Incremental cancellation penalty

westernrvparkowner wrote:

4x4van wrote:
Charging an outrageous cancellation fee 3 months in advance of the camping date has nothing to do with trying to reduce people who are "gaming" the system; it is instead a way to make more money where it isn't warranted. Those sites WILL be filled up quickly.

Simply instituting a $10-$15 non-refundable reservation fee along with the additional requirement that refunds for cancellations will only be given if it is more than 15 (or 30) days prior to arrival date would solve the problem. Anything more than 15-30 days is plenty of time to fill those sites.

Spoken by the guy who has never owned or managed a park.

Spoken by the guy who has never owned or managed a State Park.

I've already agreed that no refunds if cancelled in 15 (or 30) days prior, so after that point, you have not lost a dime; the site is paid in full, occupied or not (I've never been to a park that didn't require full payment up front when the reservations were made). So are you claiming that you cannot fill a space in more than 30 days? Considering the fact that state campgrounds are nearly filled 6 months in advance, I don't buy that. Unless perhaps you are talking about some out of the way, run down, POS, unpopular private park, but otherwise...or does that indeed describe your private park?

I'm glad they are doing it. Hopefully it will help. For us Weekend/Vacation Warriors with kids in school, it is tough to find sites in the popular campgrounds at the times we can go. I just checked TopSail in Destin, and they only have 1 site available for a week in June, and it is only a 20ft site.

There is a campground on a lake that we go to that only allows reservations to be made 45 days before your arrival date. To get in for Labor day we had to call and make reservations starting on Wednesday even though we were not going to arrive until Friday night. Even paying for 2 extra nights, there were only a couple of sites left. They said that water fronts sites were gone on Monday.

Going to the lake during the summer it is tough to decide on like a Tuesday to go for the weekend because sites will be gone.

With RV's selling like they are, I think things are just going to get worse. I'm glad people are getting out and enjoying nature and spending time with their kids, but I want a campsite :)

westernrvparkowner wrote:

CarnationSailor wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

4x4van wrote:
Charging an outrageous cancellation fee 3 months in advance of the camping date has nothing to do with trying to reduce people who are "gaming" the system; it is instead a way to make more money where it isn't warranted. Those sites WILL be filled up quickly.

Simply instituting a $10-$15 non-refundable reservation fee along with the additional requirement that refunds for cancellations will only be given if it is more than 15 (or 30) days prior to arrival date would solve the problem. Anything more than 15-30 days is plenty of time to fill those sites.

Spoken by the guy who has never owned or managed a park.

Popular Washington State parks fill up on every holiday weekend - guaranteed. They would still be filled up with a 15 or 30 days cancellation policy.

Owning or managing a private rv park doesn't make you an expert on state parks.

It seems you keep trying to make this thread about your policies and experiences owning a private rv park, but the OP initiated this thread to talk about Michigan state park policies.

And staying at a state park doesn't make you an expert on state parks. Furthermore, how can you make the correlation that a Washington park is full, therefore Michigan parks must be full?

You are absolutely correct!

I am not an expert on state parks.

And I know of no correlation between campsite availability at Washington State Parks vs. Michigan State Parks.

CarnationSailor wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:

4x4van wrote:
Charging an outrageous cancellation fee 3 months in advance of the camping date has nothing to do with trying to reduce people who are "gaming" the system; it is instead a way to make more money where it isn't warranted. Those sites WILL be filled up quickly.

Simply instituting a $10-$15 non-refundable reservation fee along with the additional requirement that refunds for cancellations will only be given if it is more than 15 (or 30) days prior to arrival date would solve the problem. Anything more than 15-30 days is plenty of time to fill those sites.

Spoken by the guy who has never owned or managed a park.

Popular Washington State parks fill up on every holiday weekend - guaranteed. They would still be filled up with a 15 or 30 days cancellation policy.

Owning or managing a private rv park doesn't make you an expert on state parks.

It seems you keep trying to make this thread about your policies and experiences owning a private rv park, but the OP initiated this thread to talk about Michigan state park policies.

And staying at a state park doesn't make you an expert on state parks. Furthermore, how can you make the correlation that a Washington park is full, therefore Michigan parks must be full?

westernrvparkowner wrote:

4x4van wrote:
Charging an outrageous cancellation fee 3 months in advance of the camping date has nothing to do with trying to reduce people who are "gaming" the system; it is instead a way to make more money where it isn't warranted. Those sites WILL be filled up quickly.

Simply instituting a $10-$15 non-refundable reservation fee along with the additional requirement that refunds for cancellations will only be given if it is more than 15 (or 30) days prior to arrival date would solve the problem. Anything more than 15-30 days is plenty of time to fill those sites.

Spoken by the guy who has never owned or managed a park.

Popular Washington State parks fill up on every holiday weekend - guaranteed. They would still be filled up with a 15 or 30 days cancellation policy.

Owning or managing a private rv park doesn't make you an expert on state parks.

It seems you keep trying to make this thread about your policies and experiences owning a private rv park, but the OP initiated this thread to talk about Michigan state park policies.

4x4van wrote:
Charging an outrageous cancellation fee 3 months in advance of the camping date has nothing to do with trying to reduce people who are "gaming" the system; it is instead a way to make more money where it isn't warranted. Those sites WILL be filled up quickly.

Simply instituting a $10-$15 non-refundable reservation fee along with the additional requirement that refunds for cancellations will only be given if it is more than 15 (or 30) days prior to arrival date would solve the problem. Anything more than 15-30 days is plenty of time to fill those sites.

Spoken by the guy who has never owned or managed a park.

Charging an outrageous cancellation fee 3 months in advance of the camping date has nothing to do with trying to reduce people who are "gaming" the system; it is instead a way to make more money where it isn't warranted. Those sites WILL be filled up quickly.

Simply instituting a $10-$15 non-refundable reservation fee along with the additional requirement that refunds for cancellations will only be given if it is more than 15 (or 30) days prior to arrival date would solve the problem. Anything more than 15-30 days is plenty of time to fill those sites.

CarnationSailor wrote:
westernrvparkowner,

Since no reason is needed to cancel a state park reservation, it is not about making exceptions. It is about setting a cancellation fee based on how long the reservation is held instead of how long before the arrival date someone is cancelling. Commercial RV parks require a certain number of days notice to get your deposit back, and if the states did the same thing, it would be more equitable and also reduce the gaming.

If the problem is people reserving sites they may or may not use and then cancelling them because the financial penalty is not significant all a cancellation period would do is kick the can down the road.
The system that works for us is a hefty deposit that can be partially refunded if the cancellation happens prior to 30 days from reservation (50 percent refunded). Inside of 30 days, no refunds. Also, the reservation is cancelled completely if you do not show up on the first day of the reservation, freeing that site for the rest of the time. If you contact us and tell us you can't make the first night or the first few nights, we will keep the rest of the days of your reservation open but still charge you the full amount when you arrive. This allows us to open the site up for walk up guests while preventing people from reserving more time than they really want just in case they decide to linger somewhere along their journey to us.
Finally, if you decide to leave early, we will refund you 50 percent of the remaining balance (after removing any discounts for length of stay you would no longer qualify for). This gives you an incentive to let us know you are leaving, yet penalizes those who make reservations with "wiggle room" in case they decide they want to extend their stays.
We very seldom make exceptions to our policies. We do not want to be judge and jury over reasons people change and cancel their reservations.

westernrvparkowner,

Since no reason is needed to cancel a state park reservation, it is not about making exceptions. It is about setting a cancellation fee based on how long the reservation is held instead of how long before the arrival date someone is cancelling. Commercial RV parks require a certain number of days notice to get your deposit back, and if the states did the same thing, it would be more equitable and also reduce the gaming.

Collateral damage is unavoidable.

I'm sure no one who participates in these forums books multiple sites at multiple parks every weekend for the summer, and then cancels last minute depending on what their camping friends/family are up to.

That's what the State is trying to combat, without calling out the gamers directly.

I still think if reservations was tied to the camping unit's license plate, and that plate could only be used at one location per reservation, it would really help curb abuse.