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I too could not access the survey having cancelled my membership but I gather from the comments on here the relevant questions are being asked ie : Using cards to reserve a pitch and whether you would be willing to pay a deposit etc etc. I have written to them asking that as an ex member ( no longer a member for the reason of not being able to get the pitches I want) if my view could also be taken into account in the survey results.

I would be willing to leave card details to secure a pitch on the understanding I would be debited for a late cancellation/no show

I would like to see a "rolling date" booking system where everyone had a fair crack at the whip when it comes to popular site. The one date in december farce it totally unfair to people who have to work on that day or cannot access it for reason of site over load or  they are ill or an emergency comes up or whatever.

The above things are what any other commercial site /hotel/package holiday would do.( They would take a deposit too)

Why do the caravan club have to be different?

If they did these things  ie have a rolling booking date system and card details held it would satisfy ALL members not just the ones who prefer the system as it is. There are alot of disgruntled member out there.

Be fair to everyone.

just another view on the deposit idea which to a degree i think is a fair system , BUT , what happens if a few hours before your intended arrival time ,in your opinion , it becomes for instance too windy to safely tow a caravan ??

Do you lose your deposit through no fault of your own even if you phone at the last minute to cancel due to adverse weather ?

Then does the CC decide whether the conditions were bad enough for you to get your deposit back or lose it ?

Maybe in that instance the fairest way would be to use the deposit against another stay at that site later on...providing it isnt already fully booked of course ....

Quote: Originally posted by bev+jon on 01/2/2010

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just another view on the deposit idea which to a degree i think is a fair system , BUT , what happens if a few hours before your intended arrival time ,in your opinion , it becomes for instance too windy to safely tow a caravan ??

Do you lose your deposit through no fault of your own even if you phone at the last minute to cancel due to adverse weather ?

Then does the CC decide whether the conditions were bad enough for you to get your deposit back or lose it ?

Maybe in that instance the fairest way would be to use the deposit against another stay at that site later on...providing it isnt already fully booked of course ....

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You can add a host of other things to list of reasons for people cancelling within the 24 hours before travelling. Would you be happy being   penalised if you broke a bone, if you or a member of your family developed an illness, if you needed to cover a family emergency, if you had a break in, if some prat wrote your car off , if ........................... well you get the idea. The CC system is superb in that it allows for all these events and in general penalises nobody as the vast majority of cancelled pitches are taken up by some other person.

What happens to the CC policy of refunding unused night payments when people decide to move on, it is something I use frequently but the club does not lose as if I leave one site early I move to another CC site that has an empty pitch, should I have to pay for both pitches?

Quote: Originally posted by shirl250 on 30/1/2010

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I like the current system and personally don't think there should be a limit on any bookings. If for instance, I am limited to having 6 weekends booked at any one time, then what's stopping me booking them all at Chatsworth, or Roundtree or wherever. Some sites are popular and will always be fully booked at weekends due to demand.

The only improvement I felt would be better and fairer and would avoid the December scrum was to have a rolling year for all bookings.  

Just my humble opinion......

Shirley.

 

 

 

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I have to agree with you Shirley.....just filled in the survey.

Quote: Originally posted by janus on 01/2/2010

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Quote: Originally posted by bev+jon on 01/2/2010

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just another view on the deposit idea which to a degree i think is a fair system , BUT , what happens if a few hours before your intended arrival time ,in your opinion , it becomes for instance too windy to safely tow a caravan ??

Do you lose your deposit through no fault of your own even if you phone at the last minute to cancel due to adverse weather ?

Then does the CC decide whether the conditions were bad enough for you to get your deposit back or lose it ?

Maybe in that instance the fairest way would be to use the deposit against another stay at that site later on...providing it isnt already fully booked of course ....

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You can add a host of other things to list of reasons for people cancelling within the 24 hours before travelling. Would you be happy being   penalised if you broke a bone, if you or a member of your family developed an illness, if you needed to cover a family emergency, if you had a break in, if some prat wrote your car off , if ........................... well you get the idea. The CC system is superb in that it allows for all these events and in general penalises nobody as the vast majority of cancelled pitches are taken up by some other person.

What happens to the CC policy of refunding unused night payments when people decide to move on, it is something I use frequently but the club does not lose as if I leave one site early I move to another CC site that has an empty pitch, should I have to pay for both pitches?

 

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Have just completed the survey. When the December booking date arrived my husband had not had his holiday dates agreed with work, this prevented us from making any bookings.  Having got the dates we have now discovered that we would be unable to stay for the full week as most weekends are booked up, we have tried a few different parks with the same result.  I like to use the club sites for the facilities  they offer.  We have now managed to book into cl sites in the areas we wanted, but we cannot be sure what the facilities of these are like as not all cl sites have reviews on them.

If I paid one nights fee as deposit, or they held my card number, and then couldn't go/didn't bother turning up,  I would have to pay that price.  Afterall this is what they do with hotel bookings

Quote: Originally posted by nanashirley on 01/2/2010

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Have just completed the survey. When the December booking date arrived my husband had not had his holiday dates agreed with work, this prevented us from making any bookings.  Having got the dates we have now discovered that we would be unable to stay for the full week as most weekends are booked up, we have tried a few different parks with the same result.  I like to use the club sites for the facilities  they offer.  We have now managed to book into cl sites in the areas we wanted, but we cannot be sure what the facilities of these are like as not all cl sites have reviews on them.

If I paid one nights fee as deposit, or they held my card number, and then couldn't go/didn't bother turning up,  I would have to pay that price.  Afterall this is what they do with hotel bookings

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Quote: Originally posted by Caroline M on 01/2/2010

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Thats what holiday insurance is for. If you booked a package holiday or booked a hotel you would expect to lose a certain amount whatever the circumstances.

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If I book a package holiday I have not previously paid a deposit in the form of a membership fee simply to be able to book. The CC take approximately £13m from it's members every year in membership fees, when they take a booking they are doing so from a person who is known to them and against whom they can should they feel the need to take sanctions.  Holiday insurance is not available to everyone, and insurance to cover the relatively small costs of booking CC sites.

Quote: Originally posted by nanashirley on 01/2/2010

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 . When the December booking date arrived my husband had not had his holiday dates agreed with work, this prevented us from making any bookings.  

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The system did not prevent you from making bookings, and presumably you had a good idea of when you would wish to go away, had you chosen to make bookings in good faith at the time then with the present system you would not have been penalised in any way had you been forced to change those dates after your husbands holiday dates had been agreed.

It begs the question which comes first the chicken or the egg,  the system forces people in your position to make best guesses and then to change whatever is necessary at a later time, the fact that you can do this is what makes the CC system so user friendly.

Quote: Originally posted by janus on 01/2/2010

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The system did not prevent you from making bookings, and presumably you had a good idea of when you would wish to go away, had you chosen to make bookings in good faith at the time then with the present system you would not have been penalised in any way had you been forced to change those dates after your husbands holiday dates had been agreed.

It begs the question which comes first the chicken or the egg,  the system forces people in your position to make best guesses and then to change whatever is necessary at a later time, the fact that you can do this is what makes the CC system so user friendly.

It certainly would have been 'best guesses' as normally we would  have to have holidays during school holidays, not this year, hubbie has to work all of school holidays and they were reluctant to let him have time off in term time (works in a school) It took some doing just to get this time off allowed!!

I like the CC club and one of the reasons is not having to pay a deposit, the on line booking system gives you flexibility,but if it came to it and they did start taking deposits or debit card details and then penalising the noshowers, I would still be a member.

I am also a member of the C&CC (although thinking about leaving) and when I could not go due to ill health my deposit was held for another booking.

I hope as many members as possible fill in the survey, as this is the only real way of them knowing what the members want.

 

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Quote: Originally posted by janus on 01/2/2010

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Quote: Originally posted by Caroline M on 01/2/2010

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Thats what holiday insurance is for. If you booked a package holiday or booked a hotel you would expect to lose a certain amount whatever the circumstances.

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If I book a package holiday I have not previously paid a deposit in the form of a membership fee simply to be able to book. The CC take approximately £13m from it's members every year in membership fees, when they take a booking they are doing so from a person who is known to them and against whom they can should they feel the need to take sanctions.  Holiday insurance is not available to everyone, and insurance to cover the relatively small costs of booking CC sites.

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Quote: Originally posted by jim oldham on 01/2/2010

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This will discourage block bookings and "no shows", and give other people an opportunity to book at the more popular sites.

 

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The CC in their published staement on this disagree with you, their experience was that when they changed from a deposit system to a no deposit system that the number of bookings rose and that the number of no shows fell. Putting deposits on would simply change the group of people who are disattisfied, the more popular sites in the honey spots like York centre  would still be full at weekends from the first day that booking became available it would just have a different clientele.

Quote: Originally posted by janus on 01/2/2010

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Quote: Originally posted by jim oldham on 01/2/2010

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This will discourage block bookings and "no shows", and give other people an opportunity to book at the more popular sites.

 

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The CC in their published staement on this disagree with you, their experience was that when they changed from a deposit system to a no deposit system that the number of bookings rose and that the number of no shows fell. Putting deposits on would simply change the group of people who are disattisfied, the more popular sites in the honey spots like York centre  would still be full at weekends from the first day that booking became available it would just have a different clientele.

 

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Well we will just what the survey reveals and we will all have to accept the decision of the majority. No one is going to be 100 percent happy but if my issues are addressed I will rejoin if they are not I won't simple as that think  it is called a democracy!!