Interested in your views on the benefits of ACSI card and Alan Rogers Camping cheque / Gold Card. As must of our touring will be overseas and out of season would either of these really be of benefit ?
PETERA
PETERA
cheque or card
- Thread starter PETERA
- Start date
i would certainly get the ACSI card.
Camping cheques are good too, extends your choice of sites a bit, but the "paying up front" requirement does put us off a little. I don't really know what advantage the Gold Card gives.
We have been using ACSI for several years now, only tried Camping Cheques this year. Both schemes work well and do save you a fair bit of money.
Camping cheques are good too, extends your choice of sites a bit, but the "paying up front" requirement does put us off a little. I don't really know what advantage the Gold Card gives.
We have been using ACSI for several years now, only tried Camping Cheques this year. Both schemes work well and do save you a fair bit of money.
Hi Petera
You will find lots of information about ACCI card and Camping Cheques on this forum if you run a search.
It is a good idea to have both if you travel outside the peak season (some sites even accept them in Peak Season) as this will give you a greater coverage and one often covers an area that the other does not.
The main difference is that you buy Camping Cheques up front from the organisation, whereas you pay the actual camp sites when you use ACCI card, but at the ACCI agreed discount price. With ACCI you have to buy their camp site guide book, which comes with a card attached. It is best to get the guide as early as possible (it comes out in December) as the English language version can be in short supply later.
Camping Cheques is a French company and you can deal directly with them through their web site. Make sure you go to campingcheques.com rather than campingcheques.co.uk which will take you to Alan Rogers which is an agent for them, as are the Caravan Club. I would advise having a gold or silver card, which you can find out about on the French web site (English language is available). This way you can top up at any time on line at the Euro rate, which is currently cheaper than the price the agents charge in £ sterling. The gold card does involve an outlay of about 30 euros but if you use it a lot it pays for itself.
Hope this helps, but if you have any specific questions please post them here and there will be plenty of users who will be pleased to help as well as myself.
You will find lots of information about ACCI card and Camping Cheques on this forum if you run a search.
It is a good idea to have both if you travel outside the peak season (some sites even accept them in Peak Season) as this will give you a greater coverage and one often covers an area that the other does not.
The main difference is that you buy Camping Cheques up front from the organisation, whereas you pay the actual camp sites when you use ACCI card, but at the ACCI agreed discount price. With ACCI you have to buy their camp site guide book, which comes with a card attached. It is best to get the guide as early as possible (it comes out in December) as the English language version can be in short supply later.
Camping Cheques is a French company and you can deal directly with them through their web site. Make sure you go to campingcheques.com rather than campingcheques.co.uk which will take you to Alan Rogers which is an agent for them, as are the Caravan Club. I would advise having a gold or silver card, which you can find out about on the French web site (English language is available). This way you can top up at any time on line at the Euro rate, which is currently cheaper than the price the agents charge in £ sterling. The gold card does involve an outlay of about 30 euros but if you use it a lot it pays for itself.
Hope this helps, but if you have any specific questions please post them here and there will be plenty of users who will be pleased to help as well as myself.
We use both but are tending to use the ACSI Card more. If you buy your crossing with the Caravan Club they are best to buy fro Camping Cheques as you get them and face value and can buy them by credit card with no surcharge. Unfortunately as I use the Tunnel thanks to Tesco I can't buy them from the CC so have to go directly to Camping Cheques and I get a bit annoyed at their surcharges. Never seen any particular advantage in paying for one of the plactic cards as we don't book in advance.
David
David
We go in May/June and then again in mid August/September and use a combination of an ACSI card and Camping Cheques. You will certainly find an advantage if you stay on the sites they cover because you can save a great deal of money - possibly up to 35 euros per night saved if you're on site in the tail end of the high season when the site is still charging 50 euros and you're only paying 15 with either Camping Cheques or an ACSI card. On most sites you won't save as much as this, but it is possible!
Some sites accept them all season - and a lot more from around 15th August onwards so they can even be used during the school holidays on some sites. However, do check out the sites if you have particular places in mind or particular dates. They are only accepted on the sites in their guides and only on the dates specified by each site.
Some sites accept them all season - and a lot more from around 15th August onwards so they can even be used during the school holidays on some sites. However, do check out the sites if you have particular places in mind or particular dates. They are only accepted on the sites in their guides and only on the dates specified by each site.
I am as keen as anyone else to get a bargin and use ACSI quite often and also this year Camping Cheques for the first time (they came with the ferry booking) however we dont let the discounts take us over as some seem to do.
Acsi is very popular and some of the sites out of season are very crowded, not at all what we go for.This October we called at a site in St Pere Pescador Spain that was in the ACSI scheme but didnt stop, it was so crowded that it could have been summer. Just a mile away we paid €3 extra for all the space we could need on a much more pleasant site. I feel having driven all that way its not worth spoiling the stay for a couple of pounds a night.
Dave
Acsi is very popular and some of the sites out of season are very crowded, not at all what we go for.This October we called at a site in St Pere Pescador Spain that was in the ACSI scheme but didnt stop, it was so crowded that it could have been summer. Just a mile away we paid €3 extra for all the space we could need on a much more pleasant site. I feel having driven all that way its not worth spoiling the stay for a couple of pounds a night.
Dave
Personally we use ACSI all the time as they have 4 x as many sites in Europe than Camping Cheque. Having used ACSI for 7 years now, since its introduction, we have never come across an overcrowded site. But then we do not go to the most poular countries with the Brits, Spain and France. We go further East to Germany, Austria, Holland Belgium and Italy. I have written info on ACSI on my website address as below in my signature.
We've never found sites to be overcrowded, either, and generally visit sites in Southern France and Spain. Indeed, we've been one of only about ten units on a site with 240 pitches! It was idyllic - and we had the pool to ourselves most of the time. This year all the ACSI sites we used were excellent.
I do agree, though, that you shouldn't rule out other sites. We've stayed at some cracking little municipal sites too as overnight stops, and paid less per night than the lowest ACSI rate. Mind you, these didn't have swimming pools or some of the other facilities we like on our longer stay sites. Where ACSI and Camping Cheques are of benefit is on four-star sites which perhaps would cost 30 or 40 euros, and instead cost just 11, 13 or 15 euros.
I do agree, though, that you shouldn't rule out other sites. We've stayed at some cracking little municipal sites too as overnight stops, and paid less per night than the lowest ACSI rate. Mind you, these didn't have swimming pools or some of the other facilities we like on our longer stay sites. Where ACSI and Camping Cheques are of benefit is on four-star sites which perhaps would cost 30 or 40 euros, and instead cost just 11, 13 or 15 euros.
David Klyne
I don't understand your comments about surcharges. If you have a Gold Card and use the French web site you can pay by credit card and the only charge is about 3 euros in total for administration. By paying in euros using a Nationwide or similar no fee credit card it generally works out significantly cheaper than the £13.95 charged by Caravan Club and Alan Rogers, but of course you have to watch the exchange rates. The Gold Card is a modern electronic method of payment, very quick and easy to use compared to the old fashioned paper method used by the Caravan Club. As I said in my post, you can top up on line, anytime, or you can do it by phone and it is more or less instant. You automatically earn loyalty points for using the card and, if you use the card regularly, these easily cover the renewal fee every three years and you can cash them in for more cheques,which they will credit to your card. There is no language problem in dealing directly with the Camping Cheque centre in France as they have fluent English speaker to answer your phone calls or e-mails if you don't speak French, so I don't see the point in dealing through an agent in England, unless you obtain a package deal to include ferry crossings.
I don't understand your comments about surcharges. If you have a Gold Card and use the French web site you can pay by credit card and the only charge is about 3 euros in total for administration. By paying in euros using a Nationwide or similar no fee credit card it generally works out significantly cheaper than the £13.95 charged by Caravan Club and Alan Rogers, but of course you have to watch the exchange rates. The Gold Card is a modern electronic method of payment, very quick and easy to use compared to the old fashioned paper method used by the Caravan Club. As I said in my post, you can top up on line, anytime, or you can do it by phone and it is more or less instant. You automatically earn loyalty points for using the card and, if you use the card regularly, these easily cover the renewal fee every three years and you can cash them in for more cheques,which they will credit to your card. There is no language problem in dealing directly with the Camping Cheque centre in France as they have fluent English speaker to answer your phone calls or e-mails if you don't speak French, so I don't see the point in dealing through an agent in England, unless you obtain a package deal to include ferry crossings.
Keith
I only use paper Cheques which I buy before I go, At the campsite I just add an address label to them so no real problems as I don't fill them out. I think more and more I will use the ACSI Card as well as campsites that don't take either.
David
I only use paper Cheques which I buy before I go, At the campsite I just add an address label to them so no real problems as I don't fill them out. I think more and more I will use the ACSI Card as well as campsites that don't take either.
David
David
We are, of course, all free to use whatever method we like, and all have our preferences. I just felt I needed put in a word for the Gold Card and tthe French web site.
We also used the Tunnel, thanks to Tesco, recently - We finally managed to save enough tokens as we don't regularly shop there! I must say the experience was very quick and convenient, and we were impressed by the check in technology, especially on the return trip when the cameras read our number plate and we were greated by name on a monitor screen.
We are, of course, all free to use whatever method we like, and all have our preferences. I just felt I needed put in a word for the Gold Card and tthe French web site.
We also used the Tunnel, thanks to Tesco, recently - We finally managed to save enough tokens as we don't regularly shop there! I must say the experience was very quick and convenient, and we were impressed by the check in technology, especially on the return trip when the cameras read our number plate and we were greated by name on a monitor screen.
Thanks again to all
I can now see the benefits for both systems and so.
I have ordered the ACSI book and card but will wait until the spring when our van is complete before I get the Gold Card. From what I can make out you can top the value up on this at regular intervals so you don't have tie up too much cash if your doing long trips.
I also agree that these savings shouldn't prevent us using other sites if better located.
PETERA
I can now see the benefits for both systems and so.
I have ordered the ACSI book and card but will wait until the spring when our van is complete before I get the Gold Card. From what I can make out you can top the value up on this at regular intervals so you don't have tie up too much cash if your doing long trips.
I also agree that these savings shouldn't prevent us using other sites if better located.
PETERA
Don't forget if you are staying on one site for a month or more they will often quote you a monthly rate which is cheaper than ACCI or Camping Cheque!
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