I booked a stay at an Oregon State park; friends and I got the last two sites. We arrived on a Wednesday to an empty, fully booked, park. It started filling up on Friday afternoon. So, people are reserving large blocks of time and then cancelling whatever they don't want at the last minute because of low cancellation fees. This may work for some, but accounts for a lot of unattended sites for a family that wants to go camping. It also accounts for lost revenue for the park system.
When I make a reservation, I intend to use it for the full time requested. I feel others should do the same. My proposal: $200 reservation fee which will be refunded if you show up the first day of your reservation. If not, you will forfeit it. The high fee will also dissuade people from making dozens of reservations they don't intend to keep to allow their itineraries be flexible. Impact to pocketbooks will be the only way to fix the problem.
I expect negative feedback as I expect many on this forum have the time and impetus to game the reservation systems. You know who you are.
