Campground Reservation Woes

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Life Without Whine

Hate that I snagged a great site at Gamble Rogers this summer and DH just had emergency surgery taking that trip off the list .... anyone out here wanting to in July site #32 - 26 foot maximum so SMALL site.... message me & we might be able to coordinate a release & catch party! Will Probably wait until mid April to release just in case his recovery goes better than expected (one can hope)

It sounds like there isn't really a solution that would 100% satisfy everyone.

Although your post gave me an idea. it would be interesting if someone could build something that would allow you to transfer campsites among other campers. Sort of like what already exists for sports teams.

Like if you buy seats for a football game and all the tickets are sold out, there's always a secondary market of people for anyone that bought the tickets but can't/won't use them.

Of course that would invite it's own set of issues that would have to be worked out but it's an interesting idea I think.

[Homebrew]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

It sounds like there isn't really a solution that would 100% satisfy everyone.



Although your post gave me an idea. it would be interesting if someone could build something that would allow you to transfer campsites among other campers. Sort of like what already exists for sports teams.



Like if you buy seats for a football game and all the tickets are sold out, there's always a secondary market of people for anyone that bought the tickets but can't/won't use them.



Of course that would invite it's own set of issues that would have to be worked out but it's an interesting idea I think.

It’s called Reserve America

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Homebrew

It’s called Reserve America

That only directs you to the CG's website. I'm talking about creating a secondary market of buying/selling campsite reservations amoungst the campers themselves.

It's like buying football tickets and selling them to your friends.

So if you make a reservation and find you can't use it at the last minute, instead of cancelling it, you sell it to someone else that can.

[Homebrew]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

That only directs you to the CG's website. I'm talking about creating a secondary market of buying/selling campsite reservations amoungst the campers themselves.

It's like buying football tickets and selling them to your friends.

So if you make a reservation and find you can't use it at the last minute, instead of cancelling it, you sell it to someone else that can.

Sounds like a end to camping. Who would want to pay a mark up or get scammed .

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Homebrew

Sounds like a end to camping. Who would want to pay a mark up or get scammed .

It's just a thought. No idea how feasible it would be. I'm sure there would be people willing to pay a few extra bucks rather than not get a site at all.'

I mean 20 years ago who thought people would be willing to pay money to have a stranger drive them around in their personal cars like Uber?

Or pay to stay in a strangers home for a weekend like AirBnb?

Or pay to have food/groceries delivered directly to their door like Doordash?

[colomap]

This looks interesting

https://campnab.com/

[Homebrew]

Imagine a RV AirBNB ? No towing or dealing with a sewer hose.
Sounds like something that might work.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Homebrew

Imagine a RV AirBNB ? No towing or dealing with a sewer hose.
Sounds like something that might work.

That exists already as well.

[Rhumblefish]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

I'm talking about creating a secondary market of buying/selling campsite reservations amoungst the campers themselves.

a b s o l u t e l y not. not in a million years (at least, not for state and fed stuff. Private campsites, no worries - go crazy.)

You're talking about the rise of the Ticketmaster of camping, with profiteering turning downtime webfolks into campsite squatters and selling them for profit, marking up high desire sites/areas/times to unreasonable levels.

We need an intelligent system and smart practices that limits hordes, squatters, and profiteers. Perhaps requiring a credit card to reserve a site, including a pending charge for 100% of the camping costs that you have to carry through till your stay finishes, and maybe limits you to 2 sites max. You're required to check in or cancell arrival day, or you lose your deposit. Refunds (because there will be cancellations) are provided after the stay, minus a fee + the deposit.

Couple that with MORE parks and campsites!

Spitballing here - and perhaps this will change with the ebb and flow of the popularity of RV'ing - but we obviously need something different than what we've got.

Just my .02

[Chief T]

Somehow I think I caught a break last month. I was planning our summer Tour de Colorado and wanted to get a site at Ridgway SP (a very popular CG). The day the 6-month window opened up, it slipped my mind and didn't realize until 3pm that I needed to get online. Fortunately, there were 3 sites still available and snagged one of the FHU for 5 days. A couple years ago I tried to get a site at Cheyenne Mt SP. There was 1 site available and by the time I logged on, verified I wasn't a robot, and grabbed my CC, the site was booked. Grrr.

[jbflag21ds]

For this year's spring trip I got all my spots reserved, sometimes getting the one of the last 3-5 spots at a given campground. One will be first-come-first-served and I have no other options in the area as the private places have 30 day+ cancellation policies.

I can boondock easily though, so maybe I will do that can travel to the sights rather than hoping to find a site inside the sight....

[NevadaMiniLite]

I had relatively no problems booking sites in Grand Canyon for this April/May, and also Glacier NP in late August. Guess I was lucky.

[RedRoverComeOver]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

It sounds like there isn't really a solution that would 100% satisfy everyone.

Although your post gave me an idea. it would be interesting if someone could build something that would allow you to transfer campsites among other campers. Sort of like what already exists for sports teams.

Like if you buy seats for a football game and all the tickets are sold out, there's always a secondary market of people for anyone that bought the tickets but can't/won't use them.

Of course that would invite it's own set of issues that would have to be worked out but it's an interesting idea I think.

Originally Posted by Homebrew

Sounds like a end to camping. Who would want to pay a mark up or get scammed .

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

It's just a thought. No idea how feasible it would be. I'm sure there would be people willing to pay a few extra bucks rather than not get a site at all.'

I mean 20 years ago who thought people would be willing to pay money to have a stranger drive them around in their personal cars like Uber?

Or pay to stay in a strangers home for a weekend like AirBnb?

Or pay to have food/groceries delivered directly to their door like Doordash?

Yeah, very bad idea. Hoarding amongst friends so nobody else will get a site. Bad enough the retirees, unemployed, newly minted home "workers" can sit there day after day at opening bell snatching up reservations just because.


I don't pay markups on other things so why RV camp sites? Don't do ride sharing, airbnb or home food deliveries. Armageddon didn't make me lazier and still went out and did things myself.

[PoppySteve]

Originally Posted by Chaplain Kent

I sit at my computer at 6:00 AM. The state reservation site is logged in and the park is on the screen. I have already determined there are 14 sights available when they are released eleven months in advance. I hit refresh until I see the magic green light that says available and immediately open the screen and hit a campsite button only to find out it has already been reserved, all of the other 14 sites have also been taken. It is only 6:01 and I have missed out again. What's going on? I remember the old days of eBay when we used an online bidding site, is there something like this for campsites as well? Yes, I am going after the most popular parks but there has to be a way to get a reservation at one of them. In my fifty years of camping this year is the worse. I am beginning to think we will have no winter travels next year.

What's going on?

Thousands of folks wanting to book the same park.

It's frustrating, but if that's the place\time you want to go, you have to work for a reservation now. I have played the game and it's getting tiring.

I recently made a reservation at a NP and used my senior pass id. Then decided to reserve another site for one of the days in the original reservation using the senior pass. The system would not let me do that.

This got me thinking that a "camper id" might be worth some consideration by state and national campgrounds.

That and a NO REFUND policy on cancellations.

[moose074]

I wonder how many cancellations are happening now with fuel prices. I think that if people were honest maybe even be forced to take a small loss for resale of tickets. I would rather lose $15-$20 dollars a night or some fee less than cancel or full price. So people don’t abuse the situation. I know we have planned and reserved spots and we’re forced ( death in family and COVID) to cancel. We have also been on opposite end we love Davis. Mountain state park have tried to book spots before but reservations say full so the data doesn’t me and dogs do a day trip. Drive thru the park lots of mt spots very frustrating.

[dave961]

We're taking a 100 day trip this summer. Although I would rather wing it and not make reservations, what I read told me to make them. So I booked them each 6 months out the minute they became available. Didn't have too much trouble getting a site (even though it wasn't always the one I wanted) until it came to Yosemite. Literally hundreds of (what looked like available sites) disappeared the second they opened it up for the day we arrive. So we had to settle for a campground outside that park and shuttle in.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by RedRoverComeOver

Yeah, very bad idea. Hoarding amongst friends so nobody else will get a site. Bad enough the retirees, unemployed, newly minted home "workers" can sit there day after day at opening bell snatching up reservations just because.


I don't pay markups on other things so why RV camp sites? Don't do ride sharing, airbnb or home food deliveries. Armageddon didn't make me lazier and still went out and did things myself.

The hoarding is already happening. At least my idea will force the people to either use the sites they are buying or sell them to someone that will.

Anyway, it's just a thought I had. Not something I plan on pursuing. Not saying someone in the future won't try it though.

[colomap]

It's like concert tickets - there will never be an easy answer - it's Capitalism at it's finest. Artists like Pearl Jam battled Ticketmaster for many years trying to stop the scalping and ridiculous fees etc. And that got them nowhere. Now concerts are hundreds of dollars (sometimes thousands).

Campsites are a commodity - to be bought, sold, used, not used, sometimes abused (see my previous story)

Like I said - new world order. So we learn to adapt - or, in the case of concerts for me - stop going...

[GPs37FLH]

I predict there's going to be many previously booked campgrounds suddenly having sites available. Just give it another 45 to 60 days from now when gas prices go over $6 or $7 a gallon. Guarantee this is going to trash the budgets of many camper's summer trips.

And, it won't just be astronomical gas prices alone that'll do it. All the campgrounds for which I've got reservations this summer have a policy in place giving them the right to increase site rates that were previously booked and prior check-in. These campgrounds require the balance of your stay be paid in full one week before check-in. The way things are going, its certainly going to cost more than when the sites were reserved months ago.

So, if you've not already booked, I'd check back for available sites in another month or two, then again one week before you want to reserve a spot at a campground. There'll be more cancellations than what it was in the past and available sites.

[EcoBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Homebrew

Campgrounds need to upgrade their cancellation policy, like less than 30 days zero refund.
Less that 60 days 1/2 of the refund, less than 90 days 1/4 of the refund.

Michigan State Parks has an elaborate cancellation system that seems extremely fair, that's based on the length of time you've been sitting on the reservation. Michigan's schools must be pretty good because my Ohio brain had to read this a dozen times before I understood it:

The following fees will be assessed if customers cancel or modify their camping reservation 1) before the arrival date or 2) on or after the arrival date.

1. Nonrefundable reservation fee (paid at the time a reservation is booked): $8 for reservations made online and $10 for reservations made through the call center.
2. $10 cancellation/modification fee.
3. Reduced-stay fee (an incremental fee determined by the length of time a reservation is held and the number of eligible nights canceled); see sliding modification/cancellation formula below.a. If canceled or modified before the arrival date, all unused camp nights are eligible for the reduced-stay fee per the sliding modification/cancellation formula..b. If canceled on the day of arrival or later, the first night’s fee and the cost of any nights that have already passed will be charged at the full rate. Any remaining unused nights are eligible for a refund using the sliding modification/cancellation formula.

Reservations that are canceled on the same day the reservation was created will be assessed the $10 cancellation/modification fee only.

Modifications to reservations that do not affect the length of stay will be assessed the $10 cancellation/modification fee only.

Modifications to reservations that result in an increase in the length of stay will be assessed the additional nights’ fees only and NOT the $10 cancellation/modification fee.

Reservations are held until 3 p.m. two days after the scheduled arrival date. Failure to check in within 48 hours of the check-in time on arrival date will result in a “no-show” status and will incur the loss of two nights' fees plus the reduced-stay fee (assessed on remaining unused nights using the sliding modification/cancellation formula):

Sliding modification/cancellation formula
Months reservation held --- % of unused nights charged
up to 2 months --- 10%
2 to 3 months --- 15%
3 to 4 months --- 20%
4 to 5 months --- 30%
5 or more months --- 40%