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Old 05-13-2018, 12:04 PM   #1
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Recreation.gov / Reserve America

Am I the only one or has anyone else noticed discrepancies on these sites? I'll make a reservation based on availability at a location and upon arriving I find numerous sites open although the reservation site shows them booked. I understand people's plans change and have to cancel but I'm talking numerous empty spots for multiple days. Not a big deal when I have a spot, but may have preferred a different one. Also folks wanting to make a reservation but see "booked" and go elsewhere.

Really makes me question the how well the sites are maintained...
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Old 05-13-2018, 12:06 PM   #2
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A lot off the campground only can get reservation on so many sites, and the rest are first come first serve.
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Old 05-13-2018, 12:15 PM   #3
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I'm not talking about walk-up, these are reservation only this time of year.
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Old 05-13-2018, 12:24 PM   #4
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I find after the "Mad Dash" after Jan 1 the Week ends are OUT unless someone cancels and you have a Very hard time finding out if they cancel! Poor system but its thier system! Youroo!!
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Old 05-13-2018, 12:26 PM   #5
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I don't think it's a matter of maintenance.

Once you make a reservation, it's up to you to cancel the site. Once the site is paid for, there is no incentive for them to re-rent the site. Since some of these sites cost under $10 a night and cost more to cancel than the just paying the fee, the incentive to cancel the reservation isn't there.

Now sometimes they will call to see if you're still going to use the site, but that requires a camp host with the time to do that. I've had COE hosts call to see if I was going to use the site when we were running a day late. They would have cancelled the res. and let someone else have the site, but you had to call to get the site.
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Old 05-13-2018, 12:53 PM   #6
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My guess is many times people will reserve a site early to grab it while their planned arrival date is a day later. In other cases, people reserve knowing they really want the site days later. They wait and then cancel their unwanted days at the last minute. It is the “all about me” culture we live in. I wonder how many people have success just showing up at the campground last minute and get these cancelled reservation sites for a few days?
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Old 05-13-2018, 01:11 PM   #7
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I think it may be a weekend cancellation problem too. Last month we had a Sunday night reservation at a Utah state park. Earlier that day we decided we wanted to drive long longer so I stopped to cancel the site. I learned I would need to wait until Monday to cancel. So the site sat reserved but unoccupied.
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Old 05-13-2018, 01:47 PM   #8
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You must make a reservation at least 4 days in advance. If you are in that 4 day window, sites are not available for online reservations.
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Old 05-13-2018, 02:34 PM   #9
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Use Reserve America all the time. Always see empty spaces when the park shows full. I have changed reservations and it takes a day to show back up on their site as available. I think the game is that you need to keep checking as time goes on so if anyone changes anything you have a shot at it. I don't do that, but I think that's the way it works.
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Old 05-13-2018, 02:49 PM   #10
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If you specify length, the site narrows your choices. Never had a problem and actually enjoy using the website
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Old 05-13-2018, 03:19 PM   #11
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When we go online to book at our favorite COE Park, we will see most sites booked for the dates we want. What we have noticed, and cannot see on the reservation site is that, some of these sites are booked for these days but the site may not be booked for a day later than you would like. We show up, sites are full, come s day later, many open up because people are heading home. It really screws up trying to book a long weekend when the site is booked through a Friday but not the weekend.
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Old 05-13-2018, 05:28 PM   #12
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I, too, love the site and campgrounds. I have observed two additional reasons some sites are empty. In crowded campgrounds the COE sets aside a few sites for emergencies such as bad utilities at a site and the need to move someone, or a foul up in reservations and the need to squeeze someone in. They prefer to set aside a few and not turn anyone away in a foul up . Less mad campers that way.
I've also seen them block out large sections for planned maintenance, often blocking out more time than actually needed. On the reservation system they show as not available as though they are reserved when they are actually blocked out. I've run into both situations.
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Old 05-13-2018, 07:52 PM   #13
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Reserve America has always been great for our reservations for over 5 years.
They do a good job controlling the web site and you can only imagine the "across the United States" traffic involved with day-to-day operation.
If you will work with them, they will work for you.

Happy camping
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Old 05-13-2018, 08:34 PM   #14
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It is rare, but I have found campgrounds that some sites simply are not represented on the RA/RecGov sites. Per the USFS campground map and the USFS information online, the sites are available for reservation (they are not campground host sites). But, on the RA/RecGov pages, the sites simply don't show.

CG with host at site 13 and the online reservation map only shows: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12.

What happened to sites 5, 8, and 9? Who knows. They're not greyed out, shown as unavailable, or anything else. They're just not there at all.

Again, not a common occurrence, but I have seen it a few times.

BTW, here in CO, the window for USFS and state parks is 6 months. You have to be quick and diligent. My neighbor is literally selling his MH because he can never find any place to camp ... he's not a planner.
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Old 05-13-2018, 09:36 PM   #15
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We use Reserve America every year for campground reservations at the Oregon State Parks. You can reserve 9 months in advance. For this summer’s trip, I made my reservation at midnight 9 months before our arrival date.
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Old 05-13-2018, 09:39 PM   #16
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I had a very frustrating go around with Reserve America this morning trying to book Topsail Hill state park campsite in Florida. The 11 month window opened this morning at 8 a.m. for the dates we wanted and I tried to get one of the sites that showed available, but as soon as I pressed "Book these dates" button it immediately showed that it was already reserved. I repeated this three more times with other sites that showed available and with the same result - it said available but when I tried to book it said not available. I finally tried one more site and the reservation went through. The only thing that makes any sense is that in the first 5 minutes of booking availability for this date there were a lot of people trying to do the same thing so that someone else got the first four sites milliseconds before I pressed the button. Very frustrating!


One suspicious thing, though. For one of the sites that showed available but then came back "unavailable" we looked for the next available date. It was 6 weeks out! How is that possible?
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Old 05-14-2018, 08:54 AM   #17
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i just ran into that same pattern. In fact the campground I wanted was listed as walk up past the date the site stated. I kept checking ever day. Then one day I couldn't check until afternoon and found all the reservable sites taken. I got an idea and changed my dates not to include the weekend and guess what most of those sites opened up. Changed my plans and got a site for 5 days. Seems a lot of people plan they whole weekend camping and schedule every weekend as soon as they can. At $15 a night it was worth it to them and it was a national park so it cost me $7.50 a night with my senior pass and no entrance fee.
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Old 05-14-2018, 10:23 AM   #18
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Very typical. Folks with reservations are running late, or they're no-shows. Host or Rangers only know the site is booked and paid-for a specific time frame. Also, many sites are reserved strictly for the Handicapped, either on a reservation or drop-in. Campground folks have told me that the laws requires them to remain available only for the Handicapped. I do not have a problem with that.
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Old 05-14-2018, 10:28 AM   #19
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Some of the places are just hard to cancel. We had reservations at a place in Arkansas and plans changed. Tried to cancel online but it wouldn’t work. Then called to try and cancel and they told us we had to do it online even though we informed them it wasn’t working. Then that weekend they called and asked if we were coming, again told them no and asked them to just cancel it, but we’re again told we had to do it online. We just ate the $75, but someone else wasn’t able to camp there because their system is not user friendly.
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Old 05-14-2018, 10:40 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bobsteele View Post
I had a very frustrating go around with Reserve America this morning trying to book Topsail Hill state park campsite in Florida. The 11 month window opened this morning at 8 a.m. for the dates we wanted and I tried to get one of the sites that showed available, but as soon as I pressed "Book these dates" button it immediately showed that it was already reserved. I repeated this three more times with other sites that showed available and with the same result - it said available but when I tried to book it said not available. I finally tried one more site and the reservation went through. The only thing that makes any sense is that in the first 5 minutes of booking availability for this date there were a lot of people trying to do the same thing so that someone else got the first four sites milliseconds before I pressed the button. Very frustrating!


One suspicious thing, though. For one of the sites that showed available but then came back "unavailable" we looked for the next available date. It was 6 weeks out! How is that possible?
True! Here in Florida the State Parks fill up really fast during the peak snowbird season (Jan - Mar). With the 11 month window in Florida you have to book within one minute of the opening window or you will loose out on the site you probably would prefer. As mentioned, your length of stay makes a huge difference in the availability of a site because someone may have booked part of your dates and that will knock you out of it completely.

At the beginning May I was able to book the site I wanted for Oct/Nov/Dec/Jan '19/NOTHING in February/Mar twice/April. It's a PITA having to pay for all those at the same time but if I wait I know (from experience) I won't find anything I like.

It's truly frustrating, but I've been using Reserve America for nearly ten years and would only use them for Gov't owned sites. I'm bascially a happer camper!
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