Cancellation Policies of RV Parks

[jump]

"If a cancellation is received 21 days prior to the reservation start date, a full refund will be given less a $25.00 cancellation fee for each site being cancelled"

That is the policy as stated on the website of Blazing Star RV Resort (a Sun Communities Property) however, it is not on the conformation that I received via email.

I am going up the channels to try to find someone that will give me a refund. It will not get the policy changed, however, and others should keep in mind that many of the other locations for Sun Communities have a 30 day cancelation policy.

I expect to hear from a VP of the company sometime next week and if I don't "get no satisfaction" then I will probably go to the credit card company about it.

It seems to me that if you don't receive a service, then you should not have to pay. I would understand a charge of one night or some other administrative fee but to charge for the entire week $221 ... well, it seems excessive to me ... if I had made a reservation for an entire month, I guess they would have charged that entire amount and kept it in the event of a cancelation.

I'll keep ya'll posted
jp

[Alumaholic]

Every private RV Park sets their own cancellation policy.
Every state sets the cancellation policy for state parks in that state.
We have experienced everything from one night's forfeiture, to a $50.00 cancellation fee on 30 days notice with forfeiture of entire deposit ($250.00) thereafter. As we now know from your experience, always check the cancellation policy before you submit payment.

[webspinner]

I have seen and understand charging for the whole stay for a cancellation when the location is remote and the space is unlikely to be filled. In the Lake District in England, for instance, all the B&B's seem to have a "no refunds" policy. This also keeps people from hopping to a different B&B that they liked better after they get there. These are private operations with low profit margins and they can't afford vacancies in peak season.

The refund policy should always be clear and available when making the reservation and when getting the confirmation.

[Foiled Again]

In order to keep the entire balance, they might have to prove that the site you reserved went unrented for the entire time you were originally scheduled to be there.

A local limo company ran afoul that when they reserved for a wedding that was subsequently cancelled. They DID get another taker for the limo on the same day & time. Small claims court did allow them to keep a nominal amount (I think about $30) for the work required to cancel the reservation, but the balance (Over $500) had to be refunded.

Paula

[CDONA]

Most of what I've seen, first nite is charged.
Another point that hasn't been touched,
If you intend to stay & pay for a month and have to leave early, balance of rent is forfeited, no refund.

[jump]

Well, I now know their policy, & regardless of how I feel about it, can elect to stay or not stay with this company again. FWIW Sun Communities is a publicly traded corporation and has several communities around the country, mainly in the southern states.

Thanks to all for the comments ... I was kinda P-Oed at first and I will still pursue a refund from the company. And, yes, I should have done a more thorough search for the cancellation policy ... but I did not foresee having to cancel.

Anyway, caveat emptor ... I shall be more aware til the next time.

jp

[SteSpot]

Originally Posted by CDONA

Most of what I've seen, first nite is charged.
Another point that hasn't been touched,
If you intend to stay & pay for a month and have to leave early, balance of rent is forfeited, no refund.

On our first long trip I was worried about having a place to stay so I made myself nuts making reservations and trying to figure out how long we would want to stay. What I found was that if I made a reservation for 4 nights, we usually wanted to leave after 3 and we would get no refund. So I learned to make a reservation for 1 or 2 nights and ask if they thought we would have a problem if we extend for another night or two. More often than not, they are happy to accommodate this request and they put us in a spot where we wouldn't have to move......then we pay for the nights we actually stay.....

Also, some parks are not as lovely as their websites profess.....saves the budget.....
paula

[robert claus]

If you post their email here, I, and a bunch of others I'd bet, will send a email telling them that we wouldn't consider staying there because of the way that our friend jp of Lubbock Texas was treated when they cancelled their reservation, and that an entire forfeiture is unfair. We'd need your name, of course.

[hhendrix]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

The WBCCI rally, or the Good Sam rally? I'm a member of the WBCCI Unit that hosts the rally (I joined last year, just before Mardi Gras), so if it was the WBCCI rally, I'll bring the issue up in our next meeting.

Can't guarantee it will be better for 2013 and beyond; the funds paid by attendees tend to already be committed in advance to bus transportation to the various parades, rental of the reviewing stands at the parades, rental of the rally space at the UNO Lakefront Arena, and so forth. It's hard to get money back from all of those people if reservations were made for 50 trailers and only 49 show up. It's a different situation than an individual camper reserving a single campsite at an RV park.

But at least I'll be able to see if the event organizers can be more forthcoming about the cancellation policy.

Thanks for the info. Two of us are coming from Oregon to the 2013 Mardi Gras rally. Getting thru the Sierras and Rockies will be tricky for us. We've added some cushion time wise to account getting stuck somewhere due to weather and will probably head south on I-5 to SoCal and then head east. Even still we have to get thru the Siskiyou and Shasta Summits.

[Sbb]

I made a reservation at a well known Camp Chain for one night. thirty minutes later I had to cancel, a storm came up, we could not finish our days journey. They would not refund my pay in full for one night deposit, even though they were West of me and had the storm go thru there.

This Summer I was in Bar Harbor, same chain, we left a day early due to bad family news at home, and without a blink, nor did I ask..the lady refunded the balance...I was stunned, I told her I did not expect anything, and she said no worries, save journey....

sbb

[Airtandem]

have you gone through either Camping Life, or Highway magazines? They have a service that deals with these types of disputes. Not only are camping fees addressed, but other services also. Business do not like to get this type of press and will usually negotiate to keep their good name.

[Rollingrivet]

Hi folks.
We have a 24 hour notice for cancellation
For a week reservation.

[Julie-Bob]

We cancel our reservations at Zion RV park on the west side of Zion four weeks in advance and was yet charged one night cancelation fee. I will never stay at that park again. We go to Zion at least each year. In the hotel world if you cancel a head of time all moneys are refunded. RV parks need to step up

[OTRA15]

FWIW this thread is 6 years old.

Every park/campground has its own rules, so read the fine print when you book. “Fair” or “reasonable” are irrelevant to the binding contract you enter with them.