Reserving a Site via www.reserveamerica.com

[DaveFL]

Lots of fees, but one anomaly I found you get to pay a cancellation fee if you use reserveamerica to cancel but if you call the cg directly they will change it to a no show and only charge for the first night which you would get charged by reserveamerica plus the fee. Maybe that helps explain some of why there are sites when they are booked as full, they also have a variable policy by cg of how many sites are available by the reservation system at reserveamerica.

[kb0zke]

Reservations are helpful during busy times, but not necessarily needed other times. We stayed at a COE campground one night for $7, and had the park to ourselves. A few weeks ago we stayed at an Iowa SP overnight and, again, had the place to ourselves.

The reservation fee applies to the reservation, not per night, so when you make a reservation for 10 nights that $7 fee comes to only 70 cents per night.

[gecko]

Originally Posted by 2dabeach

mrprez.... The Reserve America "Transaction Fee" for making the reservation in the Florida State Parks is $6.70. If you revise a reservation, the fee is $10.00. If you cancel a reservation there is a $17.75 fee. That beats losing 100% of your stay fee if you cancel a commercial campground reservation.

We just had a completely different experience with one place through resrveamerics and another working directly with a private park when we were forced to cancel the last week of our trip due to a family emergency.

To cancel at reserveanerica would have cost more than to just pay and not stay. There doesn't appear to be a contact phone number, either. Even "big corporate" airlines, on the other hand, can be very understanding in the case of extreme family emergencies, and American, on a non-changeable ticket, compassionately recently rescheduled part of a trip and refunded the other part when we spoke to a sympathetic individual.

We had the same experience for this current trip with a private park, who gave us a full refund on our reserved stay and "hoped we'd come back"--which we certainly will.

So reserveamerica? Only if we are forced to.

[larryglarson]

I use reserveamerica a lot and I have never had a problem. I would not go with out a reservation. The only problem is some of the best parks are not on reserveamerica, if states have a busy park you have to reserve it through the state site.

[texasvette]

We use Reserveamerica fairly often and feel comfortable that the campsite will be there for us. Unfortunately, we just had to cancel an outing due to the rains coming in Texas. We were afraid it would be raining (in a teardrop, no less) and we were right. It was a 12 inch rain, so glad we were able to recoup most of our fees.

[banderabob]

Same two sides to the argument. If you see benefit, use it. If you don't like the fee structure, don't use it. Me, I'm going to add it to my resources.

[Len n Jeanne]

Um.... methinks there is a little irony in being able to afford an Airstream but balking at a reservation fee. No doubt hotels simply hide the cost of their own reservation costs in the room charge.

We often travel a long way to get to a campsite in popular National Parks, and these campgrounds do fill up, notably in the high season. We've had a few road trips with "no room at the Inn" and the experiences were not pleasant.

One other thing about a reservation is that, if you book early, you can often have your choice of sites.

We have cancelled a couple of National Park reservations, and you do lose your $10 if you do that, although the camping fee is fully refunded. We're OK with $10 buying some peace of mind.

[Bluestar99]

If you call Recreation.gov and speak to a human to make your reservation there is no extra fee. Just the cost of your site.

Both ReserveAmerica and Recreation.gov have no way to make reservations for more then one site for the same day. I am meeting 2 people from other areas of the country out east this Summer. We want to camp in adjoining sites. So I called to see how to do multiple sites and they were more then happy to do all three reservations a one time. I needed to have each campers info, but all was done in one call with no extra fees.

[HowieE]

The $10.00 fee is only the tip of the iceberg. We make reservation for Jan. and Feb in. Fl. in order to get a site against the strong competition. Many have commented that the fee is outrageous overlooking the fact that you are debited the full amount the day you make the reservation. If you think the fee is a profit think of the float for 11 months.

It would be interesting to know who owns Reserve America.

[Omega Man]

I have used RA many times with no problem. Don't mine the fee so I have peace of mind that the site I reserved will be waiting for me after a long drive. Reserving a water front site in the Keys 11 month in advance, let just say you have to pay to play. A private site in the Keys is almost double the state park price.

[911Patriot]

I have no problem paying a small fee for "peace of mind" knowing we will have a site that will fit our equipment & and required options criteria at the end of a travel day. I also like planning our trips in advance so we can build a vacation around knowing that site location has been pre-selected from the park map and via a photo.

I've never had a bad experience booking or changing my reservation via www.reserveamerica.com

Reservations gives us time to watch "The Long, Long Trailer" at the end of the day.

[Lily&Me]

You can change an existing reservation without a fee, 30 or more days out, if you call RA and ask for that advertised service. It is in your reservation confirmation.

I recently changed my site within an existing reservation that way, no fee...but I had to ask for it, and they put me thru to someone from customer service, I believe.


Maggie

[NWRVR]

We try to stay at state and national parks rather than private parking lot type parks and the RA system is worth the fee. The ability to select the site you want and in many cases, see a photo of the actual site is worth it. The cost of the reservation fee, compared to the capital and running cost of this past time, is insignificant.

[SrFade]

Originally Posted by mrprez

The $10 fee for making a reservation is outrageous. Somebody is raking in boatloads of cash. I am against reservations for campgrounds.

Well, I am in the other camp (so to speak) and appreciate our ability to make reservations at the campgrounds we frequent. Very often we are camping with a small group and want to have adjacent campsites. Fortunately, as an accommodation to those that feel the reservation fee is "outrageous," many, if not most, campgrounds also have a portfolio of sites that are on a first come, first serve basis. Knock yourself out if you like living with the potential inconvenience of "no vacancy." Personally, $10, amortized over a few nights of camping is well worth the lack of worry about having space available when and where we want it.

[moosetags]

Recently, I had occasion to make a reservation for a Florida State Park campsite over in Suwanee County. We were spending one night there on the way over to the east coast. We were very disappointed that we had to pay a $12 reservation fee to Reserve America for a one night campsite that cost only $12 as were are Florida Resident Seniors. It did not sit well with us having to pay as much for the reservation as we were paying for the campsite. That's kind of a rip off for a one night stay. We will never do that again.

Brian

[Tincampers]

Originally Posted by SrFade

Well, I am in the other camp (so to speak) and appreciate our ability to make reservations at the campgrounds we frequent. Very often we are camping with a small group and want to have adjacent campsites. Fortunately, as an accommodation to those that feel the reservation fee is "outrageous," many, if not most, campgrounds also have a portfolio of sites that are on a first come, first serve basis. Knock yourself out if you like living with the potential inconvenience of "no vacancy." Personally, $10, amortized over a few nights of camping is well worth the lack of worry about having space available when and where we want it.

We've only had one state park and one COE that had no vacancies. After seeing the parks while going in to turn around, we were relieved. They were both pits.

We obviously don't camp the same way. We prefer to boondock away from noisy neighbors with noisy generators and noisy kids. If we were weekend campers we might feel the same way as you.

Take the fees and multiply them out over 365 days on top of already high campground fees and you might understand where I am coming from a little better.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by mrprez

We've only had one state park and one COE that had no vacancies. After seeing the parks while going in to turn around, we were relieved. They were both pits.

A CoE campground was a pit? That's unusual.

Take the fees and multiply them out over 365 days on top of already high campground fees and you might understand where I am coming from a little better.

Again, a CoE campground is expensive? I have yet to see one where a campsite cost more than $25 per night. That's hardly expensive compared to most privately-owned campgrounds.

And the Reserve America or Reservation.gov reservation fee is the same no matter how long you stay, one night or two weeks, same fee for a given park. However, the fee does vary from one park to the next. I have a reservation at Topsail Hill in Florida where the fee was $6.70, for a reservation 11 months in advance. But I also have a reservation at a Louisiana State park where the fee was $6.00 for a reservation three months in advance. Both through Reserve America. I can't recall ever paying a $10 or $12 reservation fee anywhere.

Anyway, now that I'm retired I make a point of never staying anywhere for less than a week unless I'm in transit to someplace better, so the reservation fee adds at most a dollar a night to the cost. I can live with that in exchange for a guaranteed site.

[greghoro]

Originally Posted by HowieE

Many have commented that the fee is outrageous overlooking the fact that you are debited the full amount the day you make the reservation. If you think the fee is a profit think of the float for 11 months.

Think of the abuse there would be if one did not have any skin in the game (prepaying for the reservation) when booking a site.

Try buying a seat for next years Daytona 500 tomorrow and asking them if you can pay them on the day of the race. Or an airplane ticket for this coming Christmas and paying on the day of your flight.


Greg

[LBOskiBear]

I guess it must be different depending on location. Here in Southern California (year-round), I wouldn't risk pulling the Airstream out of storage and heading to a campground without a reservation. Invariably, when we arrive at our campground, there is sign that says, "Campground is Full."

BTW - another great site is www.campsitephotos.com - it lets you actually view your specific site before getting there.

[Lily&Me]

Although the reservation fee is an annoyance, it is the price one pays for being assured of a site at a chosen, desired location.

There are sometimes rather hefty accommodations taxes tacked on, as well, depending on where you are going.

I, too, have never seen a COE campground that wasn't beautifully maintained. The one mrprez came across was surely an anomaly.

Many public campgrounds, COE's included, also have a first-come, first-serve area, where no reservations are required. These are especially likely to have availability on Sun-Thursday nights.

There are other options to pubic campgrounds for simply overnight, enroute stops, that requre no reservation and are at little to no cost.

Well discussed on these Forums, I won't launch into that here.


Maggie