Reservation Etiquette

[CedarCreekWoody]

Originally Posted by Sharon455

Our state park reservation system says if you don't show by checkout time on day after scheduled arrival you will lose your site.
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I wish more followed this system.

[Wowens79]

We did a last minute trip this weekend, and had a sight with no share, and it was 99 degrees. Walking around we saw lots of reserved sites with no one on them, and they had shade.

Our first trip in our pop up 9 years ago was to Wind Creek State park in Alabama. It has like 600 sites, some are awesome, some are horrible. At that time you could reserve a site, not not a specific site. We pulled in on Friday morning and notice lots of the good sites had little kids tents and a opulent of chairs, or a camper, but not set up. People would come in early in the week, and claim a site by "occupying" it. Then they would roll in Friday afternoon or night for the weekend. I haven't been back because I'm not close enough to play the game, and don't want a crappy site.

[trudinator]

At Wisconsin State Parks, if you're not occupying your site within 24 hours of yoir reservation start date they'll give your site to someone else. Should be that way everywhere.

[CampingGator]

We are in a state park in Florida and there are a lot of empty sites. My husband checked to see if any were available and they all have been rented, even though no one showed up. Such a waste, but I kind of get it. We reserved eleven months ago because they are hard to get.

[Terier]

When my reservations don't work out as planned I do try to cancel so that someone else can take advantage. But sometimes the campground does not make it easy to contact them.

[Blackhat6mike]

Last year, we reserved a site at FT Desoto Park in FL. Had to get the reservations 7 months ahead as they showed they were full.
When we arrived at the CG, clearly a quarter of the sites were empty and stayed that way for the 4 days we were there.
My advice to anyone headed that way is to just show up. There will be sites open even if their website says otherwise. What a waste of a great CG. FL residents have first shot at sites.

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by TonyD

What's even worse is that week long reservations can be made 6 months in advance at many places but most folks only use the campsite for the weekend.

My neighbor uses this trick to get the best camp sites reserved way ahead of time though he rarely uses a full week at a time.

Your neighbor is an *****. And you tell him I said so!

[Kf4mnc]

Long story short. We were traveling out of state to a park that did not offer reservations. When we arrived we were told to drive around and pick any empty site. We found a great site and went back to the office to settle up and were told the site was not available. I asked why and the attendant said, "That site had been paid for in advance." An exchange took place, but no luck. We found another site. Needless to say, we never went back to that park.

[BooBoo23]

I only had one reservation I didn't show up for. It was at a COE campground in Texas and with the America the Beautiful pass the cost was $9. The cancelation fee was $10 so I saw no reason to double down on the cost so I was a no show. My plans had changed so I just booked the next night. When I got there I told the host I was sorry for being a no show, he said no problem and got me a $9 refund, no cancelation fee. What a deal. I said I didn't know I could get a refund, his reply was all you have to do is ask. They need to have internet connection in their office for them to do it though and some places don't have that.