New system for the Caravan Club.

An automated service is only as good as the data fed into it I work on if the site doesn`t contact you then things must be ok, if you are worried before hand just call the site & the wardens will tell you after all they run the site

That doesnt always work,i know people who never got a call when the site was canceling bookings? the weather was OK when they left,got half way and it was only when 1 other family who they met up with during traveling going to the same site told them about the pitches getting cancelled

im sure the system would be fed with revelent info,its only a idea to save the wardens having to call hundreds of people?

My first time of using the "Community" and I think I've found the thread/issue I wanted to discuss.

A couple of years ago, I was spending my last day of a stay at a CC site before moving on to Freshwater East - a site notorious for suffering disruption when it rains. The warden of the site I was on called to tell me that Freshwater East was flooded and my booking had been cancelled. With the help of the warden, I managed to get a pitch at St Davids instead.

I am currently at Broadway in the Cotswolds. On arrival I overheard the warden saying that she had had to go round to tell anyone booked into Tewkesbury CC site that it was flooded and they'd have to make alternative arrangements.

This system - if you're touring, the warden of your current site tells you that your next site is closed - is useful but it isn't enough. If you haven't left home, the CC should phone you there. If you are in transit, the CC should contact you via your mobile - they should hold mobile numbers as an item of member information. Finally, the CC website should provide information on the status of each site. 

An automated service is only as good as the data fed into it I work on if the site doesn`t contact you then things must be ok, if you are worried before hand just call the site & the wardens will tell you after all they run the site

Sounds like a good idea but then the wardens could end up answering calls each day instead of carrying out other essential duties?

In this modern age it should be possible to arrange for bulk texts or emails to be send out automatically in case of cancellation.  As an aside, I had a ticket for the Royal Opera House many years ago and the opera was cancelled.  The ROH phoned everybody up - 2200 people.  OK, it is a large commecial organisation but with emails and texts it should be possible for the CC to devise a system to contact most people.

Interesting idea and I suspect that the Club has not quite caught up with modern technology on this one. I think if such a system was put in place it might not have to rely of site warden doing it. I say this because if a site is in danger of being flooded they will need to spend time dealing with that. If you sign up for e-mails from the Club you get regular news that way so I suppose its just a step forward from that as would texts to mobile phones.

David

I worked for over 15 years for a small airline.  Any cancellations would result in the system sending out bulk emails with regards to the cancellation.  All this bookings are then put on a Queue system.  This is basically of list of all the bookings.  Any that have been changed by the customer would be automatically removed from the system .  That left only the remainder to go through and phone to ensure the email had been received and what did the customer want to do.  This is a very effecient system and even when the the worst happens (ie volcanic ash and no flying for days) you can still work through 100s of people with only a couple of people.

The CC needs to look at the kind of s systems Tomorrow describes.

No  technological  system  is  infallible !!

Most  such  systems  are  expensive  in  time & money.

So just  check  the  weather bulletins on t.v. & radio.  If  the  weather  is  very  bad  ring the  site  for  confirmation .

The Club could help if dodgy sites such as Rowntree Park & Tewkesbury etc had the existing warning in the Handbook  about flooding put in big red capitals  to stand out perhaps.