By Chuck Woodbury
Our recent article by Nanci Dixon about how some RVers are abusing the system by reserving campsites they will likely never use drew hundreds of thousands of readers.
These ill-mannered, selfish campers abuse the system so that when the time comes for their camping trip, they can pick and choose one campground from their multiple reservations. The others they reserved remain empty, at least for a day, but because they are technically reserved, other campers cannot occupy them.
Hence, campsites in popular campgrounds that are “fully” reserved have some, even many, empty campsites. The abusing “no-shows” may pay a penalty here and there, but to them it’s a small price to pay. Campers who would gladly take the unoccupied sites cannot because they are “reserved.”
Nanci’s article received more than 700 comments. Here’s one that was posted on one of our Facebook groups where we publicized the article. It revealed one maddening effect this behavior has had on one camphost couple. How would you feel if you were in their position?
The Facebook post:
“As a camphost this is beyond annoying. We make people move out of a site for an incoming reservation, where they never show. [It] makes us look like tyrannical idiots. We are supposed to give [the camper who made the reservation] 24 hours to show up.
“Then I try to call. We get a lot of ‘Oh ya, I’m not going to come’ or ‘We went to another campground.’ How about a phone call people? I open the campsite after 24 hours and if the ‘no-shows’ appear they have to find somewhere else to stay. When they demand their money back I tell them you never gave me any money.”
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Read Nanci’s article that aroused so much interest (more than 700 comments) by our readers on this topic.
##RVT1167
I think holding the campsite for one night and then releasing it for subsequent nights, is reasonable. There are reasons you may not be able to get there on the first night for a multi-night stay. High winds was one of ours this spring. I contacted the reservation website and they said they would make note of it on our reservation. They also suggested I call the campground (it was a state park) and no one at the park answered the call (I assume it was the over-worked ranger’s phone) and the machine was full. Unfortunately, we can’t control other people’s actions, only our own.
Seems reasonable. I also think having a 24 (or more) hour cancellation policy before charging is reasonable too so it doesn’t come down to this.
It sounds nice and reasonable, to people with a legitimate reason they can’t get to the park on time. But if it’s a Friday night, it still basically wastes the campsite for a whole weekend, and it is absolutely no help to who knows how many people who were not able to make plans to come use the site.
If you can’t come use the reservation, take 5 minutes to make a phone call during business hours and cancel it.
I camp host at some SC State Parks. If a person is a no-show, and doesn’t call to cancel, we cannot re-sell that site. The camp host gets a list of incoming campers and we put tags on the sites. A person who is coming in for just one or two nights without a reservation, will know if the campsite is available. You never know if a camper who reserved a site is running late or is delayed by a day to get to the campground.
Sometimes, kids will take the tags off the sites, thinking that it is funny to do that. I always walk around the campground a couple of times to ensure the tags are on the sites for incoming campers.
Unless it’s a last minute emergency, canceling in good time should be a no-brainer. We just canceled Labor Day weekend/week, because it turns out I’ll be doing post-op and PT stuff. Those weren’t even scheduled when I made the reservation.
We have two reservations for Thanksgiving week, one camping with friends in a SP and another in a KOA near their home. One of the friends will also be having surgery this fall, yet to be scheduled. I may have another this year, so having the option of easier camping is good. We’ll know in time to cancel one or the other at least a week or more in advance, hopefully not both.
In my opinion, credit/debit card information should be given as part of the reservation process. And it needs to be clearly stated that if the person making the reservation does not call and state that they are either not going to show, or are going to be late, within a reasonable time (say, 24 hours), they will be charged anyway and their site will be up for grabs. That might discourage the “reserve multiple sites at multiple campgrounds but only choose one” types. It should also be illegal – with severe penalties imposed, including years-long bans from the campgrounds, for using bots to make reservations.
Reservations require 100% pre-payment of the reservstion, not just one night.
Failure to cancel a reservation = No further reservations allowed or accepted by that family plus forfeit 100% of the entire reservation amount.
I think cancellation policy’s should be easy to establish. There is a very popular campground and if you no show after 48 hours site and money is forfeited. If you give them 7 days notice then 1 day and $10 reservation fee are forfeited and the rest is credited to your CC. But, if you call because you are going to be late, they will hold for an additional 24 hours.
I think it depends on the quality of their reservation system and employee access to it.
There is a campground that is very convenient and is only $25 a night. It has a manned booth open 8 to 5, 7 days a week and a site maintenance crew. They have the posts with the name and dates of the reservations so if you come in after hours you can pull right in. Every single time I came here, there are at least 10-15 no shows with week long reservations. They need a cancellation policy and it seems they have the means to implement it. It’s sad to see the full sign displayed when there are a dozen no shows.
Thank you, Chuck! 🙂 I agree it is a problem all around — campgrounds, other campers, and camp hosts. But, until it is a problem for those who no-show, it won’t get better and certainly won’t get fixed. Thanks again, have a great week, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
A ‘fine’ is the answer. No show / No call, $200.00 fine.
I find it weird that you can reserve and not pay for the entire reservation upfront.
That should be standard everywhere.
Attempted to cancel NF site via recreation.gov, even though they’re charging much higher cancellation fees. Denied. They advised contacting campground. CG unavailable by phone. New policies and procedures make it very difficult.
That’s the issue I have with recreation.gov. Just a horrible service.
Here’s a great solution — charge reservations full-bang with no cancellation refunds. Pretty simple, huh? This will stop all of the game-playing, with all of the much too lenient cancellation policies!
I’d like to see “must arrive or call within 24 hrs of reservation date checkin time, or be canceled with no refund”. This would give legitimate reservations with a valid reason for missing the first night, a chance to arrive after the first day.
Solution to this problem is to ban cancellations at the last moment. Charge the full amount and on top of that, charge a empty campsite fee of $25. Put in the terms and conditions that if it’s a no show, they charge your credit card the full amount plus an extra $25. Allow cancellations up to 48 hours prior to the date. Force a valid CC to hold the spot. Just like hotels do. Maybe these people will start to actually show up.
And if the same person does it two times, then ban then from making a reservation. If they want to camp at the campground then they will have to show up and hope there is a spot.
CHARGE THEM!! I have an INN, I charge immediately upon booking a room with 14-day cancelation. They don’t show, no refunds.. The multiple reservations have always been a problem but it has cut down dramatically the no-shows.
P.S. I inform my guests to get Trip Insurance to protect THEIR vacation. Their emergency/problem does not become yours.
Private campground owners DON’T care if campsites are occupied. They care about PAYMENT.
I live in Vegas and reservations are important. Maybe like reserving a table at a restaurant we need a centralized reservation system. The table system keeps track of no shows. A person would then inadvertently rate themselves. Another option would be to contractually obligate the reserving party to the whole amount if they do not cancel 96 hours ahead of time. That is 4 days and opens the site for resale for the following weekend. As it stands, collecting only the no show deposit is like losing a site for a discounted price. (Never good for the business)