Reservation Rant for the Day

[Finally_Time]

I'm trying to make reservations for my summer big trip, 40 days, eleven campgrounds. Three of them have answering machines; "leave a message, we'll call back." So far only one has called back. Not a peep from the other two even after leaving multiple messages. Normally I would say forget it and call different campgrounds. But for one of them the only alternative in the area would have a negative rating if RV Park Reviews allowed minus stars. And the other would be my last stop and I really didn't want to drive another 50 miles that day. Now it looks like a stay in a dump and drive more.

Are these people really in business or what? If they won't even answer the phone are return a call, I wonder what the rest of their operation is like.

There now I feel better!

[wbwood]

Veebyes wrote:
I really would not sweat the no return call CGs. For the most part we travel without reservations. The only time to make an effort for reservations would be in a popular destination area over a holiday weekend.

Yep...that's exactly when we do our "vacations".

[wbwood]

jplante4 wrote:

wbwood wrote:

K Charles wrote:
We have traveled for years without ever making reservations, except once at a national park. We only stayed at a "dump" once. If you are just passing thru and that's the only place it's not such a big deal.

Some of us work and only get limited time off. Going somewhere without reservations that's a distance away on a timeframe can be disastrous. I can hear it now (from wife...and daughter).... what do you mean we gotta stay in the walmart parking lot? What do you mean that we got to stay at some hole in the wall with creepy old people? or even better.... What do you mean vacation is canceled and we are driving back home 15 hours non-stop? lol

OMG! Not a Walmart parking lot!!!

The DW likes to have things planned out well in advance. I used to be the same way until this happened.

We were planning for our 20th anniversary. My suggestion was a small boat cruise down the Intercoastal Waterway to Charleston SC. She saw a show on Travel Channel about house boats and thought it would be neat, so we found a place in Ft Myers that had one for rent. We booked the boat a little less than a year in advance, and I got busy ordering charts and cruising guides and researching marinas and places to go. I wanted everything to be perfect for our 20th anniversary. The trip was in October, and by April I had the route planned and reservations made at marinas. We planned to anchor out (boondocking) a couple of nights.

Well, we picked up the boat the night before and had a couple of minor glitches that should have been red flags, but with so much anticipation, we just pushed through.

Long story short, the boat's motor broke down (most likely a fuel filter) we needed to be towed into a marina and got to spend only 1 night aboard. We spent our anniversary in a hotel room, unable to get home because of Hurricane Sandy.

I had an overwhelming sense of grief. After living for nearly a year with the plan, the charts, the cruise guide and the anticipation, the cancelling of the trip hit me like a death of a friend.

I will never again be so invested in a plan. Tell your wife/daughter this story.

Yes Walmarts are not rv parks... we don't usually "camp" for our vacations...we go to more like RV resort type of places. Normally where we are going is where everyone else is going too. We don't look forward to campfires and smores at night on vacation. We look for the beach, a pool, things to do and places to eat out at. The camping trips with the campfires, smores, and cooking at the RV are save for our weekends when we can go to the mountains and enjoy it. The only difference is this coming year. We are going to the keys and we are staying a couple state parks there. Reason being is that they are a popular destination and difficult to get into. But we are also looking at spedning time at a place like Bluewater. So it will be a combined trip. We both work over 40 hrs a week. I know I work close to 50 hrs a week plus spend about 10 hrs a week commuting. My wife works 40 hrs and is taken on a side job working about another 20 a week. We stay busy and need to plan where we are going and what we are doing. WE are planners. One day, when our daughter is out of the house and we both are retired, then we can lollygag around the country. Taking our time and visiting popular places in the off season and not worry about having to plan something or be back home by a certain date. Even on weekends, my wife pulls out a notebook and starts making a list of things we need to get done that day or that weekend. Got a lot to do or want to do and a short time to do it.

Wanted to add.... we have a favorite State Park that is about an hour away from us. 5 years ago, I could easily make a reservation a couple days ahead. Now, I can't. This past year I tried and couldn't. Looked out weeks and weeks ahead to no avail. I got lucky one day as I must of logged on right after a cancellation and got a weekend in October. They do have a few sites held for walk ups, but I'm not gonna gamble on nearly half a tank of gas in the RV and a wasted friday night to get up there and not have a spot and turn around and drive home. Add to the fact that we can not leave until about 5pm to go. That puts us there around 6 pm or so (if we can leave on time). By then the walk ups are filled.

[wbwood]

D & M wrote:

wbwood wrote:
.... what do you mean we gotta stay in the walmart parking lot? What do you mean that we got to stay at some hole in the wall with creepy old people? or even better....

Raise up on the creepy old people stuff. Someone may well call you old someday. 🙂

Old is one thing, but creepy is another...lol

[Oasisbob]

Can your reservations be made online? Many state and USFS sites can allow you to do this. My rant is that I was told I could not make reservations until a specific day and time. Out of boredom I checked site availability the night before and found several sites already filled. In the morning I asked why and no one knew. It's not like they care about your busness sadly

[Naio]

jplante4 wrote:

wbwood wrote:

K Charles wrote:
We have traveled for years without ever making reservations, except once at a national park. We only stayed at a "dump" once. If you are just passing thru and that's the only place it's not such a big deal.

Some of us work and only get limited time off. Going somewhere without reservations that's a distance away on a timeframe can be disastrous. I can hear it now (from wife...and daughter).... what do you mean we gotta stay in the walmart parking lot? What do you mean that we got to stay at some hole in the wall with creepy old people? or even better.... What do you mean vacation is canceled and we are driving back home 15 hours non-stop? lol

OMG! Not a Walmart parking lot!!!

The DW likes to have things planned out well in advance. I used to be the same way until this happened.

We were planning for our 20th anniversary. My suggestion was a small boat cruise down the Intercoastal Waterway to Charleston SC. She saw a show on Travel Channel about house boats and thought it would be neat, so we found a place in Ft Myers that had one for rent. We booked the boat a little less than a year in advance, and I got busy ordering charts and cruising guides and researching marinas and places to go. I wanted everything to be perfect for our 20th anniversary. The trip was in October, and by April I had the route planned and reservations made at marinas. We planned to anchor out (boondocking) a couple of nights.

Well, we picked up the boat the night before and had a couple of minor glitches that should have been red flags, but with so much anticipation, we just pushed through.

Long story short, the boat's motor broke down (most likely a fuel filter) we needed to be towed into a marina and got to spend only 1 night aboard. We spent our anniversary in a hotel room, unable to get home because of Hurricane Sandy.

I had an overwhelming sense of grief. After living for nearly a year with the plan, the charts, the cruise guide and the anticipation, the cancelling of the trip hit me like a death of a friend.

I will never again be so invested in a plan. Tell your wife/daughter this story.

I'm sorry about your anniversary trip :(.

And I know what you mean -- it's not as bad, but I am currently mourning the loss of a trip I had meticulously planned for right now. It's happened, over the years.

[tsetsaf]

OP this is a very common occurrence and I feel your pain. We currently have three outstanding phone calls to parks in Florida. Currently staying at one that did answer and was very professional. RV parks are the last largely mom and pop organizations. It reminds you why big retailers killed off the majority of the other mom and pop/ small retailers.

This is why the KOA brand charges a premium (and gets it) consistent professional service.

If you have been following industry trends you will agree that reservations are a must this next season.

[Veebyes]

I really would not sweat the no return call CGs. For the most part we travel without reservations. The only time to make an effort for reservations would be in a popular destination area over a holiday weekend.

[Bird_Freak]

We took a month long trip and only made one reservation. Blue Water Key. the rest we just arrived and was never turned away. Great trip with no schedule other than the Keys.

[jplante4]

wbwood wrote:

K Charles wrote:
We have traveled for years without ever making reservations, except once at a national park. We only stayed at a "dump" once. If you are just passing thru and that's the only place it's not such a big deal.

Some of us work and only get limited time off. Going somewhere without reservations that's a distance away on a timeframe can be disastrous. I can hear it now (from wife...and daughter).... what do you mean we gotta stay in the walmart parking lot? What do you mean that we got to stay at some hole in the wall with creepy old people? or even better.... What do you mean vacation is canceled and we are driving back home 15 hours non-stop? lol

OMG! Not a Walmart parking lot!!!

The DW likes to have things planned out well in advance. I used to be the same way until this happened.

We were planning for our 20th anniversary. My suggestion was a small boat cruise down the Intercoastal Waterway to Charleston SC. She saw a show on Travel Channel about house boats and thought it would be neat, so we found a place in Ft Myers that had one for rent. We booked the boat a little less than a year in advance, and I got busy ordering charts and cruising guides and researching marinas and places to go. I wanted everything to be perfect for our 20th anniversary. The trip was in October, and by April I had the route planned and reservations made at marinas. We planned to anchor out (boondocking) a couple of nights.

Well, we picked up the boat the night before and had a couple of minor glitches that should have been red flags, but with so much anticipation, we just pushed through.

Long story short, the boat's motor broke down (most likely a fuel filter) we needed to be towed into a marina and got to spend only 1 night aboard. We spent our anniversary in a hotel room, unable to get home because of Hurricane Sandy.

I had an overwhelming sense of grief. After living for nearly a year with the plan, the charts, the cruise guide and the anticipation, the cancelling of the trip hit me like a death of a friend.

I will never again be so invested in a plan. Tell your wife/daughter this story.

[K_Charles]

Tachdriver wrote:

K Charles wrote:
We have traveled for years without ever making reservations, except once at a national park. We only stayed at a "dump" once. If you are just passing thru and that's the only place it's not such a big deal.

Just curious: do you visit different parks most of the time? Do you do any research? I mostly stay in State parks, so far with those standards I have not been disappointed. If i were to retire and hit the road I would be concerned to just show up without doing some reading. I get the sense you do your homework....

We spend a month every fall going to places we've never been and then a month at the beach in SC. In the spring we again spend a month finding places we have never been and then stay at the beach in SC till it's warm enough to open the pool at home. We always stay at a park, never a parking lot. We have at times pulled in to a park and then left without staying. Without reservations you get to stay longer if you like or leave if you don't like.

[westernrvparkow]

We do not man our offices 24/7/365. To do so would be financially irresponsible. During our offseason, when the parks are closed, we rely on phone messages and e-mails to complete the ten to fifteen percent of reservations that are not made through our online reservation system. We have often encountered e-mail accounts that either will not accept e-mails from "unknown" senders or e-mail accounts that have sent our replies to junk mail files. With phone messages, we find that around 10% of the messages are virtually unintelligible. Some people don't leave their phone number, and others neglect to leave the area code and only give us the seven digits. Can't return those calls even though we want to. If the person leaving the message would enunciate their name and phone number SLOWLY, and possibly repeat that phone number along with giving a best time for a return call, they would find that their success in getting a callback will improve. Also, if you leave a voice message, be sure your callback number has a voice mailbox set up to receive voice messages. We will try a few times to return calls, but we aren't going to devote several days making repeated attempts in hopes that someone will finally answer their phone.

[NCWriter]

I feel your pain. I have experienced this indifference in the US at a popular RV park that never called back or returned emails. Maybe so popular they couldn't be bothered and figured we'd just show up to enjoy their special setting (We didn't.)

Also dealt with it trying to reserve provincial parks in Atlantic Canada a few years ago. I finally was clued in that they really were closed for the winter - apparently not worried about starting to book their summer season until about April. Not a very good marketing plan, and a lot of the sites were in fact empty at that delightful park, so maybe other people gave up and made plans elsewhere. (I noticed that province began an online reservation system the following year.)

[3oaks]

D & M wrote:

wbwood wrote:
.... what do you mean we gotta stay in the walmart parking lot? What do you mean that we got to stay at some hole in the wall with creepy old people? or even better....

Raise up on the creepy old people stuff. Someone may well call you old someday. 🙂

Only if they are lucky to live long enough. 🙂
Many unfortunate people do not. 😞

[Naio]

I was kind of wondering what sort of RV parks are NOT full of old people :).

I have not seen creepy ones, though.

[fla-gypsy]

D & M wrote:

wbwood wrote:
.... what do you mean we gotta stay in the walmart parking lot? What do you mean that we got to stay at some hole in the wall with creepy old people? or even better....

Raise up on the creepy old people stuff. Someone may well call you old someday. 🙂

Bad choice, I find that most older people just want to be left alone to enjoy the time they have.