Camping cheques/ACSI card etc booking ahead

[otherclive]

I am interested in uusing one of the discount schemes for travel to France next year. The article in PC was very useful but did not say whether you can book ahead using these vouchers/cheques/card. Can you ring a proposed site say 1 week ahead, one day ahead or do you just have to turn up and rely on luck. We stayed at Val de Cantobre last year and even in early/mid June people were being turned away if they had no booking. I'd be interested to hear of actual experience please.

Cheers

Other Clive

 

[ValA.]

You can book months ahead with Camping Cheques if you wish - and usually the site will request a deposit - which is often a couple of cheques. Others on another forum have already booked pitches for next year. If you hold a 'Gold Card' (a Camping Cheque electronic version of the paper cheques) then you don't have to pay this advance deposit.

You can also ring ahead to reserve a pitch a few days in advance - and if you're on a Camping Cheque site already, then reception staff will sometimes help out with this. The Camping Cheque guide which comes with the cheques suggests sites on which it may be advisable to book ahead - and usually suggests dates when this may apply.

However, we've been using Camping Cheques for 12 years and have NEVER booked ahead, or even phoned to see if pitches were available, and have NEVER not found a pitch. Val de Cantobre is one of the most popular sites, but we've found pitches there with no problem. We always travel in late May/early June - and have even found sites to be almost empty. This year we used Touring Cheques for the first time, and at Bastide en Ardeche (one of their sites) in June this year we were one of only 10 occupied pitches on a site with over 200 pitches.

We also use an ACSI card - and I don't think you can book ahead using this - but others may prove me wrong.

As these discount schemes are all meant to be used in low season, and acceptance dates set by the sites themselves, then this should mean that they expect to have pitches available.

 

[anotherDavid]

You can book months ahead with Camping Cheques if you wish - and usually the site will request a deposit - which is often a couple of cheques. Others on another forum have already booked pitches for next year. If you hold a 'Gold Card' (a Camping Cheque electronic version of the paper cheques) then you don't have to pay this advance deposit.

You can also ring ahead to reserve a pitch a few days in advance - and if you're on a Camping Cheque site already, then reception staff will sometimes help out with this. The Camping Cheque guide which comes with the cheques suggests sites on which it may be advisable to book ahead - and usually suggests dates when this may apply.

However, we've been using Camping Cheques for 12 years and have NEVER booked ahead, or even phoned to see if pitches were available, and have NEVER not found a pitch. Val de Cantobre is one of the most popular sites, but we've found pitches there with no problem. We always travel in late May/early June - and have even found sites to be almost empty. This year we used Touring Cheques for the first time, and at Bastide en Ardeche (one of their sites) in June this year we were one of only 10 occupied pitches on a site with over 200 pitches.

We also use an ACSI card - and I don't think you can book ahead using this - but others may prove me wrong.

As these discount schemes are all meant to be used in low season, and acceptance dates set by the sites themselves, then this should mean that they expect to have pitches available.

No you cant book ahead with the ASCI card. I got a bit annoyed with the owner of Camping Domaine Catiniere who wouldnt even accept it because I had rung ahead to check on openong times (they close the gate at 22:00 and wont open it until 8) however some others might be more flexible.

Dave

 

[DianneT]

I have emailed 2 or 3 days ahead to find out whether an ACSI site has any vacancies to be sure of getting a place there and they have replied with availability. I did this last May when we travelled in a group of three outfits in Austria and Hungary. The site in Budapest kept 3 pitches for us. I have also booked sites months ahead in Austria and Germany for specific pitches and they know we have ACSI, without any problem.

Di