Ticket Ordering for 2011

[Martini...LB]

Just a thought a sunny but cold sunday morning in Guernsey.
What if we get together our order as your other pos GF and then approach one of the agents with our list, this would possibly give them a discount/more bargaining power with the ACO and possibly attain a better rate. This 'better rate' could subsequently be passed onto us a group, though fragmented, booking.

I am sure TL or someone would be happy to shave off a few pounds for a large, almost guaranteed, booking of perhaps 100-150 pitches and 400 GE tickets not to mention the grandstands (too lat, I have)

So we all win

Just a thought as I am eating my porridge.
>Martini...LB

[andymac]

Ladies and gents.
We know how frustrating it can be working with the ACO, but there it very little that can be done. Demand is always high for campsites and grandstands and there are only so many available. The ACO has a guaranteed 100% sale, so a request from any source for a large allocation over and above the existing agents is likely to fall on deaf ears. Regarding official agent status. There are a restricted number of official agents in the UK, and this is at It's max. So this is not an option. Also the fee is nearer £6k per year.
TL give all of It's bleu nord allocation to CA, 90 pitches in all, but this is not enough for everyone. All we can do is keep asking for more. However, the ACO is fickle and we could just as easy loose the lot.
We are happy to do a block deal on GE and grandstands, so we will work out a % discount for CA members. Individuals will need to quote their CA name when ordering.
We will continue to do what we can.
Andy. TL.

[smokie]

ACO phoned today saying I hadn't responded to their mail which required that I join the ACO to ensure my allocation of BN tickets. So I've joined up (cheapest option) and they should be in the bag.

They really seem keen not to lose me as a customer!!!

I will have a number spare - once it's all confirmed I will post how many and cost. I've had the same pitch numbers for the past two years.

[Grand_Fromage]

I knew it was a substantial sum to join the club of official agents. It came up in conversation a few weeks ago and I only had a vague recollection of it being in the low thousands, and certainly enough to put it out of the question for CA.

What I am suggesting is not for 2011, that ship has already sailed. I am suggesting we get our act together for 2012 both as a pressure group and to get an allocation of campsite/grandstand places for 2012 dedicated to CA via an official agent. I know very well that the ACO can't invent extra allocation from thin air, but what we are looking for is some fairness and predictability in what we get and how much we pay for it. I don't think that a loose relationship with one or more ticket resellers to make a 'best endeavour' promise is a significant improvement. What we need to do in 2011 is to go to the ACO and let them know the problems and frustrations faced by regular Le Mans visitors. For 2012, I think that any involvement with an agent would have to be strictly businesslike, be backed up by a written agreement, in the full knowledge and blessing of both the ACO and the CA community. What I don't want to happen is for Club Arnage to become the commercial offshoot of a specific travel agent. That goes against all the things that have kept CA alive and active since 1996. What we should do is set out our needs and see who can agree to satisfy those needs with the best price and the greatest confidence.
  



 

Ladies and gents.
We know how frustrating it can be working with the ACO, but there it very little that can be done. Demand is always high for campsites and grandstands and there are only so many available. The ACO has a guaranteed 100% sale, so a request from any source for a large allocation over and above the existing agents is likely to fall on deaf ears. Regarding official agent status. There are a restricted number of official agents in the UK, and this is at It's max. So this is not an option. Also the fee is nearer £6k per year.
TL give all of It's bleu nord allocation to CA, 90 pitches in all, but this is not enough for everyone. All we can do is keep asking for more. However, the ACO is fickle and we could just as easy loose the lot.
We are happy to do a block deal on GE and grandstands, so we will work out a % discount for CA members. Individuals will need to quote their CA name when ordering.
We will continue to do what we can.
Andy. TL.

[termietermite]

Well b*gger me if I don't get back from the hospital to find that I have been awarded 2 MB tickets by the ACO.

I do not know whether to laugh or cry now.  I booked a place in the ACO campsite as an insurance policy when the website first opened, then when TL announced that there's a CA encampment on BN, I reserved two places on there - and now I have 2 places on MB which was all I wanted in the first place.

GF, we can emphasise to the ACO that re-selling is indeed likely to  be rife if year after year, one has to buy and reserve spots all over the place just to be sure to get what one wants.  A better assurance of what is going to come out of the end of the sausage (sorry ticket) machine, at an early date, should be good for us all - club and racegoer alike.

An ACO campsite place will soon appear on "Sell or Swap" but if anybody wants one - let me know - I have one going begging!

[Werner]

Ladies and gents.
We know how frustrating it can be working with the ACO, but there it very little that can be done. Demand is always high for campsites and grandstands and there are only so many available. The ACO has a guaranteed 100% sale, so a request from any source for a large allocation over and above the existing agents is likely to fall on deaf ears. Regarding official agent status. There are a restricted number of official agents in the UK, and this is at It's max. So this is not an option. Also the fee is nearer £6k per year.
TL give all of It's bleu nord allocation to CA, 90 pitches in all, but this is not enough for everyone. All we can do is keep asking for more. However, the ACO is fickle and we could just as easy loose the lot.
We are happy to do a block deal on GE and grandstands, so we will work out a % discount for CA members. Individuals will need to quote their CA name when ordering.
We will continue to do what we can.
Andy. TL.

Hi Andy,

great that you are working again on getting us all together in the same spot  on BN, good job. Hope they allocate all of your 90 pitches in one block. Look forward to see you in June

Cheers

Werner

[Canada Phil]

ACO phoned today saying I hadn't responded to their mail which required that I join the ACO to ensure my allocation of BN tickets. So I've joined up (cheapest option) and they should be in the bag.

They really seem keen not to lose me as a customer!!!

I will have a number spare - once it's all confirmed I will post how many and cost. I've had the same pitch numbers for the past two years.

Hey Smokie,
                 I better come and show you where they are then
Phil

[pedersenkorsager]

Hi

If there is 8 tickets ekstra for BN i would take them.

Kenn

[Kpy]

The plain fact is that Passion 24 VIP members who want to camp on Houx, Houx Annex, Tertre Rouge, Karting Nord, Expo, Maison Blanche, Bleu Nord or Bleu Sud are going to have to buy their tickets from an agent. That agent will not only charge well over face value for the camping pass, but also insist on us buying two general entry tickets at equally inflated prices for each camping pass. That neatly negates the members right to GA tickets at a discount.

I'd love to be proved wrong.

Time to own up. I've been proved wrong!
I wrote to the ACO, asking politely why most of the prime campsites had not been offered to ACO Passion 24 members on-line, and placing an order for Houx passes for me and two other ACO members.
Result - order confirmed.
Looks like GF's theory is correct - more cock-up than conspiracy.

[termietermite]

As you see, Kpy, it also worked for me.  The letter arrived this morning confirming MB and asking for cash. 
The snag is I have all these "in case" tickets too!  

[Bas]

Time to own up. I've been proved wrong!
I wrote to the ACO, asking politely why most of the prime campsites had not been offered to ACO Passion 24 members on-line, and placing an order for Houx passes for me and two other ACO members.
Result - order confirmed.
Looks like GF's theory is correct - more cock-up than conspiracy.

I like it when you're proved wrong 

Anyway thanks for also writing the ACO on our behalf, you made a bunch of Danes and Dutchies very happy.
So everything the same as last year, will Lord Steve dignify us with his presence again you think?

[Kpy]

As you see, Kpy, it also worked for me.  The letter arrived this morning confirming MB and asking for cash. 
The snag is I have all these "in case" tickets too!  

I followed your example, but hadn't adopted your belt and braces policy. I decided to buy only what I really wanted. Result - Houx and ACO T18.
I'm sure someone will take your extras off you.
What we need next year is a fully transparent booking system from the ACO. Hopefully they will have learnt from this year's experience, bless them.

I like it when you're proved wrong 

Anyway thanks for also writing the ACO on our behalf, you made a bunch of Danes and Dutchies very happy.
So everything the same as last year, will Lord Steve dignify us with his presence again you think?

A pleasure, Bas. The Dutch/Anglo/Danish set-up with all its mod cons is the best there is.
I'll drop a PM to his Lordship.

[Bentley boy]

Got an email this morning from the ACO saying that tickets are on general sale. So I'm booked GA & Tribune 34 just what I wanted just need to sort out getting there now. 

[redstu]

Bleu Nord tickets went on sale on the website today.

Here we go again!   I booked a pitch on BSJ for my friends who are coming with us, because there didn't seem to be an alternative and now BN is available.  This is the kind of thing that we need to find out about - why is this happening?  I can't cancel the BSJ spot now so they're stuck with it.  Happily they are young, fit and French and are just happy to come along.  But I feel as if I have been conned into buying  inferior spots. 

Thanks, GF, for your response - it really would be interesting to know what the mindset is. 

The ACO has been very good to me but I feel I have only got what I wanted by booking seats all over the place, regardless of cost, and waiting until they joined the dots - I also feel that a lot of this is about the sympathetic staff on the ground, rather than those who make policy.  Whether the fact that I've had the same order for the last 12 years and have been a member for only a slightly shorter time has made a difference, I do not know.  But it is telling that those who have been on the "preferred" list for years, have been asked to join the ACO to benefit from the priority service.  Thus I'm still not convinced that it's about priority customers, but it will be good to know.

Marketing was my profession and sorry, but the ACO is cr*p at it.

BN is still available today as well, Id have though it would have sold out by now.

No ACO discount on this one either!

[landman]

All I can see are "yellow" campsites.

Is this because I am not an ACO member?