2014 Oregon State Parks Rate Increase

[WoodGlue]

Oregon State Parks wrote:
Dear Oregon State Parks Customer:



This letter is to inform you that Oregon State Park camping rates will increase for camping stays in yurts, cabins and most types of standard campsites on May 1, 2014. In addition the $10 per day pet fee for customers staying with their pet in a “pet friendly” yurt or cabin became a mandatory fee on October 7, 2013. The fee had been a voluntary donation up until October.



The increased rates became official when the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Commission adopted changes to the Oregon Administrative Rules governing park rates at their September 24th meeting. Campers staying in an Oregon state park campground on May 1, 2014, will see rate increases for most types of yurts, cabins and standard campsites ranging from $1 to $4, with the exception of tent site rates which will not increase. The fee for bringing an extra vehicle will also increase by $2. Campers who visit between now and April 30, 2014 will pay the current, lower rates. New reservations for stays starting May 1 and later will be charged the new rates.



All existing reservations for stays on or after May 1, 2014 which were made before October 7, 2013 will be honored at the rate quoted at the time of the reservation. However, if changes are made to the reservation the rate increases will be applied (as a courtesy to customers with existing reservations, there will be a grace period to modify existing reservations without having to pay the new, higher rates). If you wish to change your reservation during this grace period, contact the Oregon Parks and Recreation Reservations Northwest office at 1-800-452-5687 between now and January 1, 2014. Business hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. All changes made after January 1, 2014 will result in the increased rates being applied to your existing reservation.



In addition to the rate increase adopted by Oregon State Parks, customers staying at Cape Lookout and Nehalem Bay state parks on January 1, 2014, or later will see an increase in the fees they pay as a result of a 10% Tillamook county lodging tax. This tax was approved by voters in November. Oregon State Parks is required to collect lodging tax on overnight camping facilities located in areas where cities or counties have enacted a tax. Reservations Northwest call center agents will be making calls to collect the 10% tax over the next few days. Please be aware that you will need to provide the agent with your Visa or MasterCard number to pay the tax as we do not keep them on file.





The new tax is due on all camping stays from January 1, 2014 forward, and will be applied to all stays at Cape Lookout and Nehalem Bay, including advance reservations made before the tax was approved. The tax is rolled into the published rate for our campsites and rounded to the nearest dollar. While this may appear to be a rate increase for our parks in Tillamook County, the revenue generated goes directly to the county, not to Oregon State Parks.



We would like to thank you for continuing to be our valued customer and supporting Oregon State Parks. We look forward to serving you and your camping needs in the future. If you have any questions regarding the new rates or Tillamook County lodging tax please call the Oregon State Parks Information line at 1-800-551-6949 or e-mail us at park.info@state.or.us.



Sincerely,







Sheri Miller

RNW Call Center Manager

Oregon Parks & Rec Dept

[chrishavel]

Andymon wrote:

monkey44 wrote:
Wonder how many people are going to give up all that CC info on a cold call coming in ... not me, that's for sure. Need to collect something, better come to my home with a written bill and an number or site to check the authority.

Oregon, great parks, great people, vets get a discount. But, cold calls for my CC info ... don't think so. Better idea to collect it when the camper arrives - very simple.

I don't know of any Oregon state park that gives vets discounts unless they are disabled. Other than that, seniors get a discount.

Vets with a service-related disability get limited free camping (5 nights per stay, 10 nights per month statewide). We don't have a senior discount.

--
Chris, Oregon Parks and Recreation Dept.

[Andymon]

monkey44 wrote:
Wonder how many people are going to give up all that CC info on a cold call coming in ... not me, that's for sure. Need to collect something, better come to my home with a written bill and an number or site to check the authority.

Oregon, great parks, great people, vets get a discount. But, cold calls for my CC info ... don't think so. Better idea to collect it when the camper arrives - very simple.

I don't know of any Oregon state park that gives vets discounts unless they are disabled. Other than that, seniors get a discount.

[Andymon]

old guy wrote:
great just what I wanted to hear, since I got the SSI statement today that said I get $1 increase in monthly pay

I get an additional $15/month starting with my Jan. check.

[clikrf8]

Oregon State Parks have some of the best camping anywhere. They are clean, spacious and some, (many ?) have great showers that are FREE! (Did you hear that Washington?). On our last trip we enjoyed Beverly Beach, Cascadia (very nice ranger pointed out great photo location along Santiam River), Succor Creek, Humbug, Sunset, and Cape Lookout. We will be back.

[Ed_C]

Just made resevations yesterday $32.00 a night at Beverly Beach (full hook up). Oregon State Parks are still a great bargin!

[chrishavel]

Carl n Susan wrote:

chrishavel wrote:


...Only the campers with Tillamook County reservations have to worry about owing more for an existing reservation. We're honoring the old, lower rates on all the other reservations unless the visitor makes a change to their reservation after January 1.....

--
Chris, Oregon Parks and Recreation Dept.
park.info@state.or.us
1-800-551-6949 (info)
1-800-452-5687 (reservations)
oregonstateparks.org (info and reservations)

Actually ReserveAmerica started collecting the new rates for any post May 1, 2014 reservations when they were made after October 7, 2013. The announcement letter seems to only document the rate change. Last year I paid $24 for a RV site and $39 for a cabin. The reservation I made on 11/27 for Sep 2014 is $26 for a RV site and $40 for a cabin.

I don't have a problem with an increase, I just wanted to understand how much it was and how I was to pay it.

I too love the OR parks but I also know they suffer the same funding shortages as the parks in CA. One park I frequent experienced a break in the sewer line servicing the RV sites. Rather than fixing the leak, OPRD decided to remove the RV sewer connection. Reason: no funds to repair. But they did have funds to upgrade the power from 15 amp to 30 amp.

Thanks Chris for the response.

Yes, that's what I should have said. The "we honor old rates" refers to reservations made before we started collecting the higher 2014 campsite rate back in October for stays starting May 1, 2014. If you made a reservation in September for Memorial Day 2014, we didn't go back to those old reservations and charge them more -- they got grandparented* in.

The tax thing is different. The county isn't offering a grace period for reservations that are already on the books; any stay starting January 1 owes the tax, no matter when the reservation was made.

--
*It's International Gender-neutral Idiom Day.

Thanks.
Chris

[Carl_n_Susan]

chrishavel wrote:


...Only the campers with Tillamook County reservations have to worry about owing more for an existing reservation. We're honoring the old, lower rates on all the other reservations unless the visitor makes a change to their reservation after January 1.....

--
Chris, Oregon Parks and Recreation Dept.
park.info@state.or.us
1-800-551-6949 (info)
1-800-452-5687 (reservations)
oregonstateparks.org (info and reservations)

Actually ReserveAmerica started collecting the new rates for any post May 1, 2014 reservations when they were made after October 7, 2013. The announcement letter seems to only document the rate change. Last year I paid $24 for a RV site and $39 for a cabin. The reservation I made on 11/27 for Sep 2014 is $26 for a RV site and $40 for a cabin.

I don't have a problem with an increase, I just wanted to understand how much it was and how I was to pay it.

I too love the OR parks but I also know they suffer the same funding shortages as the parks in CA. One park I frequent experienced a break in the sewer line servicing the RV sites. Rather than fixing the leak, OPRD decided to remove the RV sewer connection. Reason: no funds to repair. But they did have funds to upgrade the power from 15 amp to 30 amp.

Thanks Chris for the response.

[bikendan]

Wavesprite wrote:
We just made a bunch of reservations for 2 weeks next summer. Coming from California where we have beautiful State parks, with HIGH fees $35 for no electric/hookups, I will gladly pay $1 more for full hook ups....

Oregon State parks cannot be beat!! They are awesome!

x2!!! our few state campsites that have hookups, cost a minimum of $40/nite for W/E sites.

[chrishavel]

Wavesprite wrote:
Thanks Chris for the information. We LOVE your parks! The hosts are the bests, everything is nice and clean! We just wish we lived closer!

Very kind. We'll leave out the welcome mat.

Have a merry Christmas and frost-free New Year.

--
Chris

[Wavesprite]

Thanks Chris for the information. We LOVE your parks! The hosts are the bests, everything is nice and clean! We just wish we lived closer!

[profdant139]

I am happy to pay more for Oregon camping. We have found that the Oregon parks are very well maintained and well built and well located. We have been to Oregon several times, and we will be back for sure.

[chrishavel]

Carl n Susan wrote:

WoodGlue wrote:

Carl n Susan wrote:
I have two questions which the letter doesn't address. What are the new rates for the various facilities (RV site, Yurt, Cabin, etc.)? For my RV site reserved on Nov 26th (and not in Tillamook County) , how are they going to collect the extra fee from me?

Perhaps they will be calling you to get the extra money like they mentioned in the email?

WoodGlue

The letter is pretty clear to me. "Reservations Northwest call center agents will be making calls to collect the 10% tax over the next few days." It doesn't mention collecting the fee increase. It doesn't sound cost effective to call every camper to collect the $1 increase. And cold calling on the phone is no way to get people to give you a credit card number. I still don't know how they plan to collect.

Our bad. We will not be cold-calling people and asking for their credit cards (slap forehead). We have contacted everyone with a reservation for state parks in Tillamook County and asked them to call us and make payment. If they don't want to do that, they can just cover the extra charge when they check in.

Only the campers with Tillamook County reservations have to worry about owing more for an existing reservation. We're honoring the old, lower rates on all the other reservations unless the visitor makes a change to their reservation after January 1. If you call us after January 1 to make a change to an existing reservation for any RV or yurt/cabin reservation, the new rate gets applied and you'll cover the charge while you're on the phone with us.

--
Chris, Oregon Parks and Recreation Dept.
park.info@state.or.us
1-800-551-6949 (info)
1-800-452-5687 (reservations)
oregonstateparks.org (info and reservations)

[LewBob]

I love Oregon state parks, definitely among the best. But as camping fees rise, we'll be spending more time boondocking.

[Wavesprite]

We just made a bunch of reservations for 2 weeks next summer. Coming from California where we have beautiful State parks, with HIGH fees $35 for no electric/hookups, I will gladly pay $1 more for full hook ups....

Oregon State parks cannot be beat!! They are awesome!