Reserve America

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
Reserve America does not set any of the fees you pay. They don't even get the money. It goes to the states/federal agency/campground owner directly, and they pay RA when billed monthly.

Their contracts with individual states, individual federal agencies determine how their fees are charged to the customer.

For example - the US Forest Service makes the customer pay an additional $9 per reservation on-line, where the US National Park Service does not make the customer pay any additional fee for on-line reservations. Those are both branches of the US Department of Interior.

Some states charge an on-line reservation fee even if you arrive at the CG without a reservation. Some states like Florida charge excessively high change and cancelation fees hoping to deter folks from reserving sites and reselling the reservations.

On the Reserve America page for every state/ agency is a link to a description of all extra fees charged. Winhall Brook Example

Be aware that many agencies have varying fees for a single campsite. Some states charge $3 or $5 more per night on weekends or holidays. Some states / federal agencies will charge $2-5 per night more for a 'water front' site than the near identical site across the road.

Some states rates go up for the 'season' and are cheaper for the 'off-season'. Louisiana charges $20 Oct-Mar and $28 Apr-Sep for the same sites at many parks.

All reservation systems have a charge for changing or canceling reservations.

Also the US Army Corps of Engineers has put new rates into the system for many campgrounds - like Winhall Brook - but the fees for individual campsites have not yet been updated. So at that CG when you go to checkout - the price jumps form $22 to $26 per night.

I talked to the office today - and they have been getting a lot of calls about the rate increase which was approved last week and just went into effect for new reservations a couple days ago.

Mostly factual, but not completely.
Yes, the agencies set the reservation fee in addition to the camping fee. But the reservation fee helps to offset the cost of the contract.
And while the Park Service and BLM are in the Dept. of Interior, the USDA Forest Service is in (surprise!) the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The whole reservation thing is pretty technical, and different companies bid on getting the long-term contract for making federal reservations. In the past, there have been lawsuits against the government by companies NOT winning the contract, so you can guess it is lucrative. And the reservation company that takes your reservations has locations in the US and Canada. They also take reservation for Broadway shows and many other venues.