have to stay at the weekend.
I am not being inconsiderate, I am simply trying to enjoy as many short breaks in the caravan as I can.
Steve
ian its pretty easy to tell when you think about it, anyone thats not retired would be in work and any one thats out of work apart from holidays would not stay on club sites anyway,and i did say it was a trend i had noticed the retired fraternity starting to carry out and at no point did i state only the retired members, it could be others too but ive only observed people of advanced age doing this.
Meister, please dont shout its rude!, i am having trouble understanding that if you wish to avoid the weekend madness then why stay any later than friday morning ? i turn up on site at round about 14.00 on a friday afternoon and stay untill lunch sunday, friday afternoon and all day saturday (the day you leave)are the busiest times a site has so are in actuall fact staying on site during this "madness" all be it only untill saturday lunch but its still 24 hours of what you call "madness" ?. and like i said it stops the club from renting out that pitch for the weekend which is after all the only time people still in work can visit.
I dont wish to get in to a protracted debate with you after all it was only an observation but im sure when i retire if i want peace and tranquility i certainly would not still be on a site on a saturday morning.
Meister, please dont shout its rude!, i am having trouble understanding that if you wish to avoid the weekend madness then why stay any later than friday morning ? i turn up on site at round about 14.00 on a friday afternoon and stay untill lunch sunday, friday afternoon and all day saturday (the day you leave)are the busiest times a site has so are in actuall fact staying on site during this "madness" all be it only untill saturday lunch but its still 24 hours of what you call "madness" ?. and like i said it stops the club from renting out that pitch for the weekend which is after all the only time people still in work can visit.
I dont wish to get in to a protracted debate with you after all it was only an observation but im sure when i retire if i want peace and tranquility i certainly would not still be on a site on a saturday morning.
CC site availability is a real problem to those of us who can't prebook months and months ahead. For what it's worth, I think there should be a limit on the number of bookings that a member can make - I'd say 3. Also, I like Icemaker's suggestion re no-shows and cancellations. I'd also make deposits mandatory.
Trouble is, if they don't sort it out soon, everyone will be block booking and cancelling ad infinitum (I must admit I have been tempted to bang a load of provisional bookings into the system in January, but just cannot do that to fellow members).
Trouble is, if they don't sort it out soon, everyone will be block booking and cancelling ad infinitum (I must admit I have been tempted to bang a load of provisional bookings into the system in January, but just cannot do that to fellow members).
Mandy,
What is wrong with Certificated Sites and Locations? From choice that is all we use. In fact, travelling up to Thirsk for the CC&C Folk Group Rally, we stop at a 5-van J7 M5, up to Worksop Rugby Club and then up to Thirsk. Back to Beverley, Leconfield 5-van site and haven't booked any further south than that.
Margaret W.
What is wrong with Certificated Sites and Locations? From choice that is all we use. In fact, travelling up to Thirsk for the CC&C Folk Group Rally, we stop at a 5-van J7 M5, up to Worksop Rugby Club and then up to Thirsk. Back to Beverley, Leconfield 5-van site and haven't booked any further south than that.
Margaret W.
Sometimes its worth phoning the site, rather than believing what the interactive site says.
No doubt there should be some sort of restriction on how many bookings one can make in advance, 3or 5 who knows but no shows should be treated as abusing the system and somesort of action should be in place to punish/reprimand those that constantly fall foul of it.
No doubt there should be some sort of restriction on how many bookings one can make in advance, 3or 5 who knows but no shows should be treated as abusing the system and somesort of action should be in place to punish/reprimand those that constantly fall foul of it.
It seems that every year we ge the same complaint that sites seem to be booked up very early. It is often stated that some people book up several sites but only end up using one, so to reduce and almost stop these phantom bookings surley the situation should be that full payment or a significant proportion such as 60 or 70% of the site fees must be paid up front at time of booking with no refunds for no shows unless a bone fide reasons is given and supported with evidence.
Until payment is received by the site operator, that pitch remains open.
I think that would make most people think twice about multiple booking if it hurts their pocket!
Until payment is received by the site operator, that pitch remains open.
I think that would make most people think twice about multiple booking if it hurts their pocket!
For 10 yrs I never belong to any club and it was hard to get a commercial site at sort notice during Bank holidays and weekend on some popular site.and that is nothing to do with a non refundable deposit it is just that there is too many caravaners and not enough pitches available
A lot of complaints seem to be centred on members making multiple bookings, if you're in a position to be able to book a number of holidays in advance then why shouldn't you, after all everyone pays the same membership fees and each are entitled to book as and when they want.
I totally agree with the suggestions regarding no shows ,yes these inconsiderate people should be penalised, as for the paying of deposits, if the caravan club started taking deposits it wouldn't stop me from making the same number of bookings that I make now, I would pay the deposit it would just mean lees to pay on arrival.
In the last four years that we have been caravan club members the number of sites that we have been unable to book have been minimal, but if that is the case then we put it down to hard luck and leave it to visit at another time, after all it's not the end of the world.
I totally agree with the suggestions regarding no shows ,yes these inconsiderate people should be penalised, as for the paying of deposits, if the caravan club started taking deposits it wouldn't stop me from making the same number of bookings that I make now, I would pay the deposit it would just mean lees to pay on arrival.
In the last four years that we have been caravan club members the number of sites that we have been unable to book have been minimal, but if that is the case then we put it down to hard luck and leave it to visit at another time, after all it's not the end of the world.
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