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WRC Boats Moving To Nbd For Next Season?

webntweb

By webntweb
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Oddfellow
Oddfellow

I find it unbelievable that people would book any kind of holiday in the countryside and then moan about countryside roads. It's especially stupid to do so when, as a boat hirer, you have to travel th

vanessan
vanessan

Less boats down south then..............

Vaughan
Vaughan

WRC already employs a big team, to maintain a large site and all the facilities, so I don't suppose turning round 4 or 5 hire boats on a Saturday would be too much of a problem of logistics. A bo

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DAVIDH

DAVIDH

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, RS2021 said:

Fair Aristocrat and Fair Courier now appear on Hoseasons website. No plan and the pictures seem a medley of stock NBD photos, so don't know what these boats are.

Yes, they've been there for a week. I keep watching them for the correct images, but I suppose Christmas has stopped work. The medley of images is what Hoseasons provide as the boatyard identity, rather than the individual boat. 

I think they are way behind this year, probably because some staff are or have been furloughed, and the pressure of sorting out masses of booked and then cancelled holidays due to the tier movements.  I noticed that though 2022 is on sale, they still only have 94 of the 148 Richardsons boats listed, though his has more than doubled in the last day. Sure the rest will follow shortly. Also, the fact that Faircraft have gone all inclusive doesn't seem to have been reflected properly in their listings. No fuel charge is displayed, but neither does it have the "Fuel included" tag at the top of the boat description. Also, a damage waiver is still shown as being payable. 

They still have links for Le Boat on the Thames, Scotland and Ireland,  but I suspect they may eventually be withdrawn, as you can't book any date throughout the season. They've said they will now only list UK boats and properties, and perhaps the deal with Le Boat was all or nothing? 

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Vaughan

Vaughan

Posted
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14 minutes ago, DAVIDH said:

They still have links for Le Boat on the Thames, Scotland and Ireland,  but I suspect they may eventually be withdrawn, as you can't book any date throughout the season. They've said they will now only list UK boats and properties, and perhaps the deal with Le Boat was all or nothing? 

Don't quote but I am afraid I have my doubts on the future of Le Boat.

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Dan

Dan

Posted
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8 hours ago, DAVIDH said:

Yes, they've been there for a week. I keep watching them for the correct images, but I suppose Christmas has stopped work. The medley of images is what Hoseasons provide as the boatyard identity, rather than the individual boat. 

I think they are way behind this year, probably because some staff are or have been furloughed, and the pressure of sorting out masses of booked and then cancelled holidays due to the tier movements.  I noticed that though 2022 is on sale, they still only have 94 of the 148 Richardsons boats listed, though his has more than doubled in the last day. Sure the rest will follow shortly. Also, the fact that Faircraft have gone all inclusive doesn't seem to have been reflected properly in their listings. No fuel charge is displayed, but neither does it have the "Fuel included" tag at the top of the boat description. Also, a damage waiver is still shown as being payable. 

They still have links for Le Boat on the Thames, Scotland and Ireland,  but I suspect they may eventually be withdrawn, as you can't book any date throughout the season. They've said they will now only list UK boats and properties, and perhaps the deal with Le Boat was all or nothing? 

Or have a few people left or not been replaced, as there is a bit of a leaning to run things a bit tight at the moment across many businesses

On the Richardsons craft for example a high number of boats no longer available still appear on Hoseasons such as Sapphire (last year 2019), Amber Gem, Fairway, Serene Gem etc etc still appear, though if you go into availability they are all blanked out/not available.  

It makes the website less useful/credible for finding a holiday without potentially wasting a lot of time and with missing layout plans etc in recent times it all makes me not too convinced that they really care about doing a great job 

Dan

 

 

 

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Broads01

Broads01

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There's nothing more frustrating when you're looking at holidays online than an inaccurate website. Imagine taking an interest in a boat on Hoseasons website only to realise later that the picture is a of a different boat or that the boat has actually long since disappeared. Whatever the staffing pressures, it's abysmal and there's no excuse.

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DAVIDH

DAVIDH

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Broads01 said:

There's nothing more frustrating when you're looking at holidays online than an inaccurate website. Imagine taking an interest in a boat on Hoseasons website only to realise later that the picture is a of a different boat or that the boat has actually long since disappeared. Whatever the staffing pressures, it's abysmal and there's no excuse.

That's not strictly fair Simon. The booking season doesn't really get going until into the New Year, so the time to judge is in a week or so. Fair Courier and Fair Aristocrat do not have the correct images yet....but neither does Norfolk Broads Direct on their site. I guess they don't exist yet. Both do not have a deckplan showing, so I wouldn't think anyone would try to book either. The image for Swiftway which was incorrect, has now been replaced. 

You are not able to book a boat which has long since disappeared, as all dates are blanked off. I do agree that they shouldn't be there, and in fairness to Hoseasons, they are all usually up to date before Christmas. I get a database from them in November, and it's usually settled by then. This year is different though. The boating season finished at the end of October, but boating represents only around 10% of their business now. So each time you read of lockdowns, such as in November, and tier jumps from 3 to 4, as in the whole of the south of England, they were affected by cancellations and refunds for holiday homes booked for November and through to the Christmas period. As a result, they have been taking no referral commissions for many months of the season, and like all businesses, have been forced to furlough staff at a time they are most needed to answer the phones and sort people's holiday refunds.  The staff that remain, from all departments, will have been on this. They got a bloody nose by not refunding cancelled bookings earlier in the season. You can understand why they would want to put all hands on avoiding it again. 

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Broads01

Broads01

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Don't get me wrong, David, in the current climate I wouldn't expect any holiday business to be delivering the service level I would normally expect. However, I still think the website should show correct information. You say the booking season doesn't get underway until the new year but I know I'm not alone in booking months before that. Plus the new year is only two days away.

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oldgregg

oldgregg

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, Broads01 said:

You say the booking season doesn't get underway until the new year but I know I'm not alone in booking months before that. Plus the new year is only two days away.

I think plenty of people are looking at holidays this time of year - I can think of holidays I've booked after a few sherberts on Christmas Day.

This year is a little different for sure, but in the past I've definitely been bemused by certain yards who haven't got their bookings sorted for the next year and instead booked with the yards who do. I could ring them, but who does that these days?

I've recently booked a September 2022 break with Richardson's as the boat I wanted is pretty good value and books a fair way in advance so I didn't want to forget to book and then miss out.

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