Reserve Ahead Or Go Day-by-day?

We were in the lodging business for over 10 years and cancellations were one of our biggest problems. They cost us thousands of dollars and were one of our biggest problems. The idea the host shares partial responsibility is not valid at all. When the host takes a reservation and they turn away all others with credit card in hand. This has happened to us hundreds of times and the canceling party thinks it is perfectly fine. Hotels and motels frequently double book to allow for cancellations. If they have 250 rooms, they take 260 reservations assuming they will get at least 10 cancellations. Airlines d the same. That doesn’t work for a small campground. The trend is to increase the cancellation times also. The reservation is a contract between two parties and what would we think if we arrived at our campground after a hard day of driving only to find they had rented our site to somebody else for an extra $5. If we expect the campground owner to comply with his side, we have to comply on our side. I certainly disagree with somebody’s problem costing the campground owner $50 as just being a cost of doing business. It is called getting screwed. The simple fact is that many people also lie about their excuses for canceling and this hurts the honest folks. If you get sick, then you have the cost of missing work, copays on doctor visits, medicine and many other things. Having your site be empty when you committed to paying for it and others were turned away is just another cost of getting sick (or many other common excuses). I have seen lodging owners screw the customer by rerenting the room and still charging the canceling party.
Good communications during the reservation call is the key to having a good experience on both sides of the contract.

 

Lindsay, I looked at the photo and I'm pretty glad they have shoes and pants on! I think I'll show this to my six year old who is very excited to see "Rount Mushmore". This photo puts a whole new spin on her seemingly innocent consonant juxtaposition. She believes everything we tell her, so she will want to hike around to the back to see that view too. She's one of those kids who will believe in Santa Claus until high school. Love it! :lol:

 

Please don't tell me that there is no Santa Claus. You have ruined my day. Even though it's only April, I have already started my list.

 

We do not take credit card information when we take reservations but at times I wish we did. There have been times we have been booked up and had to turn people away only to have the people with reservations not show up and the site went unused and we lost the money we could have gotten if the people had bothered to cancel. One couple called and reserved a site, came by asked for directions to another campground where "they had reservations" and I didn't realize until later they had made reservations with us and at another campground for the same night. I called them and asked why but they never bothered to return my call. That was one time I truly wished I had been able to charge them. The only fun part was that the other CG was out in the middle of nowhere and had no amenities of any kind.

 

When we were in the lodging business, we always took credit card numbers and explained that if they were a late cancel and it caused the room to go empty when we were other wise full, they would be charged. Almost everybody understands this concept. If they baulk at it, then you are much better off knowing it at the beginning. Many people out there think only of themselves and when in business you have to prepare for those types. I may be hard to win a dispute with the credit card company but them knowing you have their number prevents 95% of the problems.

 

From mid-May to June 2, we drove a Class C Winnabego Chalet motorhome from Iowa to Alaska, touring in SD, WY, MT, and also through Canada in Alberta, BC & Yukon. I had no advance reservations, but had done some research of RV parks in certain cities along the way. Each morning (or afternoon) I would figure out how far we'd get that day & what our RV park choices were and then I'd call on the cell phone. Close to Memorial Day weekend, I realized the weather was going to be really nice in AK (warm, sunny "brochure" days) and that that the campgrounds would be packed with local residents of AK as well as visitors like us. So we stayed an extra night at one before moving next day to City of Seward waterfront park. (Heard it was PACKED over Sat & Sun nights of the holiday weekend.) The weekend before othat we were traveling through Canada over their Victoria Day holiday, but the weather was so bad (cold, snowy, rainy) that most RV parks had alot of cancellations!!