Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

National Trust ticket release

94 replies

EloiseTheFirst · 01/06/2020 17:04

Our local NT is opening this week and you have to book in advance. All of this week is already booked up. It says on the website that they release the slots on a Friday.

Any idea what time? Is it a matter of staying up until midnight on Thurs night? Or will it be later in the day?

If anyone knows, I'd be grateful.

OP posts:
StarcourtMall · 01/06/2020 21:28

They do not have “vast cash reserves” at all! They have a lot of assets though. Which property do you think they should sell first? The papers say predicted loses of £200m this year.
Anyway, this is only the first week of bookings and only a few properties opened for 5 days. Every week more properties will open with more slots so let’s not throw our toys out the pram yet.
Also, I believe if you call them and ask you can get extensions on your membership, they’re just not automatically offering them as some people are happy to continue to support their chosen charities, as I am.

EnlightenedOwl · 01/06/2020 21:37

They've lost my membership

Original poster
EloiseTheFirst · 01/06/2020 21:52

@SmallPinkBear when you booked did you need to give your membership number?

Am meeting a friend there (also a member) and was thinking I could book her a ticket as well.

OP posts:

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Holidays
Floralnomad · 01/06/2020 21:57

Our membership expired at the beginning of May , when I rang to cancel they didn’t offer us any incentives to stay .

SmallPinkBear · 01/06/2020 22:01

@EloiseTheFirst Yes I did need my number, which I couldn’t find so I had a frantic 10 mins trying to hunt it out

Personally I think their properties/land belong to the country so I don’t believe there should be a priority for anyone (and I say this as a life member)

Original poster
EloiseTheFirst · 01/06/2020 22:11

Thank you @SmallPinkBear

OP posts:
Clymene · 01/06/2020 22:20

Why @EnlightenedOwl? You have had it explained that they are legally forbidden from offering priority booking to members. They have to upkeep vast properties with zero income.

What are you upset about? Confused

RoseMartha · 01/06/2020 22:27

Our local ones were booked by 9am on friday for the week. Seems like it will be like getting a Tesco slot.

I might wait a couple of weeks and try again.

NathanNathan · 01/06/2020 22:33

They did have quite large cash reserves. But they've been topping up all their furloughed staff to 100% while still maintaining all of their properties and land for months. Unsurprisingly that moment runs out at some stage.

I just don't get it. People moaning am about not being able to get tickets, then saying they won't pay for membership. If you don't pay your membership some of the places won't be there when you decide you want to go back... Hmm

Eastie77 · 01/06/2020 22:35

We have a family membership and I don't think we've paid 'a lot' when I work out how much we've saved in entrance fees given the number of times we typically visit NT properties each year. That said, I was disappointed last Friday when I logged on in the early hours and found just 1 slot available at a single property in the entire London/South East region. Will try again this Friday but it seems as if getting a slot at a place we actually want to visit is mission impossible really.

WhatWouldDominicDo · 01/06/2020 22:38

If members were given priority there wouldn't be any opportunity for non members to go
That's fine. Members paid in advance and aren't getting what they paid for. NT have refused to extend membership, so we've wasted our money.
People who buy tickets in advance should get priority.

Our DDs bought us membership for Christmas. I feel bad for them that they wasted their money.

LovingLen · 01/06/2020 22:44

I booked at 7am on Friday morning and a few slots had already sold out, not all places are open yet so hopefully if will become easier, at least the toilets are open. We went to one of the car park one that you had to book last week and toilets were also open there. I just made sure I had some hand gel and a couple of dettol wipes with me

ExpletiveDelighted · 01/06/2020 23:27

As I see it, we only need to go about 4x a year for the membership to pay for itself. Ours renewed in March, we will easily be able to go 4x by next March, any more visits are free so having a couple of months closed is neither here nor there. Looking forward to going back to some of our favourite properties.

EnlightenedOwl · 01/06/2020 23:37

@WhatWouldDominicDo

If members were given priority there wouldn't be any opportunity for non members to go That's fine. Members paid in advance and aren't getting what they paid for. NT have refused to extend membership, so we've wasted our money. People who buy tickets in advance should get priority.

Our DDs bought us membership for Christmas. I feel bad for them that they wasted their money.

Totally agree
Clymene · 02/06/2020 08:17

But they are not legally allowed to give members priority! As has been explained several times, very clearly.

I'm sure they would if they could - they must be getting tons of complaints and hundreds of thick people saying they will cancel membership - but they can't.

Is it that you think they're lying about that so they can trouser the fiver from non members?

NathanNathan · 02/06/2020 08:18

You're not getting what you paid for.... during a global health emergency where all aspects of everyone's lives have been restricted and changed.

Do you want to support the National Trust, which gives you places you enjoy going to, through this so it'll be there for the rest of your lives?

Or do you want to make sure you get your monies worth in this 3 - 6 month period? I guess it's up to you.

WhatWouldDominicDo · 07/06/2020 10:59

I'd like my money's worth please. I'm sorry if that makes me sound insensitive. I'm not.
It's possible to want what you've passing's for and to worry about Covid simultaneously. The two feelings are not mutually exclusive.

Floralnomad · 07/06/2020 11:04

The point is that whilst the National trust is a charity I would assume that the majority of members / past members ( myself included) do not view the money we paid as a charitable donation , we view it as pre payment to entrance places for enjoyable days out . My charitable donations are already accounted for elsewhere , in my case mainly animal charities .

janet1267 · 07/06/2020 11:11

They're not asking you to pay, you are still getting the free entrance. You're not getting priority entrance, which is something that isn't offered anyway.

Clymene · 07/06/2020 12:27

THEY ARE NOT LEGALLY ALLOWED TO GIVE YOU PRIORITY ENTRY.

I'm shouting because people just don't seem able to understand that. I'm sure they'd love to, given the amount of misplaced abuse they're getting.

WhatWouldDominicDo · 07/06/2020 13:17

They could extend the membership by 3 months though.

Clymene · 07/06/2020 15:04

They're a charity and their overheads are the same but their income has plummeted through no fault of their own.

They haven't even been shut for 3 months and are doing everything they can to open up their properties.

ExpletiveDelighted · 07/06/2020 16:03

If they extend membership by three months that effectively takes out their entire income for this period, not just that from non-members, tea shops etc. You know it's a charitable donation when you join as there is all the gift aid information. If you want it to continue you need to carry on supporting it.

EdwardsNewJumper · 07/06/2020 16:27

And the National Trust is sitting on vast cash reserves so not buying the we have had no income for months line....

Utter bollocks. The 1.2 billion that Hillary McGrady has referenced in the last week is not the NTs. It is legacies and endowments legally tied into specific properties and also tied into how it is spent and what on etc

Worked for them for almost a decade, no longer though, thankfully.

Please understand that I am not an NT fan at all, but this idea they have loads of money is so very wrong

Kez200 · 07/06/2020 16:51

It seems unfair when youve paid membership but thats not how their charity status works, so we cant be offered preferential access.

You have ths choice not to renew and I am sure that will be the case for many.

I also felt it wasn't fair until I heard it waa due to the rules. So, if thats the case, so be it. Ill have to get up early to book!

Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.

Join Mumsnet Log In

This thread is closed and is no longer accepting replies. Click here to start a new thread.

Swipe left for the next trending thread