toedtoes
California
Senior Member
Joined: 05/17/2014
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
 Offline
|
As long as you can just re-reserve immediately, you'll still have scammers.
Say I book for August 1-15 on Feb 1st to get past the 6 month out policy. Then in June, I cancel August 1-15 and then immediately reserve August 10-15.
It results in the same thing as if I just cancelled the August 1-9 portion.
You would need to establish some sort of time delay on the rebooking of that site by the cancellee.
1975 American Clipper RV with Dodge 360 (photo in profile)
1998 American Clipper Fold n Roll Folding Trailer
Both born in Morgan Hill, CA to Irv Perch (Daddy of the Aristocrat trailers)
|
garyp4951
TN
Senior Member
Joined: 12/06/2010
View Profile
Offline
|
I agree Rec.gov could use some rule changes.
|
FWC
The Wilderness
Senior Member
Joined: 09/12/2020
View Profile
|
I would strongly support a significant 'no-show' fee for public lands camping and other reservations (like backcountry and river permits).
When you reserve a campsite or backcountry permit, in addition to the camping/permit fee (which should remain low so as not to be a barrier to entry) you also authorize a much larger no-show fee. If you cancel the reservation more than a few days in advance, you still loose the permit fee, but they don't charge the no-show fee as the permit/site can be used by someone else. However, if you don't show up and haven't canceled a few days before, then you loose the permit fee and they charge the larger no-show fee.
I think it is important to keep the fees to use public lands low enough that they are not a realistic barrier to entry, but I am so tired of folks who reserve a $25 permit or a $50 camp site in February and then can't be bothered to cancel it later when it turns out they can't use it in August. In some cases, such as Rocky Mountain National Park, 30-40% of the back country campsites end up not being used on popular weekends because of this.
Make the no show fee $250, and then there is a motivation to be considerate about those permits booked months in advance.
* This post was
edited 09/30/21 08:16am by FWC *
|
austinjenna
Columbus, Ohio
Senior Member
Joined: 03/27/2002
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
Quote:As long as you can just re-reserve immediately, you'll still have scammers.
Say I book for August 1-15 on Feb 1st to get past the 6 month out policy. Then in June, I cancel August 1-15 and then immediately reserve August 10-15.
It results in the same thing as if I just cancelled the August 1-9 portion.
You would need to establish some sort of time delay on the rebooking of that site by the cancellee.
That's how it works in Ohio, there is a delay before it gets posted as available. Also on their website if no sites are available they have a button where you can put in your email if anything becomes available, so that gets sent out to however many folks who wanted to be notified of an available site.
So you could possibly rebook the same site and you could also get beat out as well.
2010 F350 CC Lariat 4x4 Short Bed
2011 Crusader 298BDS 5th Wheel
Reese 16K
|
wapiticountry
Mountain West
Senior Member
Joined: 10/02/2011
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
Full payment at time of reservation. Cancellation fee equal to one night's stay. No refund if cancelled less than 30 days prior to arrival date. No refund for shortening stay. Must arrive on 1st day of reservation or reservation is cancelled and site made available to others. Only exception to policy is if the guest contacts the reservation office prior to arrival and moves arrival date back. They will get no refund for the day(s) they cancel but the remaining reservation will remain in place. This will accommodate people who have travel issues on the road.
|
|
|
toedtoes
California
Senior Member
Joined: 05/17/2014
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
wapiticountry wrote:Full payment at time of reservation. Cancellation fee equal to one night's stay. No refund if cancelled less than 30 days prior to arrival date. No refund for shortening stay. Must arrive on 1st day of reservation or reservation is cancelled and site made available to others. Only exception to policy is if the guest contacts the reservation office prior to arrival and moves arrival date back. They will get no refund for the day(s) they cancel but the remaining reservation will remain in place. This will accommodate people who have travel issues on the road.
A one night's fee cancellation fee may only be $20.
There are some areas where folks will book every weekend for the season as soon as the window opens. Then as they get closer to the dates, they cancell what they don't want. A $20 cancellation fee won't bother them.
|
hotbyte
Barnesville GA
Senior Member
Joined: 08/31/2004
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
|
It might be difficult to implement, but I really like the idea of a suspension period for those that habitually cancel reservations.
2018 Minnie Winnie 24M
|
toedtoes
California
Senior Member
Joined: 05/17/2014
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
hotbyte wrote:It might be difficult to implement, but I really like the idea of a suspension period for those that habitually cancel reservations.
I figure there will always be 5-15 percent who will always cheat the system regardless of the penalties. For the rest, once they are inconvenienced by the penalties, they will fall back in line - at least until a new easy way to cheat is discovered.
For the most part people are lazy and want instant gratification. They resort to cheating the system because it gives them fast results. They go in and make a bunch of reservations and cancel what they don't want - much easier than trying to book just what you need and constantly having to check for an opening. The money is nothing to them (buying $5+ coffees, $5000 shoes, etc, while working an entry level job is not money-smart).
By eliminating the instant gratification and ease of cheating, many will stop. So, even if the "suspension" only works 70 percent of the time, a high percentage of those people will stop the cheating. And that at least makes some difference.
|
hohenwald48
Nashville, TN
Senior Member
Joined: 07/27/2002
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
None of these suggestions will ever come to pass. RV park owners and managers are only interested in filling the park and they make the park reservation rules. As long as they can get every spot paid for they don't care if anyone ever actually shows up. They don't really care about any inconvenience you might incur as a result of holes in their reservation systems.
When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
2019 Newmar Canyon Star 3627
2017 Jeep Wrangler JKU
|
toedtoes
California
Senior Member
Joined: 05/17/2014
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club Member
Offline
|
hohenwald48 wrote:None of these suggestions will ever come to pass. RV park owners and managers are only interested in filling the park and they make the park reservation rules. As long as they can get every spot paid for they don't care if anyone ever actually shows up. They don't really care about any inconvenience you might incur as a result of holes in their reservation systems.
It does and has changed with public campgrounds. Slowly, but things do change.
|
|
|
