Can I please have an option when making a reservation?

[CajunCamper]

You know, I'm all for being able to shop online and gather information online, and make reservations online, but sometimes I like to talk to a living breathing human that can answer questions.

Example: A couple of months ago I wanted to reserve a campsite in a state park that we last camped in about 6 years ago. I went to their website like I had in the past to find their number which I was able to get, but now instead of just calling that number and making a reservation, I had to go through "Reserve America" which I really don't have a problem with. That is if I'm familiar enough with the campground and I know which sites are good and which ones to stay away from.

You know what I mean, every campground has those handful of sites that are real stinkers for one reason or another, and sometimes one person may think it's a stinker and another person may think it's great depending on personal preference.

Anyway, I go to Reserve America and the campsite I wanted was booked for the dates we were looking at as well as the second and third choices. Now I'm having to really depend on my memory to reach back 6 years into the past the last time we were there to recall which sites might work for us. By the way did I mention that I will be 48 years old this year, so memory is a little rusty at times.

So now, I'm looking at sites on Reserve America and I have to call the state park to talk to a park ranger to ask about other sites. Tell her our likes and dislikes and since all the sites on the lagoon were booked, which sites would be best for us if we wanted to have access to the lagoon for our kayaks and so on.

She was very helpful and I was able to book a site, but I was having to go back and forth checking what site was available then asking her about it and then she recommending a good site to me only to check it out on Reserve America to find out that it was not available. Even if I have to book the site with Reserve America it would be nice if when I call the park ranger that they would have access to what sites are available to make this process a bit easier.

But after saying all of that. If that is the biggest problem that I will face today, I have to consider myself blessed.

CajunCamper

[Shepherd]

It is nice to talk with a person and ask advice on sites, especially for us newbies.  We had a similar problem when talking with a park ranger at a local state park.  I was on their website and had gone through the search engine for open sites for the weekend in question.  I picked a couple to ask about and she gave me good insights for each one.  When I tried to book one she said it was already booked.  Each one I had picked had already been booked even though I was looking at it on the website and it was saying it was open.  She said it takes the website a few hours to catch up with the phone reservations and that the holiday we were looking at was already filled, no sites available.  

I am hoping that had I tried to book on line with out calling, the website would have given me a message saying the site was previously booked.  I would have hated to book the site, print out the confirmation and then driven there on the weekend only to find out we not only didn't have the spot we reserved but that there weren't any open spots.

[wavery]

You know, I'm all for being able to shop online and gather information online, and make reservations online, but sometimes I like to talk to a living breathing human that can answer questions.

Example: A couple of months ago I wanted to reserve a campsite in a state park that we last camped in about 6 years ago. I went to their website like I had in the past to find their number which I was able to get, but now instead of just calling that number and making a reservation, I had to go through "Reserve America" which I really don't have a problem with. That is if I'm familiar enough with the campground and I know which sites are good and which ones to stay away from.

You know what I mean, every campground has those handful of sites that are real stinkers for one reason or another, and sometimes one person may think it's a stinker and another person may think it's great depending on personal preference.

Anyway, I go to Reserve America and the campsite I wanted was booked for the dates we were looking at as well as the second and third choices. Now I'm having to really depend on my memory to reach back 6 years into the past the last time we were there to recall which sites might work for us. By the way did I mention that I will be 48 years old this year, so memory is a little rusty at times.

So now, I'm looking at sites on Reserve America and I have to call the state park to talk to a park ranger to ask about other sites. Tell her our likes and dislikes and since all the sites on the lagoon were booked, which sites would be best for us if we wanted to have access to the lagoon for our kayaks and so on.

She was very helpful and I was able to book a site, but I was having to go back and forth checking what site was available then asking her about it and then she recommending a good site to me only to check it out on Reserve America to find out that it was not available. Even if I have to book the site with Reserve America it would be nice if when I call the park ranger that they would have access to what sites are available to make this process a bit easier.

But after saying all of that. If that is the biggest problem that I will face today, I have to consider myself blessed.

CajunCamper

Webshots is a great tool for picking campsites sometimes.

Just got to:
http://community.webshots.com/myphotos
Type the name of the CG in the search box and you may be amazed at the # of picks that are posted. Some will have campsite #s in the picture.

[butterflyfish]

When I tried to book one she said it was already booked.  Each one I had picked had already been booked even though I was looking at it on the website and it was saying it was open.  She said it takes the website a few hours to catch up with the phone reservations and that the holiday we were looking at was already filled, no sites available.  

If it takes a while for Reserve America to update phone reservation, I would think that is probably why CajunCamper couldn't reserve over the phone.  It would make sense and maybe the park had an issue with a double booking and some very unhappy campers.  I know I'd be pretty mad if I had a reservation confirmation and when I got there there were no sites available.

[flyfisherman]

With a couple of the NFS C/G's that I'll use Reserve America for (really have no choice), RA does provide a site map showing the C/G layout. However, as to which has more shade, ect, ect ... RA will not have a clue. Since I am familar with these particualar C/G's, have no problem making reservations. But if I were to go to a new place, that's what I'd be doing, calling the ranger station to get a clearer idea of what sites are.

[MomboTN]

Webshots is a great tool for picking campsites sometimes.

Just got to:
http://community.webshots.com/myphotos
Type the name of the CG in the search box and you may be amazed at the # of picks that are posted. Some will have campsite #s in the picture.

I tried it, no campsite pictures but the site I stay in is about 50 feet behind that fishing dock.  Pretty cool.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2422688800090418368iYADgK

[mike4947]

An issue with the local ranger seeing the campsites as booked can be that the contract with RA issues certain sites by the campground for RA to sell and the locals would see them as "sold/booked".
 
As a side note there are several hundred "entities" including city, country, state,private and other campground owners that have contracts with Ticketron the owner of Reserve America and some sites may not even say anything about TT or RA depending on how the contract is worded. There are a lot of differences in the contracts and JMHO Ticketron still hasn't gotten it through their heads that renting campsites isn't like selling concert tickets.
Some of the campgrounds (although they are getting fewer and fewer) absorb the RA fees so you just pay the going site fee. Others partially subsidize the fees, and the rest just add them on.