Easter Bank Holiday - No room at the inn.

[CustardAvenger]

So I forgot that there was a 4-day Bank Holiday weekend in April; it was brought to my attention that this may be the only chance we have this season to get away in the van, due to work commitments.

What I have found is that every single pitch at every CAMC & C&CC club site has been booked. Other sites are down to grass-only non-EHU pitches. No good for me. I can't believe how hard it is to find a site in my required area - I'm searching across 5 or 6 counties and coming up with nowt.

Wish me luck finding a pitch when I start calling up CLs!

 

[Craigyoung]

Your last sentence , yes do that , ring , if you have been looking on the website as I found out about a site at the Peak District still had pitches but the website was showing full or just an odd night available . Always plan ahead when it comes to bank holidays , my lieu day requests for Easter went in at Christmas at work and were granted straight away for easter so site was booked just before the new year !
Good luck .

 

[Andyems]

I found exactly the same, we didn’t plan to be away at Easter as sold our old van in October and didn’t think we would have our new one in time. However, the right van at the right price came up so I then had to go through the same as you! We too always go for CAMC sites first, but when the only one available was Gatwick (literally at the end of the runway), I had to look elsewhere. Ended up using Pitchup to find a really nice looking site with great reviews just outside Bexhill on Sea.
Good Luck!

 

[otherclive]

One thing and another the last 12 months were not good for getting away. However we spotted a chance fir mid May Wednesday to Sunday. A lot of CMHC sites had pitched except into the weekend. So I wasn’t able to book. I believe that the 12 month advance booking system doesn’t help. It’s not our style to just book willy nilly that far in advance except perhaps for a main holiday.
So we tend to go CCC where the deposit scheme tends to obviate against speculative bookings. We also use CL CS or private sites and it’s suprising how the quality has come up over the years and prices aren’t too different from CMHC and in some instances cheaper.
So we are looking forward to a few days in Bracelands Forest of Dean. Our first proper trip away in 12 months except for New Year.....again at Bracelands.

 

[Thingy]

What I have found is that every single pitch at every CAMC & C&CC club site has been booked. Other sites are down to grass-only non-EHU pitches. No good for me. I can't believe how hard it is to find a site in my required area - I'm searching across 5 or 6 counties and coming up with nowt.

Its not just Easter thats the the problem. I am finding more and more that if i dont book months in advance, all the good sites will be booked solid Friday and Saturday and empty most of the week. I think a lot of this may be down to the massive increase in motorhomes on club sites, which is making it far easier for their owners to get away for a weekend and not have to start pitching a caravan with awning.

The CAMC website is little use too. When doing an initial search for sites by date, it throws up results, only to find that when the site is checked, the requested availability doesnt exist. More frequently we are looking at non-club sites these days for availability, and it is noticeable that there appears to be less motorhomes on these than club sites.

Gone are the days when you could suddenly decide to *** off for a week, you may get Monday to Thursday on spec if you are lucky.

I'm searching across 5 or 6 counties and coming up with nowt.

Where are you looking at?

At the moment, I can see space with H/S and Awning at
Exebridge, Battle, Camelford, Exeter, Godrevy, Cromer, Looe, St Mawes, Modbury, Sidmouth, Paignton, Woolacombe. Almost all of Scotland too. I havent checked the affiliated sites. Just club sites.

 

[Raywood]

I am afraid Bank Holidays do book up quickly and I have yet to see a workable way round this. We avoid them if possible but that is one advantage of being retired.
Went to prepare our caravan for tour yesterday and plenty of people on the storage site doing the same.

 

[CustardAvenger]

I'm searching across 5 or 6 counties and coming up with nowt.

Where are you looking at?

At the moment, I can see space with H/S and Awning at
Exebridge, Battle, Camelford, Exeter, Godrevy, Cromer, Looe, St Mawes, Modbury, Sidmouth, Paignton, Woolacombe. Almost all of Scotland too. I havent checked the affiliated sites. Just club sites.

We've been to Devon/Dorset twice last year, actually staying at Exebridge. We were trying to find a site either in Shropshire, Cheshire or North Wales or at a push the Lakes.

 

[CustardAvenger]

I am afraid Bank Holidays do book up quickly and I have yet to see a workable way round this. We avoid them if possible but that is one advantage of being retired.
Went to prepare our caravan for tour yesterday and plenty of people on the storage site doing the same.

All our short trips last year were mid-week after taking annual leave. The sites were busy but not full. A trip to West Sussex in January saw us sharing the small site with only 3 other carravanners.

I did remark to my wife that there were loads of motorhomes on the road Friday, as I drove home from work.

 

[Hutch]

CA,, I can sympathise with you, we very seldom go away at Bank holidays and although we are members of both clubs, its purely for cl/cs sites. We are also luck enough to be able to get away mid week as we have stopped doing that 4 letter word, dare I print it "WORK". Hopefully out next week to either Houghton Mill, near Huntingdon, or Blue Lias pub, Southam.

 

[MeonIan]

With the kids grown up we too avoid bank holidays apart from Easter which we do book a year in advance. However this year we intend to leave the towing fraternity and purchase a motorhome. Two reasons really, too many cars in our road now make it a military operation to get the van out and hitched and usually worse on our return, secondly we just are not using the van enough because of lack of weekend use, not worth the hassle of getting it out late Friday afternoon and back in Sunday lunchtime. I'm sure we would use the motorhome more for weekends. Hopefully the rise in popularity of motorhomes won't put us all in a bad light................

 

[otherclive]

With the kids grown up we too avoid bank holidays apart from Easter which we do book a year in advance. However this year we intend to leave the towing fraternity and purchase a motorhome. Two reasons really, too many cars in our road now make it a military operation to get the van out and hitched and usually worse on our return, secondly we just are not using the van enough because of lack of weekend use, not worth the hassle of getting it out late Friday afternoon and back in Sunday lunchtime. I'm sure we would use the motorhome more for weekends. Hopefully the rise in popularity of motorhomes won't put us all in a bad light................

You are forgiven
I understand your dilemma and wish you success in the new motorhome. My wife's hairdresser did exactly the same thing and now they shoot off Friday late afternoon and drive home Sunday evening, but also do longer hauls into Spain to their villa, but not for the weekend.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Year on year we see the same booking difficulties arising, and when we get into the season , the comments about spaces being left vacant as people don't show.

The popular suspicion is that some people deliberately book several sites with the intention of leaving their choice of which one to actually use closer to the arrival date.

Will anyone admit to this practice?

I would be interested to know from some site operators what their. "no show" numbers actually are. There will of course be some genuine reasons why some don't turn up.

I'm not so sure the practice is as wide spread as people might think, but if it is, then one solution would be for site operators to charge a non refundable administration fee to make a booking equivalent two or more nights stay.

This would impose a financial burden on those who try to make multiple bookings, also a no show is lost revenue to the site owner, who has reserved a pitch, which no one uses.

And for those with a genuine reason for not making it to the site, they should perhaps be taking out holiday insurance or be prepared to stand the loss.

 

[CustardAvenger]

One thing and another the last 12 months were not good for getting away. However we spotted a chance fir mid May Wednesday to Sunday. A lot of CMHC sites had pitched except into the weekend. So I wasn’t able to book. I believe that the 12 month advance booking system doesn’t help. It’s not our style to just book willy nilly that far in advance except perhaps for a main holiday.
So we tend to go CCC where the deposit scheme tends to obviate against speculative bookings. We also use CL CS or private sites and it’s surprising how the quality has come up over the years and prices aren’t too different from CMHC and in some instances cheaper.
So we are looking forward to a few days in Bracelands Forest of Dean. Our first proper trip away in 12 months except for New Year.....again at Bracelands.

We let our C&CC membership lapse this year as we could not see us using it...Still have CAMC membership.

CLs I've tried so far have been full.

 

[CustardAvenger]

Year on year we see the same booking difficulties arising, and when we get into the season , the comments about spaces being left vacant as people don't show.

The popular suspicion is that some people deliberately book several sites with the intention of leaving their choice of which one to actually use closer to the arrival date.

Will anyone admit to this practice?

I would be interested to know from some site operators what their. "no show" numbers actually are. There will of course be some genuine reasons why some don't turn up.

I'm not so sure the practice is as wide spread as people might think, but if it is, then one solution would be for site operators to charge a non refundable administration fee to make a booking equivalent two or more nights stay.

This would impose a financial burden on those who try to make multiple bookings, also a no show is lost revenue to the site owner, who has reserved a pitch, which no one uses.

And for those with a genuine reason for not making it to the site, they should perhaps be taking out holiday insurance or be prepared to stand the loss.

I had to cancel a site booking last minute... it was CAMC so I had not paid a deposit. It was the 5th site in a touring holiday, but I felt unwell and decided to go home rather than risk pitching up and then getting worse.
Even though I canceled via the website on the day of arrival, there was no consequence to this, other than a notice that they would take action if I kept doing it.

I think there should be a deposit system - which is refundable/transferable if the cancellation within a week or so.

 

[Thingy]

I think there should be a deposit system - which is refundable/transferable if the cancellation within a week or so.

I would have no problem with this either. We pay a deposit on commercial sites and very often the full amount upfront. A small token deposit should be no trouble to anyone.

What I would like to see is a bit more thought on site. So often, I book aan awning pitch only to find very little in the way of a suitable pitch on arrival. And so often I find the smallest motorhome on earth smack bang in the middle of the biggest pitch on site. Im not blaming the motorhomers per se, but rather the wardens.and of course the club. Whilst I respect the wish of any camper to camp where he wants if the club permits this, a bit of thought and consideration would go a long way.

 

[Craigyoung]

The prof says that some people make a few bookings for the same date on caravan Club sites but if I have one site booked on the website for a club site and if I go to price another club site for the same date and book it it will not let me as I am booked onto another site for them dates so how can people prebook sites like you say at the same time for the same dates ? You cant ? :blink:

 

[Thingy]

Thats right. It used to be possible a couple of years back, but they changed that for the very reason of multiple bookings.

 

[ProfJohnL]

The prof says that some people make a few bookings for the same date on caravan Club sites but if I have one site booked on the website for a club site and if I go to price another club site for the same date and book it it will not let me as I am booked onto another site for them dates so how can people prebook sites like you say at the same time for the same dates ? You cant ? :blink:

Strictly speaking I didn't limit the matter to Caravan Club sites it could be any site or organisation.

But again I would ask will anyone admit to making multiple bookings just in case....

 

[CustardAvenger]

The prof says that some people make a few bookings for the same date on caravan Club sites but if I have one site booked on the website for a club site and if I go to price another club site for the same date and book it it will not let me as I am booked onto another site for them dates so how can people prebook sites like you say at the same time for the same dates ? You cant ? :blink:

Strictly speaking I didn't limit the matter to Caravan Club sites it could be any site or organisation.

But again I would ask will anyone admit to making multiple bookings just in case....

I will...
I've just booked a Caravan Club site, nowhere near where I wanted to go, as a back-up while I continue to look for a CL that has a pitch closer to where I want. Not breaking the rules, just operating within the parameters of the system.