Pack Em In, Pack Em Tight (campgrounds)

Mark S · 11-07-2017, 06:16 AM

We are staying at the Lion Country Safari KOA in West Palm Beach Florida. Nice park and you get to wake up to the roar of lions. Very cool.

The park is maybe 35% full and yet we are sandwiched between two other campers. There are large sections empty but all campers are placed right next to others. This has been our experience in most parks.

With all the empty spots, why wouldn't they put us in a spot where there is a spot or two between us? Clearly there are enough spots that everybody could have a space between them.

This is not a complaint (well, maybe it is) but a genuine curiosity. Do they teach this in campground host school? Is there some logistical reason that I am not seeing?

Mark

DebKen · 11-07-2017, 06:43 AM

Those empty spots may fill up in a day or two. They have to figure out arrival and departure days and times. That being said it has been our experience that most KOAs like to pack people in like sardines. Our last experience at one was similar so we actually asked about the roomier spots and they allowed us to move to one. This is why we prefer state parks.

Pfflyer · 11-07-2017, 07:39 AM

I have had the opposite experience at KOA's and other campgrounds when capacity is low. Even had a clerk at a KOA change my reservation made earlier that day to a spot with no neighbors without me asking.

Camper_bob · 11-07-2017, 08:23 AM

That hasn't been my experience either. Granted, we've only stayed at a couple of KOAs, and those were pretty full. But other parks we've stayed at have made a solid effort to spread the rigs out. One place I stayed, the guy even walked outside to look at which of two sites he was going to put me in had more space.

If the park begins to fill, it's pretty simple to just put people in between. There's just no reason that I can see to pack everyone in.

An exception to that might be infrastructure. Say one loop had old, outdated power infrastructure, and another loop was recently updated and much more stable. I could see it in a situation like that maybe...

koko · 11-07-2017, 09:32 AM

We just spent almost four months roaming the country this summer, all the way from Washington state to the east coast. We always stay at KOAs. We've stayed in over 90 different ones over the years. Watching them make reservations is like a juggling act. One experience we recently had was that we came in on Wednesday planning to leave on Friday morning. We decided to see if we could stay through the busy weekend. Just luckily there was a last minute cancellation so that we could stay, but we had to move to a different site. The reason we had to move was that the people coming into our site were staying several days, and our site was the only one that would accommodate them there because of other reservations. KOAs, in our experience, try their best to make everyone happy; but let's face it, camping is really popular now, and these places get packed.

DocBrown · 11-07-2017, 11:34 AM

Keep in mind that KOA is a franchise. They are owner operated CGs that benefit from a central website and reservation system. However they are not like fast food franchises where everything is done nationwide in nearly identical fashion. That said there are wide differences between KOAs and no two handle matters like this the same way. In our experience KOAs are generally not the best places for us to camp unless we are doing an overnighter when a lot of our normal camping requirements are not needed.

bluegill1 · 11-07-2017, 12:20 PM

Never been to a KOA, always at Ohio State Parks. Question...so, they (KOA) tell you what site you can have? You don't choose which site you'd like to have?
Curious.

Pfflyer · 11-07-2017, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluegill1

Never been to a KOA, always at Ohio State Parks. Question...so, they (KOA) tell you what site you can have? You don't choose which site you'd like to have?
Curious.

You can request a particular site or they have sites at different price points and you can request a site that meets your needs or in my case a site I stayed at before on the river that I like. I can make sure I get that site again or at least try.

Camper_bob · 11-07-2017, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluegill1

Never been to a KOA, always at Ohio State Parks. Question...so, they (KOA) tell you what site you can have? You don't choose which site you'd like to have?
Curious.

I was able to book a certain "type" of site, then my specific site was assigned when I arrived. The descriptions were for multiple sites that generally shared some similarities. Example: my site was described as "shaded". While there were sites nearby that were in fact well shaded, ours was basically in full sun. I would have had a tough time getting into the other sites in the loop where we stayed, and DW was driving. So it was nice to have an attendant who knew the lay of the land and an escort that was able to give my wife VERY specific instructions on backing the truck and trailer into the site. I heartily thanked him for this service!

I generally won't seek out KOAs for many of the reasons listed above, but they serve their purpose well IMHO. We wanted a place to stop over for a night and we wanted to see the nearby area. They had a spot, price was decent, we filled it. Would I have wanted to stay on that spot for a week? Absolutely not. But it worked for what we needed. They also had a well-stocked store, breakfast the next morning, and a really nice looking pool that we didn't go in.

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