Is this legal???

Can they do it? Sure.

Is it good business sense? Probably not.

What I would do is call them directly and be very very very nice while asking them to honor the original rate.

I would do as toedtoes suggested. If that fails, you either pay the extra $80, or ask for a full refund.

Because you are so far away, going to court in NH for breach of contract is totally impractical. No, it is not right. They would be in breach of contract (unless they had something in writing at the time you paid which said they had the right to raise rates without notice on prepaid reservations), but it isn't worthwhile for you to pursue it.

Personally, I guess I would ask for the refund first if I had anywhere else I could stay instead, simply because I would not want to give my business to such underhanded people.

I would ask for a refund if they insisted on a change of price.
Best to read the fine print of the reservation.

I've had parks advise me of a price change for future bookings, but existing bookings have always been honored at the originally quoted price. In your situation, I think I'd weigh the value of my planned stay against the price increase, and decide whether cancelling had a higher or lower value to me. Be aware that a cancellation fee could cost as much as the increase though.

RV campground and a airline ticket are two entirely different things.

Apples and oranges comparison.

Airlines are heavily regulated operations, RV parks not so much.

Airplanes falling out of the sky, a big deal, price hike to park your RV on a small plot of land, not so much.

Typically a RV park in a extremely popular destination are often hit up by local governing bodies (city) for taxes. One place we go (a popular beach destination) typically gets hit with increased "bed taxes" on a yearly basis.. Campground owners are not going to absorb the tax increases so it is ALWAYS passed on to the consumer.

Likewise, campground operators face increasing costs to operate like power, water, sewer, labor and maintenance.. Those costs will then be passed along to you the user.

Nothing illegal for the campground requesting additional funds after you have reserved and most likely if you read their fine print they might even spell out that additional charges may apply..

We often take future reservations prior to our setting the rates. The price is not guaranteed until those future rates are set. That is very clearly noted in the confirmation. I would suspect there is a similar disclaimer somewhere in the OP's reservation confirmation. Also, as noted by another poster, taxes can change (and I have never seen them go down) and the park would be in the right to pass those increases along since the tax obligation is generated at each day's stay. (can't pay them in advance).

Since you paid (not just a reservation) I would think you would have a contract. If they did not honor that contract I would ask for a refund.

The seasonal campground I stay at had their property tax double in one year. They had to raise rates the following year. They did not raise rates mid year after everyone had already paid.

colliehauler wrote:
Since you paid (not just a reservation) I would think you would have a contract. If they did not honor that contract I would ask for a refund.

The seasonal campground I stay at had their property tax double in one year. They had to raise rates the following year. They did not raise rates mid year after everyone had already paid.

Property taxes are an expense of the park, I wouldn't expect a park to directly pass on any increase. Same with power, water and other utilities unless they are metered and billed directly to each renter.
What I was referring to would be lodging taxes, sales taxes or other taxes directly assessed to the rental rate. If those were increased by the taxing authority, I would pass them on to all rentals, whether or not they had made the reservations prior to the announcement and implementation of that increase.

colliehauler wrote:
Since you paid (not just a reservation) I would think you would have a contract. If they did not honor that contract I would ask for a refund.

The seasonal campground I stay at had their property tax double in one year. They had to raise rates the following year. They did not raise rates mid year after everyone had already paid.

Yes they did have a contract. In fact that was Contracts 101 when I was in Law School. The OP is legally required to pay for the site and they are legally required to provide it. The obligation runs both ways.

The RV park offered you a camp site for a specific price and you agreed to the price and paid it in full. You and the park have a contract. By the RV park raising its price and demanding additional money from you is in violation of the original contract. The additional price was not part of the original contract and was not agreed to by you. You can bring a civil suit for contract violation against the RV park. Or you can blow it off and cancel the reservation and get your money back and the park can keep screwing over campers with no penalty.