Lantley wrote:
As someone who has worked with the general public for many years, sometimes you create policies based on past experiences.
I'm sure WRVPO has seen the scenario described by the OP many times.
I'm sure late/early arrival have caused headaches for one reason or another. Lots of he said she said, I was told or promised etc etc.
At some point you end the confusion and headaches by simply eliminating or banning early or late arrivals across the board. Problem Solved!
As a camper/consumer, pay for the extra day if you want to leave late or arrive early. Problem Solved.
I understand the potential frustration. I've worked with the public many times. I started out in retail sales many years ago and I know there are all kinds of people and all kinds of ways some people will abuse the system. IMHO you haven't ended the headaches, you've simply shifted them to someone else. You haven't solved the problem, you MIGHT have solved your problem. It's certainly within your rights, and I do respect those rights, to set such policies. If you have a camp site that's in demand, why would you want it sitting empty because someone paid an extra day to pull out 2 hours late? Something that happens a lot around here is people will book and pay for a site at coveted state park campgrounds and then not show up or they will book it for say 5 nights and only show up for 2 or 3. I can't tell you how many nights I've spent in a nearly empty "fully booked" campground.
I do agree there is extra work involved and might expect to pay extra for the service, if I needed it and it were offered. Again, I don't expect you to offer the service or think I have some right to it. However, if I request the service from a campground and the campground agrees, I would expect the campground to coordinate it, whether or not they charged me, and not have a potential altercation with another camper because they didn't.
SDcampowneroperator wrote:
Early arrival and late checkout are only an issue in our outdooor hospitality industry. Hoteliers forbid or charge for early, late check out, as it adds to staff and costs, as it does to us.
Hotels have only 2 options, 1 bed or 2. Camps have many more variables, as well as striving to suit your wishes.
Where the early/ late becomes an issue is when that prime site is reserved. If all our sites were like a hotel or wally world all the same with hookups, arranging would be easy.
Wear our shoes for a day
As already stated, I don't expect something for nothing.
IMHO you're over generalizing. While it's true most hotels don't allow you to pick your room (by the way I've been to campgrounds that don't let you pre-select a particular site) , it's not true they only have 2 options. Most hotels have categories of rooms, especially if there are some appealing features of certain rooms (ocean view vs overlooking the parking lot, etc). Customers also make all sorts of special requests in the hotel industry. I want to be close to the stairway or elevator, not close to the ice machine, ground floor, top floor, not the 13th floor, etc... Some hotels accommodate and others don't. I do understand the frustrations, and I do respect you right to set policies that you feel are fair or avoid problems. I don't want to sound flippant, but it sounds like you should wear your customers shoes for a day.
I've seen the suggestion to reserve an extra day. I've already given some reasons why I don't think that's necessarily the best answer, but the real reason that's not the best answer is people don't always plan to arrive early or stay late. You get up Sunday morning and decide you want to see a couple of more sites that you discovered late in your visit or you arrive early because traffic wasn't nearly as bad as you expected. You arrive at an empty campground and ask if you can check in early and you're told POLICY is no early check ins. You ask if you can check out late on Sunday and the office doesn't even bother to see if someone is coming in, POLICY is no late check outs. That's NOT hospitality. It is your right, but it's not hospitality. It's my POLICY as a consumer that I PREFER places that try to accommodate reasonable requests. I understand when some can't, especially for legitimate reasons. But I APPRECIATE and prefer those that try.
I also understand that we as consumers can make assumptions. I understand that an empty campground may only seem empty. Maybe there's maintenance, maybe there's some other reason they can't be accommodating. But again, IMHO a blanket policy because you think it solves your headache isn't a reason. Also my opinion, enough policies like that drive away "good" consumers.
