Campground Reservations

[cman60]

Just wondering why when we go to a state park, go to an empty but reservable site and say we would like to stay for a week or even 2, and pay right then for the whole stay, the park wont let us. They say someone might phone in and want that site, then we would have to move. They look on the computer and see its not reserved, but still some one might call and bump us off. Just doesn't quite seem fair but maybe someone here can shed some light on it for me so I will understand. We have left parks and found other camping choices because of this, not out of being mad, just wanting a more desirable camping spot other than what the first come first serve had to offer. Seems a shame to lose a certain sale on a MAYBE call in. Just curious. Thanks, Chris.

[the_happiestcam]

skipnchar wrote:

Becuase MOST of them require a three day waiting period before your reservation is effective.

So you get the site as a walkup for three days, call and reserve it for the other days. Not saying it's right, it's just what it is. A lot of parks don't have terminals at the gate, and therefore can't enter reservations into the system.

[Eycom]

As an extended traveler, I've shunned reservations. I'm a walk-up and I'll be the first one to admit that I'm not a fan of Reserve America or Recreation.gov. Prior to their involvement, I called the specific park or Ranger's District to check availability.

A few years ago I rolled into a S.C. SP on the Savannah River during late fall as a walk-up and got a site for 4 days. It puzzled me that my receipt reflected $2 more per night than the price (bearing no asterisk) posted on the State website. So, upon inquiring, I was infuriated when the Ranger advised it was a breakdown of the $8 fee to Reserve America. A hidden fee for a service I neither wanted nor used as a walk-up. Further, when I sought to extend my stay an extra day... although my site hadn't been reserved, I quietly went ballistic when the Ranger advised it would cost me the nightly rate, plus the $8 Reserve America reservation fee. Sheeze... Goodbye!

Since then, I've camped in the same area, at a couple of C.O.E. parks listed with Rec.org. As a walk-up I've never been charged a reservation fee at a fed. government park. Plus I've enjoyed the discount using the "geezer" pass. LOL... needless to say, if I don't plan to stay at least 10 days to 2 weeks, S.C. doesn't get my camping dollars. I'll leave it for a couple of RA representatives to stop by and camp for a day or two.:B

[skipnchar]

2chiefsRus wrote:
Why don't you just call in yourself and reserve the site yourself when they tell you that someone might call in and bump you off?

Becuase MOST of them require a three day waiting period before your reservation is effective. SOME government campgrounds will not allow the gate attendent to make reservations (usually this is because they don't have internet access) but IO suppose there are others where it's just policy. You are right though, it's a lot like going to the auto parts store and you're up to the counter and the phone rings and GUESS who gets priority service 🙂 I'd suggest you vote with your wallet and take your business elswhere. That's how I do it at the auto parts store too.
Good luck / Skip

[fla-gypsy]

The policy of the reservation system vendor is determined by the contract they have with each state. The park obviously does not enter reservations, they don't in my state either. If you want a reservable site you will have to deal with the reservation vendor directly and pay any fees the state contracted for. If you want the reservable and desirable sites you will have to educate yourself on how the system works. There is nothing unusual about how it was done.

[tatest]

In this case, either the park does not have access to their reservation system, so they can't reserve it for the rest of your stay, or they do have access but there is a cost to put the reservation into the system, so somebody has to pay the fee.

At the COE parks I use, in order to take a reservable site long term as a walk-in, the attendant has to call someone at the reservation system and put me into the system. I can stay one or two nights without doing that if a site is not already reserved in that short interval, because reservations must be made three days in advance.

No reservations problems in our state parks, though, because camp sites simply cannot be reserved.

[Jayco23FB]

I have had just the opposite with Reserve America. Reserved sites and show up to find out it they were given away. We were on time as well, both times. I wont use them anymore. I believe in my case they had poor booking keeping issues at some level. I have never been refunded my reservation fees either.

[cman60]

Thanks for some insight to the question. The desirable inventory make sense, as does cost cutting. Thanks again, Chris.

[I_am_still_wayn]

2chiefsRus wrote:
Why don't you just call in yourself and reserve the site yourself when they tell you that someone might call in and bump you off?

This is of course the correct answer. You cannot change the system so you must work the system to your advantage.

What difference does it make what their reasoning is for their policies? You will not change their policies; just make their policies work for you.

[magnusfide]

WrongWayRandall wrote:
I've never seen this attitude. If you read the fine print on most State park websites, there is something to the effect that once a site is paid for, either in person or online, it is occupied. I would contact the State to see what is going on. It sounds like you ran into someone who was not properly trained in park operations.

- Randy

Have seen that fine print as well. Double ditto on contacting the office that runs the parks. Not every desk person can navigate the site system on the computer.

BTW Randy: like your blog.

[Jim_Shoe]

We have a state park here in southern Ohio that gives priority to Ohio campers because all Ohio residents paid for the construction and are are paying for the operation of the park. Not all sites are reservable, but the best sites are.

[NCWriter]

Well, here's my uneducated guess. I don't work for Reserve America or anybody else who books RV sites but I have worked in the travel industry where reservation systems were involved.

This guess is based on some language I saw recently on a National Forest Service camping page about walk-ins being allowed to occupy a reservable site for only up to three days maximum at a campground where we sometimes stay.

The on-site park folks often have a batch of walk-in sites they can sell at will and control. Maybe they sell out, maybe not. Then there are sites that, by contract, are held for the reservation system which is funded by the booking fees, maybe including some of the extra desirable ones. Maybe the res system people don't release anything beyond a three day stay to a walkin because they are forecasting getting that booking fee revenue. Maybe they won't, but they want to retain that control in return for providing the service.

So if you walk in and want one of their sites for a week or two, they've lost part of their desirable site "inventory." Again, just guessing here. All of us have the option to book in advance to get the site we want and pay a little premium for it.

Then, too, the online system is open 24 hours and bookings might come in from anywhere at any time. Who knows, maybe there were glitches in the interaction between same day versus advance reservations...a lot of them say you can't book within 24 hours of arrival....or problems with an onsite person not entering the booking into the system instantly, and someone else buying the site online, then arriving to find it full.

This forum has die-hard fans on both sides of the "should I reserve" question. None of us like to pay a $8 fee. Sometimes I do, sometimes not. Just depends on whether it's worth it to be sure I have a desirable site on a weekend in high season versus one by the pump out station and dumpsters...or no site at all.

[naturist]

That would be because they don't have their reservation system under control, it has them under its control. It's called putting the cart before the horse. It is also a function of getting the absolutely cheapest reservation system that money can buy, which of course requires hiring idiots to design and build it (semi-intelligent or better folks cost more money).

But that's the world we live in today. In the effort to squeeze every possible penny of "fraud and waste" out of government spending -- a futile endeavor when done by merely cutting budgets, as the folks who do fraud and waste are expert at getting their cut no matter what, so the budget cuts come off the real services part of expenditures -- we've now become a nation simply too poor (or cheap, functionally the same you know) to be able to afford our own infrastructure. That's also why the bridges are falling down -- we're too cheap/poor to afford safe bridges (think about that every time you cross one).

Still, since we live in that reality, you have no choice but to play the game. And what I'd do is ask the office person what's the number of the reservation desk, and whip out my cell phone, and reserve that site on the phone while the office dummy stands there before me, mouth agape in helpless silliness. Call completed, I'd thank them kindly for their assistance (they did inform me of the phone system and provide the number to call, jobs a sign could have provided at much less cost), and return to my camp site secure in the knowledge that I had that site for as long as I wanted.

[cman60]

Maybe kinda like going to a Hotel, getting a room, the hotel fills up and someone calls in and wants to book a room and bumps you out? I don't know, I'm sure some can explain it to me.

[WrongWayRandall]

I've never seen this attitude. If you read the fine print on most State park websites, there is something to the effect that once a site is paid for, either in person or online, it is occupied. I would contact the State to see what is going on. It sounds like you ran into someone who was not properly trained in park operations.

- Randy