ReserveAmerica=Good Sam

1. Reserve America/ Recreation.gov/ Active Network reservation systems all are the same company and get paid a fee for every reservation transaction. One fee if it is a totally on-line transaction, a higher fee for a transaction where an employee must interact with the customer.

2. The fee is set by the contract with the campground, each campground/ contract agency decides if an additional fee will be charged to the customer.

3. Reserve America has contracts with most of the US states park agencies. All have a fee for reservations, cancellations. Every state has a fee higher than the money they pay Reserve America for the transaction. The states determine the fee the camper pays, not Reserve America.

4. Recreation.gov is a domain owned by the US government. The largest campground operator in the federal government is the US Department of Agriculture - the US Forest Service - National Forests. That agency was the first to contract for an on-line reservation service. A decision as made to require other federal recreational facilities to use the same system as the Forest Service. So the Dept of Interior (National Parks, Bureau of Land Management) and Department of Defense (Corps of Engineers) were added to the contract.

5. You pay a fee for every reservation at a National Forest or a National Park or a COE campground. The fee that Reserve America receives is the same for all reservations. The extra money above the fee the contractor is paid is used by the agency to offset the costs of operating the reservation system. The Forest Service charges a $9 fee currently. The COE includes the fee in the costs of the campsite, as do most national parks and BLM.

6. There are a few reservable campgrounds not in recreation.gov. The US Forest Service campgrounds around the Land Between the Lakes have their own reservations web site. The Everglades National Park Flamingo campground has been moved to management by a contractor, including a phone in only reservations system.

7. In the last couple years, the state of California dropped Reserve America and developed their own reservations system. If you ‘hate’ the Reserve America/ recreation.gov interface, go try to make a reservation at a California state park, and let us know which you like least.

Thanks for the info. Never had to do anything but put Florida in the box and all available SPs came up.

doxiemom11 wrote:
But, Reserve America charges a reservation fee. Recreation.gov does not.

That's up to the park system whether the reservation fee gets passed on to the guests or not. Same as ReserveAmerica. RA gets paid their fee either way...

doxiemom11 wrote:
But, Reserve America charges a reservation fee. Recreation.gov does not.

Not true, I get charged $9 for every reservation I make on Recreation.Gov , EXCEPT, for reservations on COE CG's.

But, Reserve America charges a reservation fee. Recreation.gov does not.

enblethen wrote:
Recreation.gov has replaced Reserve America for many federal campgrounds.
Reserve America is a commercial operation that any parks can use for a fee.

Both ReserveAmerica and Recreation.gov are commercial operations operated by Reserve America, an InterActiveCorp company.

"This website and the information it contains are provided as a public service by ReserveAmerica, Inc., under contract to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, and other NRRS participating agencies."

Recreation.gov Disclaimer and Liability Notice

Bears Den wrote:
Am I missing something here? I was just on ReserveAmerica’s website looking for a SP in Florida for April. As I scrolled thru 23 pages all I saw was Good Sam private parks, is this something new?

If you just typed in Florida, it will come up with commercial parks, State, Federal, & county parks, on the left side, click on a filter, ie: Federal, the commercial parks didn't come up.

I just tried Wekiwa State Park for April and went right to it. There were Good Sams parks recommended after it.

If the park is full, it might not show up or you are missing the fine print saying nothing available.

Nothing has change as far as I can see.

Recreation.gov has replaced Reserve America for many federal campgrounds.
Reserve America is a commercial operation that any parks can use for a fee.

They seem to have added commercial Good Sam parks. Try this map of Map of Florida State Parks. Zoom in and click on the park you are interested in. Click on the link in the box and you will be taken to the page for that park. Click on Reservations and you will be on the Reserve America site for that park. I have always entered Reserve America through the links from the State Park website for the state I am interested in so am not sure when they added all the Good Sam Parks.