Online reservations

IBcarguy wrote:
Ok, I'm a little frustrated. We just bought a brand new 5th wheel and late model Duramax GMC to tow with. We're not totally new to the RV scene, but now have made a pretty big investment in our new hobby. We're ready to go. We live in northern CA and have discovered that there are very few places to go that aren't already booked up for the next 3 months...or more. All of the beach front or lake front sites are booked solid into the summer already. There are still other places to go, but a fairgrounds or some of the trashy inland private RV places aren't what we've been dreaming of. My DW has had 3 computers primed to click onto the reservation sites the moment they open up but they always seem to beat her to the reservations before she can make a reservation. I don't get it, other people seem to be getting the reservations....all of them it seems so there must be a way of doing this that we're not privy to. Maybe a special web site that does it automatically, or sending goodies to the webmaster of the reservation site, or SOMETHING! I want to be part of the privileged group that always seems to get ALL the weekend reservations at ALL the beach and lakefront RV sites. OK, someone knows the secret so who do I connect with to become one of the privileged RVers that gets all the prime reservations?

Don't we ALL want to be part of that group of "privileged RVers"? :W I haven't yet forged through all 3 pages of discussion so far but my first observation is that your "pretty big investment" is irrelevant to your argument, those who have but a fraction invested also deserve the same right to reserve campsites as do you. :R Secondly, if we told you "the secret" it would no longer be a secret. :p

What you're experiencing is really no different anywhere else including here in Ontario which has the second largest park system in N America. Sites here open for reservation at 7am 5 months in advance of your chosen date of arrival - but if someone beats you in clicking the reservation tab, even by nanoseconds, you're out of luck. :M Frustrating to be sure, but not uncommon at all. About the only "trick" I know of to get around this is to book your preferred site days or weeks before you actually want it, then later cancel the days you don't want, paying whatever penalty there may be. Here in Ontario that penalty can be severe, up to 50% of the original cost of the site, so along with being somewhat "unethical" it's just not something I do myself. Plenty do though so that may be your only realistic solution for getting the site you really want. ;)