Trying to reserve a campsite on recreation.gov, but can’t because your dates at the campground are sold out? Back in 2019, we told you about a private company that for “a fee” would be happy to keep an eye open and tell you about cancellations. Well, forget about paying for that service. The reservation site recreation.gov’s new Availability Alerts will tell you for free.
That such a service should be available is a “no-brainer.” The increasing popularity of camping is making it harder and harder for RVers and others to get the date and location of their choice. Guess that’s another no-brainer. There are, after all, only a finite number of sites available. But here’s how the recreation.gov site helps you even-up the campground sold-out playing field—at least a little.
Campground sold out—recreation.gov Availability Alerts tell you if something changes
Called the Availability Alerts service, it helps visitors to the recreation.gov website get real-time updates on availability. For example, if you wanted to get a site at Grand Canyon’s National Park on the South Rim on, say, May 15, you’ll probably find all the sites are already booked. Using the Availability Alerts service, you can put in to be alerted if a site comes open on your date. Say Joe Doaks already had a reservation but found out he had to work that day. He cancels. Everyone looking for a site there on that date receives an email alert that a site is available.
Of course, you’ll have to be the proverbial pinball wizard on your e-device. Since everybody lurking, waiting for a spot, gets that notification, it’s the one that can click the “reserve” button first who’s the winner.
There are a couple of other caveats to look out for. You can’t set up an alert if there is a site available on your given day or date. Sorry, you can’t look at the pictures and say, “Ooh! This one is right next door to the outhouse—I want something different!” Sorry, the campground sold-out situation must be true before you can set up an alert.
“Only 3 alerts can be set at one time,” says the site. We didn’t try it, but that would seem to indicate that if you want to set alerts for more than three locations, you’ll need to log out, come back, log in, and set more alerts for other locations.
So, fast-on-the-draw button punchers, click here to learn how to set up your own Availability Alerts on recreation.gov.
##RVT1140
I ran into this problem at Mesa Verde NP, all the tours of the cliff sites were purchased as soon as they were available, within seconds. Who purchased them, they will not identify.
Great information Russ and Tina, thanks !
I set up an alert a few weeks ago for May, the week before Memorial Day at Glacier National Park. So far nothing, no alert has come my way. In the meantime I have made NPS reservations elsewhere. National parks are filling rapidly for the summer. And after making a NPS reservation, you are not allowed to cancel it for 9-days. So, reserve carefully, NPS is trying to give others a chance at reserving a site too. However, I hardly see how the 9-day rule changes much when making reservations months in advance. I have noticed too, NPS not releasing all sites at once in some parks, metering out a few more as available sites fill.
Thank you, Russ and Tina! Very nice development. Safe travels! 🙂