13 replies to this topic

[markf]

There are now more than 300 campsites accepting Cheques for much of July and August, including some excellent sites in France, The Netherlands, Spain and Italy.

Camping Cheque

[Beejay]

Seems the depression is Europe wide and demand on the continent is down.  Several campsite chains that I have used previously are sending me e-mails with  price reductions and availability in July and August.

[Ocsid]

Pity that Camping Cheques have thrown out so many of the popular French ones; reportly because these sites had dared accept ACSI cards last year. Seems a bit of a self destruct new policy.

We have just returned from 6 weeks in France and saw a lot of evidence that they are feeling the squeeze; many cafes and shops closed down and site occupancy even lower than normal,. The other thing we found was the Dutch were thin on the ground in many sites, so we assume they are struggling as well.

[sonjaf]

we saw loads of Dutch in the South of France. We dont normally visit France in June, so dont know if they had less than normal

but if they are accepting Camping Cheques in August it speaks for itself

[Kiaman]

Ocsid, on 12 July 2012 - 04:03 PM, said:

Pity that Camping Cheques have thrown out so many of the popular French ones; reportly because these sites had dared accept ACSI cards last year. Seems a bit of a self destruct new policy.

Don't think it is so much a case of Camping Cheques throwing anyone out, more a case of sites leaving the scheme because of the amount of commission they have to pay. out of the €15 cost of a cheque the site only receives about €8-9.

[Val_A]

Some Camping Cheque sites have always accepted them during July and August - just this year Alan Rogers are making the information more widely known.  There are about thirty sites which accept Camping Cheques during the whole open season, and quite a lot which accept them in early to mid-July and then from the middle of August onwards.  I think in the early days, when there were lots of Castels sites, and little competition they were doing rather well, and site owners were glad to fill empty pitches during low season, even though they only received such a low amount.  With the competition from ACSI, and the ACSI Card becoming more well known and more popular,  it became apparent that sites could still attract visitors, but receive much more for the pitch.

The Camping Cheques scheme is so much more bureacratic, with a guide book, paper cheques, Silver Cards and Gold Cards to administer, and you can see why ACSI with just the guide book and a pull out card has become so popular.  It isn't surprising that Camping Cheque sites receive so little of the pitch fee because of the 'back office' costs -where with ACSI once the book is printed, and the sites signed up, there is no more 'administration' needed to run the scheme.   I think there may be even more ACSI sites next year - they seem to be marketing the scheme well to campsites.

By the way, if anyone has any Camping Cheques they can't use, please let me know.  I'd be happy to buy any spares for our holiday in August/September.

[Val_A]

Having had a look back at the Camping Cheques website it does seem that quite a few sites have brought forward their 'acceptance' dates, and there are a lot more taking Camping Cheques from the end of the second week in August.  I hope this isn't the beginning of the end for Camping Cheques.  Without competition I imagine the ACSI rates (the cheapest of which is only 10 euros a night for pitch, two adults, car and caravan, awning, and electricity) is likely to creep up, I would imagine.

There is even an ACSI Card site in Spain, at 10 euros per night, which includes three children under 6, and accepts 20 nights fees for a 30 night stay!  200 euros could buy a Spanish family with very young children a very cheap camping holiday!  Even with the cost of getting there, for us Brits, it could still be a bargain!

[phil1041]

Val_A, on 18 July 2012 - 06:29 AM, said:

Having had a look back at the Camping Cheques website it does seem that quite a few sites have brought forward their 'acceptance' dates, and there are a lot more taking Camping Cheques from the end of the second week in August.  I hope this isn't the beginning of the end for Camping Cheques.  Without competition I imagine the ACSI rates (the cheapest of which is only 10 euros a night for pitch, two adults, car and caravan, awning, and electricity) is likely to creep up, I would imagine.

There is even an ACSI Card site in Spain, at 10 euros per night, which includes three children under 6, and accepts 20 nights fees for a 30 night stay!  200 euros could buy a Spanish family with very young children a very cheap camping holiday!  Even with the cost of getting there, for us Brits, it could still be a bargain!

Where is this?, according to my ACSI book, the cheapest charge is 12 euros per night.


Phil.

[sonjaf]

I wish we have never got it as low as that, its always upper end, however, as thats usually cheaper anyway Im not really complaining

[Steve&Tracy]

We came back from the South of France just over a week ago and would agree with Sonja that there were a lot of Dutch down the South end and coming back there was a steady stream of caravans heading down that way we certainly saw more Dutch and Belgians down there then we have seen for about 4 years further North.

[curzon]

Val_A, on 18 July 2012 - 06:12 AM, said:

Some Camping Cheque sites have always accepted them during July and August - just this year Alan Rogers are making the information more widely known.  There are about thirty sites which accept Camping Cheques during the whole open season, and quite a lot which accept them in early to mid-July and then from the middle of August onwards.  I think in the early days, when there were lots of Castels sites, and little competition they were doing rather well, and site owners were glad to fill empty pitches during low season, even though they only received such a low amount.  With the competition from ACSI, and the ACSI Card becoming more well known and more popular,  it became apparent that sites could still attract visitors, but receive much more for the pitch.

The Camping Cheques scheme is so much more bureacratic, with a guide book, paper cheques, Silver Cards and Gold Cards to administer, and you can see why ACSI with just the guide book and a pull out card has become so popular.  It isn't surprising that Camping Cheque sites receive so little of the pitch fee because of the 'back office' costs -where with ACSI once the book is printed, and the sites signed up, there is no more 'administration' needed to run the scheme.   I think there may be even more ACSI sites next year - they seem to be marketing the scheme well to campsites.

By the way, if anyone has any Camping Cheques they can't use, please let me know.  I'd be happy to buy any spares for our holiday in August/September.

not mine Val, but just in case you missed it ............   http://www.touringan...__fromsearch__1

[Val_A]

phil1041, on 18 July 2012 - 08:54 AM, said:

Where is this?, according to my ACSI book, the cheapest charge is 12 euros per night.


Phil.

The Spanish site is Els Ports at Arnes, near Tarragona.

There are actually quite a number of 10 euro sites if you look through.  I can't remember many others, but La Pepiniere, at Grau d'Agde, is one and I think there is another in Millau.  There are supposed to be only three rates, 12, 14 and 16 euros, but some sites decided that to compete they would need to charge less, and ACSI allowed them to opt for a 10 euro charge.

[Val_A]

curzon, on 18 July 2012 - 04:45 PM, said:

not mine Val, but just in case you missed it ............   http://www.touringan...__fromsearch__1

Hi Curzon, and thanks - Yes I did see that one, and have emailed 'Sue' who is advertising them.

[fatles]

The main site we use in France Bois Soleil takes camping Cheques at the moment. When we left on 27 June they were saying that they may not take them next year as they only get 11.50 Euro a night. It is generally full from the middle of May until the end of June. If they did stop taking Camping cheques everyone said they would stop going. When we paid we asked what was happening next year and was told that IF they stopped taking Camping Cheques, then the regulars would only pay 15 Euros.
One thing that a lot of people are concerned about is that they are talking about putting more cabins on there. This is another thing we have noticed on a lot of Campsites is the number of cabins/statics there are now.



  Les