We have had ACSI membership for a few years now although not being 'tourers' likes some on here skipping from one town to another LOL, we have only had occasion to make use of it twice.

Our last use of the card spanning the period June/July resulted in a saving of over 200€ with no restrictions attached in choice of pitch or electrical amps etc. That said, I have read many times that upon presentation of the ACSI card, members have been offered less than desirable pitches (in terms of size) and/or lower electrical supplies i.e. 6amps as opposed to 10amps. I have also read that when the ACSI card is used there is a restriction of a single shower being applied although I have no experience of this personally. From reading it would appear that if and when restrictions are attached to claiming an ACSI membership price reduction, this is more often than not to be the case in France and Italy but not Germany and Austria.

I know that there are several members of the forum that travel and make extensive use of the ACSI membership card so might I ask if you yourselves have found any of the above to be the case?

We've never been offered an inferior pitch here either.

Strangely enough, the only two occasions we encountered odd practices were in Germany. Firstly a site with lots of ACSI posters, "ACSI INSPECTED" etc. at reception, we handed our ACSI card for our address details. When we left the following morning we queried why we were charged full rate only to be advised the site wasn't actually ACSI. Moral of the story, check before you book in, use the book (we didn't as we were just tired and looking for an overnighter!)

Second occasion was in Bechtersgarten site 881, Winkl-Landthal, there's a review from June this year from an English chap which mirrors our experience of a couple of years ago, as follows, it says it all:-

"Possibly the worst value for money site we have stayed on during our 8 week trip (so far) around Europe. The site owners wife does not speak English and gets very aggressive and irate if you don't understand her, their daughter speaks English so is easier to get on with.
Many things are extra on this site, hot water has to be paid for to wash up! The internet is for 7 days - if you stay 2 you still have to pay for 7, also with the internet you pay for one person on one machine you cannot log out and use the ticket on another device!
When you check in you are given a discount card which can be used for free travel on local buses - when you check out you get charged per day per person for this card. This is not explained at check in or in the ACSI info. You get charged for extra electricity - but I never saw our meter. I asked to pay the night before we left as we were going before the reception opens in the morning. The 'Mum' of the site said I was going to use another 6 kw before I left and charged me extra for the assumed extra. I was livid at this but all of a sudden the lady did not speak good English again.
The ACSI info states waste water drain within 15 meters of the pitch - the Motorhome emptying place is close to the front entrance - could be 100 meters from your pitch and no other place I could find to empty waste water.
Pitches are very cramped the ACSI pitch we were offered on arrival was so close to other vans I paid extra per night for a comfort pitch I. E. Normal size pitch - some touring vans are parked within 1 meter of fixed resident vans.
Reception does not open till 8.30.
The ACSI info states river swimming nearby - if you can swim in 15cm of water in the river which is full of boulders you'll be ok!
You cannot get rid of bottles on the site you have to take them to a shopping centre collection point 2 km down the road - I have never heard of this anywhere else.
If you are at the wrong end of the site you are close to a very noisy road and a local railway line - noise.
It is a pity the site has many downsides as the area is stunning - not to be missed - Eagles nest, Konnigsee Berchesgarten to name a few.
If we go back to this area it will not be to this site.

Quote: gattim wrote in post #5

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When you check in you are given a discount card which can be used for free travel on local buses - when you check out you get charged per day per person for this card. This is not explained at check in or in the ACSI info.


That was certainly a big no-no. These cards are issued and subsidised by the local authority/State in order to possibly attract more visitors. The trend nowadays of course is for foreign and long distance travel and local areas have suffered as a result. These cards are issued as a way of making touring the area(s) cheaper and, therefore, more attractive.

Pitches are very cramped the ACSI pitch we were offered on arrival was so close to other vans I paid extra per night for a comfort pitch I. E. Normal size pitch - some touring vans are parked within 1 meter of fixed resident vans

Yes, this supports something that I have also read along those very lines.

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In twelve years of using the ACSI card I have only had restrictions imposed on me twice, one for extra electricity and once for choosing a site, both times in the same campsite. To be fair I was given a sheet of paper that had all the ACSI sites in blue and the only ones I was barred from were the ones nearer to the beach. I was in fact quite happy with this arrangement as I had a pitch closer to the toilets which was far more beneficial to me. In fact these conditions have come as a bit of a surprise having not experienced them I suppose that now sods law will kick in and I will experience every one of them when we go away this year

Never had any problems in four countries

We have toured I think 12 European countries with the Eriba in the last 4 years, many several times, spending 3 or 4 months at a time. Our experience generally is that you can pitch anywhere on ASCI well outside the main season. However, in the shoulder season, particularly June and early July, you wont always get a near beach pitch or one with a particularly good view unless you pay more. Some sites don't charge the full beachside etc. pitch nightly rate, just a top up - the last time this happened to us they asked for an extra €6 a night. An exception to this was last year at Collioure in June, where the only free ASCI pitch was right on the coast. Great view but it was so windy you could hardly open the van door, let alone sit outside! and our pop top canvas is still filthy on one side from one night there! This site was one of quite a few we have been to that have designated ASCI pitches. These sites usually have price banded pitches according to beachside/good view/size/serviced/undesirable anyway, and the ASCI pitches are the ones in the lowest price band.

Occasionally there is an extra charge over a certain amount of electricity used, but I asked a campsite owner in Germany about this earlier on this trip and she said that she was sick of enormous motorhomes turning up with two fridges and a full height freezer, full blown heating and hot water, airconditioning, charging an electric scooter etc. and expecting to run the whole lot 24/7 for €15 a night. She said she fixed the cut off for what would be reasonable use and that we would never exceed it in an Eriba, and we didn't. This is similar to what we were told at a lovely campsite in Spain in 2015, when in a whole week we over used to the tune of about €3 from memory. Occasionally sites charge for greater ampage but they charge everyone, ASCI members or not. This we have found more common in France.

Wristbands for showers are now common in beachside campsites but they are included in the rate. They say that non camping sunbathers just walk into the site to use showers etc and wristbands is the only way to stop this without the faff of coin operated showers. The ones we have stayed at gave 3 showers a day, which is plenty, with unlimited hot washing up/laundry water. Once in our 10 country tour this summer we were charged for washing up water, 20 cents gave a small bowl but no charge for showers.

One thing we are going to stop doing is when phoning ahead, is stating the size of our caravan. Twice this time we were asked for the length of our caravan and on arrival put on really tiny pitches when there were other bigger pitches free that stayed free for our stay. One was on ASCI rates and the other not. We didn't complain as these were actually two of the nicer sites we have stayed on this trip, the pitches had a nice view and we don't need a lot of room anyway as we are out most of the time, but a big awning would have been impossible. I can see why they do it, they want to retain the bigger pitches for bigger touring units just turning up, and not have to turn them away.

Internet really ticks me off. I understood the expensive charges years ago but internet provision is cheap thesdays, so I don't understand the €5 a day for one device we have seen in places. Often Clipboard has to get his expensive booster thing out because the signal is so bad (but it also creates a VPN that gets round the single device nonsense). If its cheap or free we use it, if it's not we don't.

We have been to some not very nice ASCI sites. Some we stayed one night through necessity but we always have a quick look round before booking in and if not nice, if we can, we move on. I will always look at reviews on the internet if staying more than a couple of nights. We have turned up at 2 Sites in the ASCI book with stickers prominently displayed outside, to have them advise they are no longer ASCI when you show the card. So, as already pointed out, always ask before you book in. I also emailed ASCI to let them know.

All in all, ASCI is a great deal. The best site of this trip on the coast in Croatia cost us €45 a night the last days of June. We were meeting friends so had no choice on the dates. Had we gone a week earlier we'd have paid the ASCI rate of €17 a night.

The other aspect to keep in mind with ACSI sites is that they are all (apparently) inspected by their inspectors. If a site does not live up to the description given in the book then that matter should be taken up with ACSI themselves, as Blueyonder has made reference to. There are of course other organisations who do similar deals as ACSI, Camping Cheques, Alan Roger to name two. You are free to shop around if disatisfied.

Clippie

Quote: Randa france wrote in post #11

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It's funny you should say that but this year there were occasions where we made parts our journey up on the spur of the moment. Therefore we immediately reached for our ACSI books to look for campsites in the area we wished to travel to. All too often there were none in the immediate area .

It was then we realised that perhaps we are too dependent on ACSI and it would be nice to have a wider choice of campsites by using other similar organisations. However, does the competition publish anything as user friendly as the ACSI books?

Randa

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Only twice have we had any restrictions for using ACSI, both were for the showers, only one a day and both were in Holland.

You can get an even better deal sometimes. With Sites and Paysages (France) and Camping Red (Spain) which are both linked, you can get the ASCI rate at many of their sites and still accumulate free nights with them on their offer http://www.campingtour.info We had a week camping for free in France 2016 after our early season tour of Spain in 2015, and this deal is still available now (4 nights in 4 of their campsites in the same year gets you a free week). All of their campsites we stayed in were really good and collecting the stamps and getting the free week was easy - no complicated process making it really difficult so that nobody claims.

Quote: Randa france wrote in post #11

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It's funny you should say that but this year there were occasions where we made parts our journey up on the spur of the moment. Therefore we immediately reached for our ACSI books to look for campsites in the area we wished to travel to. All too often there were none in the immediate area .

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