Bogus campsite reservations

RRinNFla wrote:
Recently, there was a post in another forum where the OP questioned the honesty of campground operators who swore he was getting the last site, only to find the CG half empty when he arrived.

This got me thinking about something that happens at Florida state parks, and I would imagine is a problem in other places as well. There have been many times when I have reserved one of the last available sites at a SP CG, but noticed many empty sites once I arrived.

Earlier this week, DW and I were camping at Tomoka SP, and our travels took us near Gamble Rogers in Flagler Beach, FL. We had heard this was a great spot and decided we wanted to take a look at the CG. The current CG has 34 spaces, literally on the oceanfront. We parked, walked past the sign that said "Registered Campers Only" and were looking at the various rigs and campsites, when a ranger asked us if we had obtained walk-through passes. (I had never heard of this, and it has been a long time since I was scolded by a ranger) Anyway, this led to a conversation about how popular this CG has become. There were several empty sites, but the ranger insisted they were fully booked.

This is how the ranger explained this phenomenon to me. When the reservation window opens up 11 months in advance. Some RVers will reserve every weekend in a given month, or the entire month, not knowing exactly when they will be able to travel. When their travel date gets closer they simply cancel the dates they don't want and pay a $17.50 cancellation fee for each cancellation.

So here is the math. The guy (who probably owns a $250K DP) reserves a large site every weekend for June committing $204 in reservation fees ($28/night times 8). When he cancels the other weekends he ends up spending $56 for one weekend, plus $52.50 in cancellation fees. So what does he get for $108.50, his choice of weekends, in season, at a campsite just steps from the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile the sites were unavailable for reservations by others.

My gripe: what about those of us who can't make plans 11 months in advance or don't feel like we have and extra $50 to throw away. I thought that part of the idea of the park system was to make sure that these lovely places were not reserved solely for the wealthy.

Am I being unreasonable?

Is there a better way?

no and yes. limit reservations to no more than 1 per 30-day period and that can be made no more than 14-days prior to scheduled arrival. if the reservation is canceled within 3-days of arrival then assess a full day's camping fee as a penalty and lock the person out of the reservation system for 30-days. the unused sites would then be open to reservation or first come/first serve.

sure, stuff happens that sometimes screws up our plans at the last minute...been there, done that, got the t-shirt. but to simply reserve a spot for every weekend and then not show up is arrogant, selfish and rude.