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Old 05-07-2014, 11:33 AM   #1
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What is up with campgrounds that don't do online reservations?

Why is it so hard to make campground reservations? I have been able to make online reservations most everywhere so far, but while booking my week vacation in July, only 1 of the 5 campgrounds could be booked online. So I played a game of call and nobody answer, call back and get voice mail, etc. Then some of them have trouble understanding me so I am not super confident in any of those reservations being correct. In this day and age, everyone should have online reservation systems.

Ok, I am done venting now.
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Old 05-07-2014, 11:40 AM   #2
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I agree, some I don't even get confirmations. My only saving grace is my deposit.
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Old 05-07-2014, 11:45 AM   #3
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I agree, in this day and age all campgrounds should take reservations on-line. If a campground doesn't do on-line reservations how would a person know if there were any sites available before heading out. Only way of knowing if the reservations you did make are correct is if they send a confirmation thru snail mail. I know the campground where we're seasonal fills out a paper form while talking to the person on the phone, then repeats it back to insure accuracy. Only then is the info entered into the computer and a confirmation is sent.
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Old 05-07-2014, 02:54 PM   #4
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Comes down to money. A simple website is inexpensive, a website with online reservation that would then feed the information back to the owners system or calendar costs more. Some of these campgrounds just do not have the money to pay someone tech savvy enough to develop one and since I have priced this out for my aunt, other solutions are not cost affective unless your in the hundreds of reservations per month level.
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Old 05-07-2014, 03:24 PM   #5
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Also, many campgrounds are owned by people that simply haven't embraced technology and have no interest to. My favorite CG has a Facebook page run by their granddaughter. That's it.

If they're still making enough money their way, they'll never switch.
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Old 05-07-2014, 03:47 PM   #6
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It's funny because all of out state parks around here have it setup so you can pick dates and specific sites. Really nice. I hate not knowing what in getting.
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Old 05-07-2014, 04:42 PM   #7
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It's funny because all of out state parks around here have it setup so you can pick dates and specific sites. Really nice. I hate not knowing what in getting.
Virginia State Parks will let you reserve a site but not a specific site............ Our near by park has mostly small sites so it is still first come first serve........... But you have a site even though you may not fit. (Unless they changed it over the winter)


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Old 05-07-2014, 04:50 PM   #8
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I too feel your frustration. One trip we were headed to a park several hours away. We had called in advance and were told they didn't do reservations. Upon arrival we were instructed to pick any site that was empty. We found a great site and went back to the office to settle up. At which point we were told the site we had picked was not available. I inquired as to why since the park didn't offer reservations and it was currently empty. I was told "The future occupant, arriving later that day had paid in advance for the site." Trying to convince the gentleman working the counter the definition of a reservation was a futile exercise. So, after calming down and finding another site we settled in. However, I will not return to that park until they begin to offer reservations.
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Old 05-07-2014, 04:50 PM   #9
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Virginia State Parks will let you reserve a site but not a specific site............ Our near by park has mostly small sites so it is still first come first serve........... But you have a site even though you may not fit. (Unless they changed it over the winter)


I have experienced this as well. Not to mention that they rely on snail mail for confirmations.
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Old 05-07-2014, 07:30 PM   #10
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I've never had a problem talking to a live person in making a reservation, in fact I prefer it. In most cases they can answer questions that I may have where a computer couldn't. I usually am able to get a confirmation by email or snailmail.
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Old 05-07-2014, 08:13 PM   #11
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One of our favorite cg takes no reservations of any kind.
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Old 05-07-2014, 08:40 PM   #12
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Most state parks in NY you have to reserve your site 9 months in advance but you can pick which site you want if its open. There is one we go to every Memorial Day couldn't get the site we normally get but got one we wanted to try I was reserving it at 10 am 9 months in advance and most of the park was full. What I hate is when you get there many sites are empty and when I asked about this the people at the check in say people reserve them then cancel. So the good sites are gone for the first 6 months then people turn it back sometimes I wish I would wait till a month before we go and reserve then.
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Old 05-08-2014, 11:27 AM   #13
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In Texas, our State Parks take reservations, but not specific sites. However, the Corp Parks will let you reserve a specific site up to 3 months in advance.
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Old 05-08-2014, 04:26 PM   #14
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Most state parks in NY you have to reserve your site 9 months in advance but you can pick which site you want if its open. There is one we go to every Memorial Day couldn't get the site we normally get but got one we wanted to try I was reserving it at 10 am 9 months in advance and most of the park was full. What I hate is when you get there many sites are empty and when I asked about this the people at the check in say people reserve them then cancel. So the good sites are gone for the first 6 months then people turn it back sometimes I wish I would wait till a month before we go and reserve then.
Sometimes I will make reservations for one campground (CA state parks) then change it to another campground or change the dates range. This isn't a habit but sometimes its nice having a back up plan. For me it's worth the $7.50 fee for changing the reservation.
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Old 05-08-2014, 04:45 PM   #15
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One of our favorite cg takes no reservations of any kind.
Same here. However, agents at this particular Oklahoma State Park told us several years ago to come on Mondays after the Dallas/Ft. Worth area campers have gone home... that we'd find what we want. That's never failed us. We DO go in April and September to avoid the summer rush.

As has been said already, COE parks near us allow reservations through reservations.gov and we take full advantage of that feature.
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Old 05-08-2014, 05:07 PM   #16
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Non government campgrounds the last I knew were free to do business however they want. If online reservations are not available, it's probably because they don't see a need to have it. Might be an inconvenience to some, but there is always the telephone & snail mail. Not everyone is tied to a computer, iPad, etc. Hard to believe, but some of us even managed to live without cell phones and some of us even made it without a television and were probably happier than most folks with all the electronic gadgets.
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Old 05-08-2014, 05:26 PM   #17
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Comes down to money. A simple website is inexpensive, a website with online reservation that would then feed the information back to the owners system or calendar costs more. Some of these campgrounds just do not have the money to pay someone tech savvy enough to develop one and since I have priced this out for my aunt, other solutions are not cost affective unless your in the hundreds of reservations per month level.
Not really. A high school kid (and even some grade school kids) can put together a simple website with a simple form_submit. Nothing says an online reservation system has to be fancy. The web hosting will be a bigger cost than that. It only starts getting expensive if you want to do automated confirmations, picking specific sites, showing availability, etc...

At lot of the places I've booked do the simple approach. Let the user enter some information on a field and it sends it to the campground's e-mail address. Somebody there opens the e-mail, types it all in and sends back a confirmation and/or questions if information is missing.
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Old 05-08-2014, 08:16 PM   #18
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Kaadk- I tend to disagree. What you're talking about is a comment form that happens to collect reservation details not necessarily a reservation system. They only work if there is someone monitoring the email account and sending confirmations as quickly as possible that the reservation has been received.

Personally, I distrust contact forms as I've found them mostly lacking in the follow-up department. I'll call before I fill one of those out.

A full fledged reservation system is more work than you'd think as first blush because it has to tie into whatever system the campground currently uses for managing reservations. We've read of too many negative reviews because people didn't get the site they reserved.
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Old 05-08-2014, 08:28 PM   #19
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Sorry but like ependydad I too would have concerns especially with the payment part.

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Old 05-08-2014, 08:36 PM   #20
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Oh, I agree, there's a distinct difference between a request for a reservation and an actual reservation system. But it does seem to be what I encounter more so than not unless I'm booking a provincial/state park. And at least it is a a way to receive requests for reservations online. Now I wouldn't trust my visa number to site using that, but I would rather send it that way than calling in. At lot of times I'll be booking these in between other work and sitting on the phone trying to make sure my name's spelled right, etc. doesn't work for me.

P.S. I do know just about how much work it is to build systems and integrate with other systems. It's what I do for a living.
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