Miffed to be an annual pass holder

[namechangeaga1n]

So...any other annual pass holders for attractions where you could turn up when you liked for the duration of your pass cheesed off that pass tickets are like gold dust, yet you can still buy day tickets!

Worse during summer we had to pay an additional £10 per pass holder per tickets. Bloody rip off

Actually the reason they charge £1 is because previously when it was free, every day, a large number of pass holders abused the system and booked a lot more tickets than they could/would want to use. E.g. would book Legolland & Chessington for 1 day and then choose 1 to go to. Or book all the London ones and only visit 1 or 2. So the slots were being wasted. I understand it is frustrating, I feel the same, but the £1 charge makes complete sense.

It's not even about booking on the day (although a massive draw of the passes was the spontaneity we envisaged), it's that if I can only book term time in the short term, those months of the extension are useless.

Same with RHS at Wisley.

If I try to book a ticket as a member there’s no availability. If I try and book as a non-member there are lots of slots.

@namechangeaga1n

It's not even about booking on the day (although a massive draw of the passes was the spontaneity we envisaged), it's that if I can only book term time in the short term, those months of the extension are useless.

Dependant on what park there is still availability for this week (admittedly not weekends) but then most days from May onwards

@MargaretThatcherMilkSnatcher I know. It's the implication that we don't want safety etc or are tight..actually I can just imagine saying that to a client - "I have only been able to provide x work due to covid, but please don't be tight and expect a partial refund from me. By the way, I've just done some work for a new client who hadn't prepaid. It didn't feel fair to put them off, plus I needed the cash".

same with Kew - members tickets unavailable for a certain time slot yet same slot available for general purchase...

We have merlin passes, we went 50 times last year even though there were restrictions on numbers. I agree the three bookings per park is a pain in the arse this time but for merlin and for other attractions it won’t be forever, just until they can stop restricting numbers.

I got National Trust membership for Christmas 2019, everywhere local was closed for the winter, then was unable to get any bookings when they opened. My pass was not used at all.
I'm glad the money supported the NT but also really cheesed off about a completely crap present that was no use to me at all.

@Coasterfan really? How did you manage that?!

At attractions we HAVE to limit capacities to keep our visitors safe, I can't speak for anyone else but the attractions I work with have all given their members the largest portion of daily allocation, but equally they desperately need the higher GP on tickets that day visitors bring in. Everyone needs to book ahead and whilst I do understand that seeing member tickets be unavailable for a particular date whilst day tickets are, must be frustrating, many attractions are absolutely on their knees and have to entice the day visitors to stay open. It's hopefully only in the short term.

My brother is a Merlin pass holder. He complained about this issue and was told that one of the reasons annual pass access is so limited is that they are the group most likely to no-show, meaning the park is down on its max capacity. As spend on the day whilst inside the park is so key to survival at the moment, the parks are very reluctant to operate below max permitted capacity. They have been forced to put money ahead of loyal visitors, apparently.

Which would make more sense if there weren’t day tickets available. So the park isn’t at capacity anyway. I do think releasing some of the unsold day tickets spaces to pass holder the day before makes sense as they are unlikely to sell them all the day before.

@namechangeaga1n do you mean how did we go 50 times? Most weekends and days in the school holidays 😀 if you planned in advance which luckily I can do (I know people who work shifts can’t) it was easy enough to get tickets. Also parks released more a couple of days before and people gave them away on the passholder Facebook page. I m not sure we ll get as many this season with the three bookings at a time rule though, although we have been three times already and they have only been open three days!

I absolutely understand why season ticket holders have been treated this way -PP were polite in their communications but there were huge numbers of pre booked places not being used and I absolutely get they need all the revenue they can at the moment. It just sucks for the hour-at-a-time season ticket pass holders. But then, this all sucks and it’s not my biggest concern at the moment.

@MargaretThatcherMilkSnatcher

I had similar with the V&A museum after the first lockdown. I had an annual membership (paid in advance). They refused to suspend the membership to cover the missed months and, when I emailed very politely to ask if this would be possible, they sent me a really rude email implying that I was being tight and unsupportive in asking, and that it was something I just had to suck up. They weren't offering priority spaces to members when they reopened, so what was the point of the membership?! I didn't renew. Shame, because it's an absolutely wonderful museum, and I will go again but on a pay-as-you-go basis (or I will just go in and see the free stuff!).

So am I. I thought they sent an email "justifying" the membership fee as they were providing member online events and emails. My mum and (late) dad treat me every Christmas. It is a lovely present but they dont seem the most efficient department.

@JustMeAndWheatley

Same with RHS at Wisley.

If I try to book a ticket as a member there’s no availability. If I try and book as a non-member there are lots of slots.

Interesting - I was probably going to join the RHS this year. I hadnt been to Wisley in ages; went last year and so impressed with everything that I was tempted to join. Might hold off for a bit.

We have annual zoo passes but members can only visit after 1pm at the moment. I won’t renew next year unless they give a decent discounted price.

@stablefeet

I'm afraid that I kept my National Trust membership for a year, then cancelled it. It felt wrong to me that loyal supporters had to enter the same lottery to gain entrance to properties as people who didn't pay for membership.

It's been explained on here and by the National Trust a bajillion times but for anyone who has missed it:

As a charity, the National Trust is legally unable to give priority bookings to members. I'm sure they wish they were able to with the amount of moaning they've had to listen to and the number of people who have said they're cancelling their membership, despite the situation being entirely beyond NT's control, but they can't.

@SomewhereInbetween1 @BreakfastOfWaffles they could charge for no shows or proportionately reimburse pass holders who want this.

Merlin dont charge £1 anymore - at least they didnt for CHessington (went today) and my Thorpe Park on Friday

We cancelled our merlin passes partly due to this, but NT we’ve found OK this year. Been to two local places for Easter trails and booked relatively late. When we got to one (reasonably big) property they were letting in people who hadn’t booked and it was so, so quiet.

Paultons Park is and always has been an absolute rip off, and a pretty shit theme park tbh. Baffles me why on earth anyone has ever paid their prices!

The National Trust are a charity. To maintain their charitable status they cannot offer only a service to their members, it has to be available to everyone. They have limited numbers to ensure safe social distancing, and they have to have a certain ration between members and non member places to maintain their charitable status and access to funding that allows. Member places obviously book up more quickly, but they cannot free up non member places for members as it would contravene accessibility. The National Trust arent actively trying to shaft their members, they have to operate in the way they have been.

I see a lot of people have mentioned the NT too. When we (members) complained about this last year most people seemed to think we were being unreasonable and why should members get priority.

There was some talk about the Charity Commission getting involved - I really think they have better things to worry about than the NT giving parking slot priority to members but still.

But I suppose Merlin is a business, so it is very unreasonable when it's not a charity so the above considerations don't apply.

And private schools are charities but give priority to paying pupils...