Don't Believe the Campground Websites

[chasfenwick]

Today I wanted to make a reservation at one of Canada's most popular campgrounds, for mid-September. Their web site said NO WAY. Full.

Three months ago I had the same experience for a campground in NW Missouri.

A year ago I had the same experience for a campground in Tampa Florida.

In all three cases I called them on the phone, and getting a reservation for the desired dates was no problem at all. What in the world is going on?

[Grumpy]

Many places (Motels, RV parks, state parks) only release part of their inventory for on-line ressies.

[Pfflyer]

Cancelations maybe. I thought this was going to be a website claim "level sites" thread.

[Marcm157]

I agree with Grumpy. I have called many "Sold Out" campgrounds and had no issues getting a reservation...

[michael.g]

Every March we head to Greenville, SC for a home school convention and camp in Paris Mountain State Park. Every year we make reservations in December or January. This year it slipped my mind and I didn't get a chance to make reservations until February. Most of the campground was full for the dates we needed. I ended up reserving 2 different sites for the 4 nights we needed. I checked a few days before we left to see if anything opened up so I can change our reservation and no RV site were available.

We had a really mild winter and the week leading up to our reservation was in the 70s. Then the temps dropped and a few nights were in the 30s. When we arrived at the park, it was empty. Maybe 6 of the 40 sites were occupied. We were able to switch our reservations to 1 site thankfully. Through the weekend, the campground was never full. Perhaps the cold caused a lot of cancellations, I don't know.

We've had that happen at Fort Wilderness before as well. We had our reservation in the 1400 loop and when we went to check in, we didn't like the site they gave us and asked them what else was open in the loop. The cast member told us there were only a handful open and gave us the site numbers. One we liked was open, so we took it. When we got to the 1400 loop it was maybe half full and stayed that way for the week we were there.

-Michael

[chasfenwick]

We recently completed a 10 night stint in the huge Birds Hill Campground outside of Winnipeg. There were lots of comparable, unoccupied sites the entire time we were there. But, when we had made the reservation months earlier, from the website, it showed that we had lucked out with the last remaining 50 amp. site for the entire park, for those dates. There really is something strange going on . . .

[Bassdogs]

Reservations are only 1 area you can't trust websites. Another is in the description and amenaties available. Just like online sites for hotel reservations, they make all of them sound like 5 star resorts. For the more basic ones they use words like quaint or secluded. When you get there the pool is under renovation and only one of the 3 bathhouses [not the one in your section] is open. Wifi or cable available but you discover not working or doesn't extend outside of 75 feet from the office.

Reviews from previous visitors and asking for feedback on this forum is a big help and prevents most surprises.

On site reservation availability is also not always reliable. Arriving at a Florida state park a few years ago [Feb] without a reservation, we were only able to get a site for 5 days. As the week went on we ask but told we had to move to another less desirable site. That extended our stay for another 10 days but the original site remained empty for our entire stay along with a dozen other sites. Weather was not a factor so no obvious reason for the openings. The Park office offered no answer just stuck with their story.

[swheele]

Happens here in Georgia all the time at the state and COE campgrounds.
We were told by a staffer at westpoint lake that people make reservations weeks, months and even years ahead and thats no problem BUT there allowed to cancel all the way up to the day before and get all but 10.00 of there money back! With that they have people rent them JUST IN CASE they might want to go camp if the weather is good. I know things happen but this is not right! When i make a reservation to go im there rain or shine no matter what. I think they should start loosing there money.


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