Reservations - 5 to 7 day minimum??

[Wrong_Lane]

We are starting to make reservations for our end of July first of August trip in New England.

This year we are encountering many campgrounds responding that they are now only accepting 5 to 7 day (length varies for each location)minimum stays between July 1 to Labor day.

The latest to inform us of this policy is Bayley's in Scarbourgh-Old Orchard Beach, Maine.

The campgrounds with this policy almost always advise us to call a few days prior to arrival and they will see if they can fit us in.

We have limited vacation time and generally move every 3 or 4 days allowing us to see and experience more. We do, however, always reserve in advance prior to arriving. Calling a few days ahead of arrival, in the hopes of maybe getting a site, just doesn't fit our travelling style.

We have been able to find alternatives so it's not like we are stranded but my fear is that if we as a group accept this with no argument than this 5 to 7 day minimum may start to be the norm in popular areas.

I know that these are business and are free to use the business model they feel works best but ---- how many three night stays at $80.00 per night would thay really want to turn away?

Rant over!!

[2gypsies1]

noe-place wrote:
DW and I had planned to travel most of the time but when his Mom and Dad divorced we decided to take him with us and take all our big trips while he could go. :R

Noe Place: You and your wife are outstanding grandparents. That boy will have many wonderful memories. You're awesome!

[noe-place]

I always have drawn the responsibility of planning our MH trips. We keep our grandson all the time since we're both retired and his Mom (divorced) works and has an out of state daily commute. So I've always planned our trips with him in mind while he's out of school. DW and I had planned to travel most of the time but when his Mom and Dad divorced we decided to take him with us and take all our big trips while he could go. It's worked out very well. We've gotten to see the whole USA together so far and we're not done yet; going somewhere in the next couple of weeks but unfortunately I haven't made up my mind. I'm not worried though, DW said "you'll think of something" when I asked for her thoughts. :R

[MPond]

Sea Dog wrote:
There is your problem!
Aside from a general direction, always subject to change,
we seldom have a destination.

My sister in law plots their entire trip, meal stops, things to see, overnight stops etc.

This would drive me nuts.
One time we sarted out for a weekend in northern Ontario, ended up in Banff, visited Mt Rushmore and Sturgis on the way home!

I look forward to the day we can travel like that - with no real plans other than a general direction. But as long as we have jobs and kids in school, we'll be constrained by vacation schedules. For now we are forced to have specific departure & return dates, and travel during the peak summer season.

I've tried to split the difference between having plans and staying flexible. We do the following every summer: We have reservations for every night of our 4-week trip, and we have plotted routes, activities, and points of interest for every day (sometimes multiple options for each day). But we're not locked into that plan; it’s just a list of options that keep us generally moving in the right direction, and ensure we never run out of things to see and do.

We often find other things to see and do along the way, and we adjust our plans accordingly. Sometimes we'll stay a day longer in one place, or leave another a day or two early and forfeit a paid night in a campground. The idea is that we have a general timeline to make sure we see everything we wanted to see, we arrive back home by a certain date, and we’re never bored. But we adjust as we go.

Those adjustments usually only affect our overall plans by a day or two, but one year we decided to take an entirely different route home, which changed the last 10 days of the trip. We cancelled some reservations, and were able to make new ones along the new route. It cost us a few cancellation fees, but it was worthwhile.

[Sea_Dog]

willald wrote:
Yep, seen reservation restrictions like that a time or two. Mostly at big resort type parks located in high $$ tourist areas (beaches, etc).

Never been a problem for us, though, as usually if we're staying at parks like that, we're reserving a stay at least that long if not longer, anyway.

As to traveling without reservations: To each their own, but we would NOT do that. I'm not using up a bunch of $$ on fuel and vacation time without knowing I'm going to have a good site when I get to my destination.

Many of the places we camp, without a reservation, you'll either get turned away and have to find somewhere else to stay, or you'll get put in the less desirable sites that nobody else wants. No thanks. I'll leave those sites and that uncertainty for those that don't plan (and call) ahead.

There is your problem!
Aside from a general direction, always subject to change,
we seldom have a destination.

My sister in law plots their entire trip, meal stops, things to see, overnight stops etc.

This would drive me nuts.
One time we sarted out for a weekend in northern Ontario, ended up in Banff, visited Mt Rushmore and Sturgis on the way home!

[NCWriter]

We never encountered any minimum stay traveling the coast of Maine last summer (didn't visit VT or NH.) The campgrounds were great and ran about $40 a night.

I thought it was pretty reasonably considering the short season. Really nice folks and efficient operations. Sometimes we were asked for a one night deposit when we reserved, but that's not unusual.

[dodge_guy]

Is this just for the 4th of July this year? maybe I could see it. as an RV`er that seems like a good way to turn away business.

[relaxin]

looking at it from a business point of view,,,, if you can,,, do it

alot of parks around here can be less than 50% capacity during the week, all the weekend warriors fill the park for 2 days via reservations, and then as the people who want a 5 6 7 or more day stay (that goes over a weekend) can't get in because the park is swamped for 2 nights of the week, so ya I can see why some parks would focus on catering to longer stay clients.

I have even written to our provincial park system in their suggestion thing email, about reforming the reservation system to take 3 night or less reservations and make them a "guaranteed reservation" not a "site specific", to allow them to shuffle people on sites (before they arrive) to maximize the possibilities of long stay campers of getting a site.
I have in the past tried to reserve for a week and had to go through allot of effort and extra expense (reservation fee) coupled with an in park move midway through my stay just to get a spot in a park

[MPond]

With 2 kids in school, we are forced to do the bulk of our RVing during the peak summer season. Between that and having a 38' RV, we make reservations for all of our summer trips.

We've spent a month on the road each of the last 4 summers, and 2-3 week trips before that. And we've been all over the West. In all that time, we've never been asked for a 5-7 day minimum stay. We tend to stay 3-4 days on average, so I'm hoping this doesn't become the new norm.

[Dick_A]

Moved from General RV'ing forum.

[PAThwacker]

noe-place wrote:
We're lucky to get away for a couple of weeks during the summer so I always pick a premium spot and the heck with the cost.

🙂

[noe-place]

We're lucky to get away for a couple of weeks during the summer so I always pick a premium spot and the heck with the cost.

[Popsie]

Over the past 10 years or so, we've encountered 3 or more day minimum stays in New England several times (regardless of whether or not we reserve ahead). Compared to other parts of the country, New England is sort of packed together in a small area.

We like to stay in one area for a while and use our toad to do sightseeing, so it sort of works out for us.

We try to target RV parks that have multiple places of interest within a reasonable drive.

[Crowe]

You're all forgetting we have a very short camping season up here. Many areas are off the beaten path so "drop-ins" can be few and far between. There is intense pressure to sell to developers so the cg owners do their best to find a profit model that suits their needs. I agree it's frustrating as we've run into it many times when we've wanted to just extend a weekend by a day or two or if we only want a quick get away, but it would be more frustrating if they go out of business.

[PhilipB]

We've only seen 3 day min. around here for holiday weekends. This seems to be the same for private and public parks.