Bristol Zoo (Closed) Annual membership Bristol / Marwell

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bluebell99

New Member
Hello, I'm new here. I have been a member in the past of either Bristol or Marwell Zoos, as I live about an hour from both. I was delighted last year that I could visit Marwell Zoo with my Bristol pass. My pass is coming up for reunion at the end of this month, and now with a Bristol pass, you can only visit Marwell once a year.

I think this is such a shame and very short sighted of the zoos because I probably now won't renew my annual pass at either zoo. I don't live close enough to either to chose one.
 
The same condition applies to my RZSS membership with regards to Chester. Do zoos keep a record of names of those who enter using other zoos' passes in order to prevent people from coming more than once? I haven't been to Chester yet to try this condition out but I wonder if I will have to sign anything or go through any other procedure. What I will make sure to do though is to bring my RZSS membership booklet in order to be able to prove that I am indeed entitled to free access.
 
I've never been to a collection that only allows a single visit from a Chester member, but I would imagine they would record your name/membership number/or both.
 
Twycross allow Chester members a single visit only. But the procedure at the gate isn't that stringent if you know what I mean
 
bluebell99 said:
Hello, I'm new here. I have been a member in the past of either Bristol or Marwell Zoos, as I live about an hour from both. I was delighted last year that I could visit Marwell Zoo with my Bristol pass. My pass is coming up for reunion at the end of this month, and now with a Bristol pass, you can only visit Marwell once a year.

I think this is such a shame and very short sighted of the zoos because I probably now won't renew my annual pass at either zoo. I don't live close enough to either to chose one.
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I'm sure it was stated when i took out my Bristol Memberhip, that you could only visit the other associated zoos once. When i visited Marwell i don't recall them taking my details, just looked at my Card, same thing happened at Chester. So i'm not sure how they police it. However having said that i don't see why any zoo should be considered short sighted for not allowing unlimited free visits from members of other zoos
 
With Bristol, it lists the zoos you can visit, and then in brackets after Marwell it says one visit only. This is new though, as it didn't say that last time I checked, altho I think visits to Woburn were restricted. This past year tho, we have visited Marwell several times and the letter has just been checked at gate. It is shortsighted if lots of people like me decide not to renew because of this as then neither zoo is getting our custom.
 
bluebell99 said:
With Bristol, it lists the zoos you can visit, and then in brackets after Marwell it says one visit only. This is new though, as it didn't say that last time I checked, altho I think visits to Woburn were restricted. This past year tho, we have visited Marwell several times and the letter has just been checked at gate. It is shortsighted if lots of people like me decide not to renew because of this as then neither zoo is getting our custom.
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It isn't short sighted. You have visited Marwell free of charge several times in the last year. What have Marwell got out of that deal? You are not likely to buy a guide, or something from the gift shop more than maybe once, so you aren't really beneficial to Marwell in any way, shape or form, and you deciding not to renew your membersip for Bristol affects Marwell in no way what so ever.
 
Johnny Morris. said:
It isn't short sighted. You have visited Marwell free of charge several times in the last year. What have Marwell got out of that deal? You are not likely to buy a guide, or something from the gift shop more than maybe once, so you aren't really beneficial to Marwell in any way, shape or form, and you deciding not to renew your membersip for Bristol affects Marwell in no way what so ever.
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How about the secondary spending on food, drink and snacks? Given the size of Marwell a person's likely to spend the day there and rather than lugging a picnic around many people choose to purchase items "in-house". It's arguable they're more likely to buy food in house because they haven't paid anything to get in.

It might be the case that a person visiting a zoo for free four times in a year actually spends more at the zoo than if they visited, and paid full admission, only once. Whilst I can't be certain of how the figures work out, given that a number of places now offer free or highly discounted admission off season, I suspect secondary spend might cover lost admission charges.

Plus some people who get in free may take others/friends with them who pay full price to get in (and more secondary spending).
 
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Shorts said:
How about the secondary spending on food, drink and snacks? Given the size of Marwell a person's likely to spend the day there and rather than lugging a picnic around many people choose to purchase items "in-house". It's arguable they're more likely to buy food in house because they haven't paid anything to get in.

It might be the case that a person visiting a zoo for free four times in a year actually spends more at the zoo than if they visited, and paid full admission, only once. Whilst I can't be certain of how the figures work out, given that a number of places now offer free or highly discounted admission off season, I suspect secondary spend might cover lost admission charges.

Plus some people who get in free may take others/friends with them who pay full price to get in (and more secondary spending).
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Yes, that's a fair point, I don't know why Marwell bother charging any entrance fee at all.:eek::rolleyes:;)
 
This is a difficult area.
I am a member at Chester, but I visit Bristol nearly as often as Chester because I make regular visits to family in Devon. I'd rather break my journey by relaxing for a couple of hours in Bristol zoo than sitting at a motorway service station.
My visit only costs Bristol the moment that it takes for the till person to check my Chester member's card. I always buy my lunch at the zoo, so they do make some money from my visit (they do some rather nice sandwiches :)) and I have been known to buy a little something from the gift shop. I don't think there are any losers in this situation - unless Bristol gets so overcrowded with people like me that the paying customers stay away.
It is my regular rule to make sure that I spend some money at any zoo that I visit using my Chester card.

Alan
 
No wonder some zoos are in trouble.
On another thread many members of this site ripped another member to shreads for getting into a zoo as a child instead of a adult, so surely the people using the passes more then should legally be used in the conditions of use are just as bad or even worse.
I understand about buying items on the collections grounds but by not paying an entrance fee that should be paid then the collection could be loosing hundreds of pounds that could and probaly would go to the up keep of the animals within that collection.
Pot and kettle come to mind here
 
adrian1963 said:
No wonder some zoos are in trouble.
On another thread many members of this site ripped another member to shreads for getting into a zoo as a child instead of a adult, so surely the people using the passes more then should legally be used in the conditions of use are just as bad or even worse.
I understand about buying items on the collections grounds but by not paying an entrance fee that should be paid then the collection could be loosing hundreds of pounds that could and probaly would go to the up keep of the animals within that collection.
Pot and kettle come to mind here
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No-one on this thread is advocating trying to get in when payment is due. But it's fair enough to complain when conditions change for the worse.

It reminds me of the clearing banks many years ago, when the banks allowed each other's customers to go into any branch. Eventually the biggest bank opted out as they thought they were contributing too much, the others all followed suit and as a result customers had a poorer service overall.
 
Actually we do spend money when we visit Marwell as we usually have lunch in the cafe and get coffee and cakes, and often something for the kids from the shop. But likewise Marwell members will be visiting Bristol as well, so it is tit for tat. I do think annual memberships are fantastic value, if you are able to visit often. We have been members of both and alternate it every couple of years. My favourite zoo is Chester and if I lived there I would definately join.
Also Marwell isn't losing admission fees by me going, because I wouldn't have gone so often if it hadn't been free. I would have gone somewhere else where I have membership, Hawk conservancy or National Trust for eg.
But I am in the unfortunate position where I don't have a zoo on my doorstep. If I lived in Bristol I would join there, and if in Southampton Marwell. But I am an hour away from both so makes the decision more difficult.
 
I was not trying to indicate that members on here were advocating trying to get in with out payment I was just trying to get round the idea that's it's alright to enter a collection more then once on a membership that states you can do this ONLY once and yet someone who enters a collection at child price instead of adult price is rightly in my mind ripped to shreads why not the same reactiion for someone entering the zoo more then once for free
 
BlueBell99
I understand your problem if the zoos were to have a joint membership, where both zoos recieve 50% of the membership paid then I think this would solve many problems.
Who actually does use all thier entitlements on thier memberships.
Does anyone know how the money is divided among the zoos on multi memberships and do people think this is advantagious to the zoos or should each zoo have thier own membership only
Just a little idea here if thier is going to be multi memberships instead of say a letter or a membership card why not a voucher this way the voucher can on;y be used once and this way they will be able to keep a record of which members from which collections take advantage of the offers.

EDIT - Why not have a zoo membership card for all UK zoos
 
I think it could be short-sighted by zoos to only allow one reciprocal visit. Last year I used my RZSS membership to go to Marwell Zoo two days in a row. We had originally hoped to go to Chester instead, but there's no way with my health I'd be able to make even a stab at seeing the majority of Chester in one day. However, we chose another option as we'd have had to pay for Chester on the second day and that would have cost too much for us.

Instead we went to Marwell and had lunches (both days x 3 people), multiple teas, coffees and juices, I bought a membership guide, fridge magnet, soft toy, various stationery items and a t-shirt. I reckon we must have spent at least £100 over the two days, if not more.

In the grand scheme of things £100 here and there may not be a huge sum, but we're already planning our next visit to Marwell when we go on holiday this year. That's at least £100 they're likely to get at least 2 years in a row that they wouldn't have otherwise got and hasn't really cost them anything at all. If you multiply that by 10 or 20 people/groups and the insignificant sum of £100 starts to really add up.
 
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