Ability to chose hardstanding pitches on all sites

Assuming the club would be allowed to put hardstandings in, I would have thought market forces would prevail in those situations. If more revenue can be brought in by either attracting more punters and / or extending the season then it would be only sensible for the club to consider it amongst its other plans. One thing the booking trial did show was that Hardstandings booked up first, rather than grass. If folk are going to look elsewhere, as I would if all hardstandings were booked, why wouldn’t you cater for demand by installing more.

No need to try and cast insult at those with a preference for HS

Do you not think you are taking the whole hardstandings thing a bit too far?🤷🏻‍♂️. I’ve not seen anyone advocating for total hardstandings anywhere. It’s a personal choice that is hoped for.

This is the OP’s(A&J) direct quote-“I want the club to look at giving members the option to chose hard standing or grass pitch on the sites where standard pitches can be either or”

Did notice 'Late Availability' gives a lot of choices with regard to booking pitch types.  I don't think all types will be available at all sites though.    Maybe this is a clue to future booking choices.

is Dave casting insults? That's how it comes across to those of us that don't have a preference for hardstanding. I'm sure if they could gravel all pitches on all sites, the club would have already done so or started to do so.

The C&CC site I was recently on had a good mix of both surface types & it was certainly NOT the case that the hardstandings were fully used before the grass ... admittedly there was a wider mix of caravans/MHs/tents/trailer tents. 

I read A&J’s opening post. It beats me why he sticks to Club sites if he / she finds them so unsatisfactory. A bit like someone sticking to Wetherspoons but wanting them to change the menu because they don’t like it - but still going there. Go somewhere else. There are other sites run by other operators which will give him the hard standing he wants. 

Like most people I think it is quite reasonable for people to be able to book the type of pitch, hard standing or grass, I suspect that the current booking system has the ability to do this and all it needs is for the decision to be made. There were claims that it confused people during the trial. However people don’t appear to be confused by serviced pitches. I think the only confusion was probably due to people changing their minds what sort of pitch they wanted when they arrived on site. But I think waiting for a change is like watching paint dry.

When booking sites on a tour route I have, in the past, always considered the amount of hard standing pitches. If the percentage of grass pitches was high I would go elsewhere. In that way I could always achieve a HS pitch.

I wonder what the effect on bookings will be overall? If more people book further ahead then it could well mean my not using certain sites as I suspect when I come to book I may struggle on some sites to get HS. I do wonder if the result will be an increase in take up of overall pitches or a reduction.

Yes it's obviously changing in preparation for something, I see the multisurfaced pitches aren't on yet. I discovered yesterday these are bookable at Tewkesbury. A half way house for anyone who prefers harder pitches. 

Personally I think it will result in a reduction in overall pitch bookings at the ends of the year when grass is still in use. In the middle part not so much. Probably the reason the CC didn’t want to introduce it, supposedly due to confusion. Pitch type booking will I think inevitably lead to the construction of more hardstanding at the expense of grass.