A question about campground reservation.

azdryheat wrote:
There are various software packages a park can buy. Some allow picking a site and some don't.

What tics me off is an expensive resort that says you can't pick a sight and won't assign you a site until you arrive. Say the site you're assigned on arrival does not meet your needs so you ask for another site that is currently unoccupied. You're told that the new space is reserved. Huh? Thought they didn't reserve sites. Thought they didn't assign sites until your arrival. It's caused us much grief at one of our otherwise favorite resorts.

They assign sites, but may have changed those assignments a dozen times before you arrive. That unoccupied site may have a guest arriving a day or two later and staying for two weeks. You may be staying only 4 days. Then the guest following you is staying three days, then the next guest for two weeks. There is no way to change sites with the two week stay that doesn't require them to move, which violates our number one criteria when assigning sites, never make a guest move during their stay.
There are many reasons a park would need to have the flexibility to move sites. There may be a group of 4 rigs coming together and if the park doesn't move you, the group will be broken apart and you will be in the middle of them, which isn't great for you either. There may be only certain sites that can accommodate certain rigs. There may be a special request that can only be filled by certain sites (i.e wheelchair accessible).
And yes, sometimes long time repeat guests can and do reserve the same site year after year and we honor that request since we may get $4000+ a year from that guest, year after year. That is only good business. It isn't just as simple as you arrived and a site is vacant at that time so you should be able to have it.