Empty parks with no open sites.

phillyg wrote:
Don't know about the OP's particular circumstances, but I've been told in FL state parks, and in retail parks, once the reservation is made they cannot book someone else in it. I've seen sites empty for a week at a time, yet the park shows no vacancy. It's very frustrating.

If you read the article, in Colorado, if a reservation doesn't show up after a certain time limit, the staff at the park are supposed to log in and cancel the reservation opening it up for other people (all per the terms of the reservation).

If the journalist is correct, staff were simply not going into the system to cancel no-shows or it was suggested, purposely gaming the no-shows to resell to friends and family.

I'm not sure about Florida state parks but private parks (retail parks) would just need to include a clause in the reservation that if you don't show up or notify the park in a certain time frame, they can resell the site and there is no refund but that's a different matter. Private parks are under no obligation to maximize the sites that are occupied. It's up to the owner to determine the policies and how much it is driven by profits.

Public parks have an obligation to the public (who are ultimately the owners) to make a reasonable effort to give access to the public. They should attempt to cover their costs but not at the expense of letting the public utilize the park.

If the article is correct, in Colorado, the staff are at the very least guilty of not doing their job and at worst committing some form of graft. If this was corrected, it sounds like a lot of sites would be recycled back into the reservation system allowing more people to utilize the parks.