Rv Park Reservations

I am just curious as to how some of you might feel about a park that has this reservations policy?

We are going up to the Oregon coast for a week or more in mid Sept. We have found a park that is ideal for what we want to do however I am having a problem with how they "honor" reservations. The deal is you make a reservation and can "request" a pull thru, but it is not guaranteed until the day your arrive and go pick it out for yourself, if any are left on that date. In other words all spaces on are on a first come, first served basis, reservation or not. Sound silly? I'll explain further. When you arrive you drive into the park and pick out your space. If your "reserved" pull thru is not available due to someone else taking it ten minutes before you get there, then you have to take what's left. They do guarantee that you will have a space but not the one you requested or even one in an area of the park you requested. So if you decide you don't want to take the space that is open, then you do lose your one night's deposit and can leave to go find another park. If you are pulling in behind someone who doesn't even have a reservation and they take the last pull thru, then you are out of luck also. You have to grab a space and then walk a block up the street to their lodge office. Now then, if we don't make a reservation and arrive to find the park full, then we've driven 650 miles only to have to find another park. I plan on making a backup reservation at another park but still, to me this seems like a pretty ridiculous policy. If they refunded your one night's deposit then I would be okay with that and just move on but to request a pull thru on a given date and then lose it to someone off the road in front of you just doesn't seem right to me? Is it me or is it them? I hate it when things like this happen. If it were a matter of us just staying one night I wouldn't be typing this post but we plan on staying at least week or more. I've spoken with two people in the office about this and both have told me this is just how it is and if I don't like it then go stay at another park. Almost and "attitude" thrown off by both of them and I for one don't appreciate or like an attitude like that. Anyway, I vented on long enough, some feedback please as to am I wrong or are they wrong. Thanks............... BankShot :angry:

 

I'd continue looking for a different campground.

 

Almost every campground we've stayed at, if you read carefully, does not guarantee reservations. They usually state that "every effort will be made" to assure a site, but no guarantees, and usually they will refund money if a site is not available.

So far, 14 years now, we've never had a reservation not be available.

There are a lot of threads about this, both on this site and other RV forums.

 

I agree. If you reserve it and pay a deposit it ought to be yours. That's like a motel saying we will gladly take your money and reservation but even though you reserved 2 beds for your family you may only get a room with one. Why should you have to worry about getting into what could be the last and tightest space in the park if you were the first one to reserve a space. I think it's also good customer service to offer a polite explanation to policy questions, unless its a question like "why can't the kids set off their fireworks in the rest room" etc.

 

As long as the campground's reservation policy and rules are clearly indicated to you- either by phone or on its website - then you really can't fault the RV park. Reservation policies and rules vary from CG to CG so what seems fair and reasonable in one may not appear that way in another.

It seems as though you were told that you had a reserved spot somewhere in the campsite and if possible, your request for a pull-through would be accommodated. I would agree that people who have prior reservations should have some preference over those who simply show up unannounced.

In some parks, it is a common practice to be told at check-in to "go find a spot and come back and we'll finish the paperwork". In others, you are assigned a specific site during the reservation period or as soon as you arrive. And some will give you several sites to chose from and tell you to go have a look and come back.

It's unfortunate that the staff was less than friendly when you were dealing with them. As was mentioned previously, it might be worth considering to find another campground.

Good luck and happy camping - where ever you end up.

 

We travel 7+ months .... every year..... for quite some time now. We only make reservations on HOLIDAY weekends. We find if you make reservations for the entire trip.... it puts a lot of pressure on us. If you have a reason or a situation that causes you to " reschedule " you start losing money. Once the campground has your money....your on the short end of the bargaining stick.....your at THEIR discretion. I'd rather take the risk of hopefully getting a site if I have no reservations .....because there is always the next c/g down the road......or even Walmart if ALL ELSE fails.

I have to respectfully disagree with the OP saying .... " In some parks, it is a common practice to be told at check-in to "go find a spot and come back and we'll finish the paperwork" ". I have never encountered this situation.....If we have reservations most times we already have an assigned site #....if not... we at least have a site type...whether its a pull-thru ....back-in etc. What I have done many times at checkin....is to request to get an escort to take me to my site BEFORE I pay to check it out. Especially if we have plans to spend extended period of time in a campground and are paying big $$ per night.....I want to be comfortable.

 

I would think the middle of Sept would not be a problem. We fulltimed 11 years and rarely made a reservation except holiday weekends. I wouldn't even make a res. What we usually did was call the morning ( around 11am ) and ask if they had room for us that afternoon. Usually the answer was yes come on in and they would write down our name. If they got testy with us we stayed somewhere else.

 

QUOTE(tiffinman @ Aug 23 2014, 08:55 AM) [snapback]37855[/snapback]


I have to respectfully disagree with the OP saying .... " In some parks, it is a common practice to be told at check-in to "go find a spot and come back and we'll finish the paperwork" ". I have never encountered this situation.....If we have reservations most times we already have an assigned site #....if not... we at least have a site type...whether its a pull-thru ....back-in etc. What I have done many times at checkin....is to request to get an escort to take me to my site BEFORE I pay to check it out. Especially if we have plans to spend extended period of time in a campground and are paying big $$ per night.....I want to be comfortable.



Although we've not experienced this ever, I think it is pretty common at TT parks (and maybesome of the other membership places.) That's one of the reasons we aren't interested in buying a membership.

 

My thanks to all who responded to my post. We rarely encounter problems with reservations or no reservations and many times on the road will just use the Big Book and locate a park that is where we would like to end our day, etc. However in this case we are wanting to spend a week or so on the ocean and this park is on the ocean and the only game in town that is. We have decided we are going to go ahead and make a reservation at this park for one night only. When we do arrive we will at least be guaranteed a space for that night. If it turns out that we can get a space we like or can switch spaces the next morning, etc. then we'll go ahead and stay the week there. And if not then we will just get a good night's rest and move to another park further up the coast the next day. It will work out, it usually does. The whole point of my original point was that I felt this particular park's policy wasn't at all fair to someone who makes a confirmed reservation a month or more in advance for a pull thru, and then be told on arrival that the coach who pulled in right ahead you off the street with no reservation, got the last pull thru. To me that is not a good way to treat your customers. This site has an average 7 rating and several reviews were a lot lower than that due to the reservations policy and the bad manners of the staff. You ask why we are even staying there? Because it's ON THE OCEAN and about as far north as we wanted to go on this trip. Oh well, you can't have it all, but it would be nice................

Thanks again everyone for all the input..............BankShot

 

My opinion on reservations is that if a campground takes a reservation (especially if you give a deposit), it should guarantee the "type" of spot for you, but not necessarily a specific site. That simply means that if you want a 50a pullthrough, you should be guaranteed that type of spot, but not necessarily spot #11 (although there are some parks that will try to hold a particular site for you.)

Also it is a common practice in any business (or some events) that the early arrivers get the best spots. And that means if you arrive last, the more desirable sites may have already been taken, but you should still get a reasonably good 50a pullthrough.

Going on, if the campground has reserved you a site, and if there is only your reserved site remaining when if a drop in arrives and requests the same type of site, yours should not be given to them. It should be held for your arrival. And if you are a no show, even if it is due to circumstances that are beyond your control, the park has the right to charge you for that night because they lost another paying customer since they held the site for you.

As for making reservations, we usually do not make them way in advance. We like the flexibility of changing our plans, staying longer in one place than planned, etc. However, we also like to be sure we have a place to land at the end of the day, so we usually call the day before or on the morning of our arrival date and make a reservation. I also do not like it when a person tells me they have plenty of sites available, and I don't need a reservation--"just come on in." Usually there is no problem, but we have been burned on that twice that I recall, so I usually politely insist that they at least take down my name.

On a rare occasion we have been told to go pick a site when we arrive, and that is OK with us. I remember one time we didn't; just told the desk clerk to assign one, and we were sorry. And I definitely do not like for a park to ask me to pick a site to reserve over the phone (that has happened before). I have no idea what the sites are like, and there was one time the chosen, unseen site was a nightmare, and we could not move because the park was full. We weren't happy campers that time!

Finally another thing that has not been mentioned here; if I do happen to make a reservation a few days in advance, I always call the day before our arrival to confirm the reservation. We get so many reviews with terrible stories about someone driving 500 miles, and when they arrive, the park does not have their reservation for some reason. A 2 minute phone call can save you a lot of trouble, so why not take this time to insure your trip is not a disaster.

 

We also do the same.... usually when we stop for lunch and we know the area we will be at around 5 or 6PM my wife will grab the Woodalls book and call ahead to a c/g and make reservations. We will take what we get if we fit for the night. On the other hand..... if we are returning to a previously visited c/g ....and make reservations in advance for a specific site # ( we keep a log of previously visited parks and the site #s we like in each park ) we expect that site to be ours. We usually make our holiday reservations in January requesting an email confirmation and also call the week prior to our arrival.

 

QUOTE(tiffinman @ Aug 23 2014, 03:24 PM) [snapback]37870[/snapback]

my wife will grab the Woodalls book


What!!!!!!!!!!! The Woodalls book???????

 

QUOTE(tiffinman @ Aug 23 2014, 08:55 AM) [snapback]37855[/snapback]

We travel 7+ months .... every year..... for quite some time now. We only make reservations on HOLIDAY weekends. We find if you make reservations for the entire trip.... it puts a lot of pressure on us. If you have a reason or a situation that causes you to " reschedule " you start losing money. Once the campground has your money....your on the short end of the bargaining stick.....your at THEIR discretion. I'd rather take the risk of hopefully getting a site if I have no reservations .....because there is always the next c/g down the road......or even Walmart if ALL ELSE fails.

I have to respectfully disagree with the OP saying .... " In some parks, it is a common practice to be told at check-in to "go find a spot and come back and we'll finish the paperwork" ". I have never encountered this situation....



Note that I said "In some parks (not "all"), it is common practice....." While you may not have encountered this at the parks you have stayed at, I have come across this quite often at some, not all, of the RV parks we have visited. This practice may not occur in the majority of campgrounds but it does certainly exist. It happens in both BC Provincial and some of Washington's State parks and in some of the membership-type parks. The KM Beachwood Resort in Blaine, WA is one example of a "member" park where you are told to "go find a spot and come back" - even if you have a reservation and are a member. Go figure.

 

QUOTE(Texasrvers @ Aug 23 2014, 04:31 PM) [snapback]37871[/snapback]

What!!!!!!!!!!! The Woodalls book???????




Of course we just use the " W " book to see what c/g's are out there.....then come here to check reviews......before we make our decision.

 

QUOTE(tiffinman @ Aug 25 2014, 03:08 AM) [snapback]37889[/snapback]

Of course we just use the " W " book to see what c/g's are out there.....then come here to check reviews......before we make our decision.




That's OK then. You're no longer in the doghouse.

 

QUOTE(Texasrvers @ Aug 23 2014, 05:31 PM) [snapback]37871[/snapback]

What!!!!!!!!!!! The Woodalls book???????



We used the Woodalls Book our first year out. Then we discovered campgroundreviews.com and haven't seen "the book" since.

 

Just one last comment here if I may. The main thing I feel is not right with this particular park is if you make a reservation weeks or even month or more in advance for a pull thru site, you would think the park would honor that reservation and not just give the pull thru site away to someone without a reservation who just drives in off the road ahead of us. That really bugs me :angry: . Surely they can keep track of who's in what space, etc. and even if someone makes a reservation in advance after ours. and asks for a pull thru, that the park would tell them that this pull thru is reserved for someone else with a prior reservation, and that they are welcome to have it until I arrive and then they would be obligated to move to another space. I think you all can see where I am coming from on this? We are going to go ahead and make a reservation for the first night and if we can't get a pull thru when we arrive we'll just take another space for the first night or two and then move into the first one that does become vacant in the morning. And from what I've been told, this is perfectly okay to do. Just think, I might move into a pull thru that someone else has asked for and that arrives a 1/2 hour after I've grabbed it. Oh well................

 

QUOTE(BankShot @ Aug 25 2014, 12:02 PM) [snapback]37896[/snapback]

The main thing I feel is not right with this particular park is if you make a reservation weeks or even month or more in advance for a pull thru site, you would think the park would honor that reservation and not just give the pull thru site away to someone without a reservation who just drives in off the road ahead of us.



I agree 100%.