Reserve America and CA YUCK!!!

[chkster]

My dear DW spent an hour this A.M. trying to get through to Reserve America every site on coast of mid and northern California for June that we looked into is gone. (Those that participate in reserve america... most!) Some other way has to be done. I do not know what it is.
now looking private and county parks

[AustinBoston]

My dear DW spent an hour this A.M. trying to get through to Reserve America every site on coast of mid and northern California for June that we looked into is gone. (Those that participate in reserve america... most!) Some other way has to be done. I do not know what it is.
now looking private and county parks

Minnesota does not use ReserveAmerica, and hopefully never will.

One of the neat things they do have is a "reserve date" lookup feature.  You put in the campground and the dates you want to stay, and they tell you the first date you can reserve a site for those dates.  Write that on your calendar, and don't miss it...the best reservable sites fill up fast.

Minnesota also leaves about 30% of their sites as first-come, first-serve. so you can usually get a site if you can be there Thursday or early Friday.

Other states might look at Minnesota's reservation system, and stop paying ReserveAmerica, at least until they get a better system.

Austin

[OC Campers]

I was reading a post on another forum and someone said he spent an hour getting reservations for July (on 1/2/06). If you are trying to get June they were all gone in December. Most of the beach area sites are gone within an hour and a half the first day they become available.
 
I guess this is why we spend a lot of time inland instead of at the beach:)
 
Jacqui

[oldmoose]

You have to be on the phone on the 1st day of the month 6 months prior to the month you want to camp. Like Jacqui said, December 1 was the month to call for June 2006. I've done it and it can take a long time to get through with repeated redials. On the other hand, I've gotten through within 10 minutes. Frustrating, but it's the only way here in CA.

Moose

[Gone-Camping]

Virginia State Parks uses that horrible site too, but we can call the state reservation line also, which works 400% better!!

[Camping Coxes]

This is why I've pretty much given up on ReserveAmerica.  Unfortunately, most of the beautiful parks are with RA.  More and more we use private places because we're not the kind of family that can plan our life six months in advance.  Invariably, something comes up and I have to cancel reservations if I make them too far in advance (ask the SCCampers how many times we end up cancelling on their trips!).

[Camping Coxes]

You have to be on the phone on the 1st day of the month 6 months prior to the month you want to camp. Like Jacqui said, December 1 was the month to call for June 2006. I've done it and it can take a long time to get through with repeated redials. On the other hand, I've gotten through within 10 minutes. Frustrating, but it's the only way here in CA.
 
Moose

We needed five sites for our GS troop -- I was on the internet, and our other leader was on the phone and internet, and we were on cell phones communicating with each other until between us we had five sites!  It's ridiculous.

[AustinBoston]

Sounds like what you folks in California need is more state parks and more state park campgrounds.  I'd bet it would be interesting to see when the last time was that the state added a new campsite to a state park.  Was it 1972?  :p

Austin

[oldmoose]

Trina, I've done that also. Had the other persons cell so we wouldn't overbook.

Moose

[SpeakEasy]

I cannot stand dealing with ReserveAmerica!

I cannot believe we have to be subjected to that terrible way of getting campground reservations. I thought we lived in a free market. Where is competition? Where is choice? Who makes the decision that state-after-state is going to use Reserve America?

What can we do to change this?

[Campaholics]

At the risk of sounding like I work in ReserveAmerica's marketing department,  we have had good experiences with them.  Most of the time we are reserving sites at Wisconsin State Parks.  You can reserve their sites eleven months in advance.  Just like everywhere else, the good sites, and the electric sites go quickly.  Part of it might be the Wisconsin State Parks, they have been a class act, both facilities and employees, during the 20+ years we have been camping.

We camped at Ft Ridgley in MN last August, and I had a positive experience with the park, the reservation system, and the employees.
 
Bob

[AustinBoston]

...we have had good experiences with them.  Most of the time we are reserving sites at Wisconsin State Parks.

I think that is the real issue; Wisconsin actually has enough state parks and campgrounds for it's camping population.

At the risk of being repetitive, is the real issue that there just plain aren't enough state parks (or too many people) in California?  If the system hasn't grown in 30 years, then it needs at least twice the number of sites it has now.

Austin

[Camping Coxes]

At the risk of being repetitive, is the real issue that there just plain aren't enough state parks (or too many people) in California? If the system hasn't grown in 30 years, then it needs at least twice the number of sites it has now.
 
Austin

You hit the nail on the head.  And of course, since 9/11 camping has gotten even more popular.  In the "olden" days, you could call a few days ahead and get in.  Now you have to be on the phone six months out, as previously mentioned.  Some people can call the morning they're planning to go and hope to slide into a cancelled spot, but I need some advance notice to get it all going.

[SpeakEasy]

I have no problem with the concept of reserving a campsite. I do it all the time. My beef is with the one, all-powerful, monolithic, dictatorial, government-endorsed RESERVEAMERICA corporation. Their fees are out of line. Their system is clunky (although I will admit that it's 1000 times better than it used to be). Their site descriptions are sketchy at best. As far as I know there is no one to actually talk to.

Thank God that the National Park system has their own reservation system (for now). Also, the system of first-come-first served seems to work reasonably well for the very busy campgrounds at Yellowstone and some other places. Sure, it puts a bit of adventure in your travel life, but it seems to work.

I'd like to see a system where certain campgrounds or designated sections of campgrounds are kept available on a first-come-first-served basis and the rest are available through a reservation system operated by the parks themselves. I'd like to be able to talk with someone who knows the park when I make my reservation. Also, I don't want to have to pay a reservation fee. When I reserve a hotel room I don't pay a reservation fee, why should I have to do so for a chunk of ground to park my camper on?

If I do have to go through a middle-man clearinghouse for my reservations, I'd like to have two or three of them to choose from. When I make airline reservations I can use any one of a number of different online reservation systems. Why should state governments endorse a monopoly?

Don't tell me this can't be done.

OK - I'll calm down now. I do get excited sometimes.

[Dee4j]

Hey Jumping on this bandwagon too!! RA  STINKS!!!!!


I spent 4hours calling on 2 phones starting at 8 am to reserve 2 sites for doheny beach and by the time i got thru they were on oppisite ends of the campground.....


in the old days ..you made the reservations 6 months in advance but it went by the date of stay..so if you wanted to stay the 13th-15th of the month you couldn't call until the 13th....this helped spread out the calls a bit...that way you don't have the entire State of California calling on one day..maybe they only pay for staff one day a month


so for those wanting to camp in Aug. plan on being on the phone Wed. Feb 1st