I am the chairman and group organiser of the Hastings Pensioners Association and my gripe is with Southdowns Holiday Village in West Sussex.

Last year, we stayed at the village on a package offered by a coach operator and, although we considered the price to be a little high, we enjoyed our visit a lot.

This year, we decided to return, but I decided to organise the trip myself. However, when I enquired about prices it turns out that private groups were only offered two free places for every 40 – a significantly lower discount than that given to coach operators.

I would be grateful to know why it is that groups booking privately are penalised by this system.

Vic Lavender
Chairman
Hastings Pensioners Association

GTO asked South Downs Holiday Village to respond:

In reply to Vic Lavender’s letter, we believe that South Downs Holiday Park gives a fair price to groups. Mr Lavender is mistaken when he says we offer one free place for every 40 people. We actually offer a complimentary place for every 25, although, if he were booking for 40 people, this would mean he would receive one free place. I would also like to point out that for groups of 40 people we offer free coach transport to and from the Park, and, for smaller groups, we provide a travel subsidy. We also offer groups of 25 or more four single places with no supplement.

The difference between the rates we offer tour operators and what we provide for GTOs is due to differing requirements. For instance, we consider that tour operators have larger overheads than GTOs.

Antony Hawkes
General Manager
South Downs Holiday Village, East Sussex