Frustrated -Booking Sites

I also noticed extra pitches had now appeared ,I wondered if a lot of sites had now opened up more grass pitches?

I think that's very likely, JV. It's the time of year for it.

We both know there are many reasons other than cancellations for pitches becoming available.

Urchin, this is the third post on this subject in the past few weeks. You should have perhaps added your complaint to "What's the point in the Club if sites are full" which is being monitored by the Club or even "All booked up near us"

I fully sypathise with your views. Given the long dry spell we have had in April I would have expected, and have found, all grass pitches to have been open on the C&MC site I recently visited which inceidently was fully booked in February but mysteriously had dozens of available pitches when I arrived in mid April for a 5 night stay.

peedee

We are still under a pandemic and the situation is very fluid. People may have booked, maybe a long time ago, expecting things to be better then nearer the time are still a bit anxious about travel and/or using sites. Added to the uncertainty is the are foreign holidays on or off question, I wonder when the go ahead for that happens how many more 'staycations' will be cancelled on club sites.

All sorts of reason why booking and cancellations are happening, including grass pitches. This shouldn't be taken as a normal year and neither should decisions made based on it.

 

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

 This shouldn't be taken as a normal year and neither should decisions made based on it.

While I agree it is not a normal year its for the Club to make decisions not only based on evidence encountered this year but in previous years.(hopefully they have it?))  I believe the problem is not going to go away in the future unless there is change.

peedee

Peedee, 

I wasn’t aware of the other posts and would have added to them had I been.
I understand some of the reasons that are being stated in the responses, but that just doesn’t resolve the frustration of not being able to book a site when pitches subsequently become available at a later date. 
Perhaps the information on that site could be updated to state that grass pitches could become available from a certain date dependant on the weather. It would at least give you a chance of booking a site you want when you want.

Although the site I originally wanted is now available, I am not into cancelling bookings unless it’s unavoidable .

Many members booked early when it was advised that site could open in April , then cancelled when it was expected that the facilities blocks would be closed

They then started rebooking when toilets on sites that could be "covid secure" (there is a HMG ?notice at this site saying it is secure)

Now it seems cancellations are coming in as members were hoping that restrictions would be lifted before the 17th

As most I think would know that we are in very strange times as now, so any desitions as to whether to introduce deposits I would have thought ,would be when ,if ever, we get back to some sort of normality

Urchin, I think the difference between now and years ago is that we now have a website where availability can be seen. Before this, you would never have known if availability fluctuated. 

If you look around you'll find the other threads to which PD referred. 

 

PS Here's one of them

https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/club-together/discussions/welcome-hobby-talk/caravan-motorhome-chat/whats-the-point-of-the-club-if-sites-are-full/

 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record my advice would be just to hang in there for a while. If you have a specific date in mind book what you can and go back a few days later to book the rest. It usually works for me. About a week ago I was looking to a week at Southland on the IOW, odd days here and there but not a week. Went back one morning and there was a full week available. Same thing happened today. Wanted a few days at Kessingland and only managed to get one day. Went back into the system and a full week available so booked what I needed. I appreciate some will find this a bit of a faff but it seems to work for me over and over again.

It is possible that some are cancelling because of the upsurge in the Indian variant, in fact there was a post on a Facebook group where someone had cancelled a stay at a Norfolk site because they didn't want to drive across the country from Wales, they are now staying local so they are probably not alone.

David