Beware "Reserve America"

Merrykalia wrote:
This has gone on with Reserve America for years. I'm surprised you hadn't encountered it before. I always complain to the states official website because they use Reserve America. It really bothers me that I have to pay a fee to use their services to reserve a space in a campground that can be located 2 miles from my house and the fact that they seem to know nothing about the individual campgrounds. If you search on their site, you can find the information so they should be able to do it, but apparently they don't want to take the time to do it. Just irks me, but most state parks are going to using them because it's cheaper than hiring someone to do it "in state".

1. Why does it bother you to pay a small fee for services. Reserve America is not in business to lose money.
2. Reserve America relies on information provided to them by park management and they are not going to send investigators to verify the information. For example, a SP in MD described every campsite in their park as accommodating a rig up to 25'. A phone call to the park ranger revealed that several sites could take rigs of 35' or more.
3. I find the information on RA, the maps, the photos, etc., to be generally useful, but if I have a specific question, I call the park.
4. Having said all that, I find it ethically wrong for RA to charge a fee AND sell/use the information for questionable marketing practices.