Discussions

The provincial park reservation system actually works.  
What screws it up is the people who book weekends as soon as the reservation system comes online for the season.  
These people book a site for a weekend.  
They apparently book the dates on the assumption that they will be going camping on these dates.  
Then the wednesday, thursday or even friday morning they decide to not go.  
Pay the $10 cancellation fee and screw the campers that have been trying to book sites a week or two in advance.  
We decided two weeks ago to go to Assissippi, for this last weekend.  
There were two sites left in Bay one.  
we booked one.  
Within minutes the other site was booked.  
We booked, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  
On friday evening we noticed a lot of empty sites, that we presumed were booked for that night.  
I checked online.  
Now there is 12 open sites.  
Chatting with parks people, yes 12 cancellations.  
This is not the first time we have had this issue.  
A very common occurrence it seems with this system.  
Apparently Saskatchewan is now having this issue also.  
This just irks me.  
We plan ahead.  
We keep our plans.  
It seems like people just book and hope they "might" go.  
comeon, people you are screwing it up for everyone.  
Keep it up and there will be no more reservation system.  
first come first served.  
Think about it.

I feel ya. I was trying to book for Stephenfield for August long and aside from overflow, they have nothing. .. most of their sites go to seasonal.

I completely agree!! The Federal Park system is worse. Wasagaming is booked all summer. I hardly think everyone is going to show up.

How do you propose to prevent or reduce this? It's happened to us, you make plans, then at the last minute you have to cancel and I hate doing it because of what you say, others may have wanted the site but couldn't because it was booked.

I book my sites the second it goes live. Rather change my mind and not go then worry about scrambling to get a site. Your lack of planning doesn't concern me one bit

Really, are you using your sites, or cancel at the last minute.  
I understand weddings and family reunions coming up.  
But usually you have one or two months warning for those.  
In that case you should cancel immediately.  
Too many abusing the system i feel and there are others who feel that way.

It's usually all about the weather. If the weather is crappy who wants to sit in their trailer or tent with rain, wind, cold weather?

sprinter said "The provincial park reservation system actually works.   What screws it up is the people who book weekends as soon as the reservation system comes online for the season.   These people book a site for a weekend.   They apparently book the dates on the assumption that they will be going camping on these dates.   Then the wednesday, thursday or even friday morning they decide to not go.   Pay the $10 cancellation fee and screw the campers that have been trying to book sites a week or two in advance.   We decided two weeks ago to go to Assissippi, for this last weekend.   There were two sites left in Bay one.   we booked one.   Within minutes the other site was booked.   We booked, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.   On friday evening we noticed a lot of empty sites, that we presumed were booked for that night.   I checked online.   Now there is 12 open sites.   Chatting with parks people, yes 12 cancellations.   This is not the first time we have had this issue.   A very common occurrence it seems with this system.   Apparently Saskatchewan is now having this issue also.   This just irks me.   We plan ahead.   We keep our plans.   It seems like people just book and hope they "might" go.   comeon, people you are screwing it up for everyone.   Keep it up and there will be no more reservation system.   first come first served.   Think about it. "

BC has this problem too. What happens is people book multiple parks or multiple weekends, and cancel the ones they can't use. In some situations, they book a few different spots, then choose one based on the best weather forecast, and cancel the others. In other cases, they book multiple stretches, then cancel depending on which ones they are able to get as vacation.  
 
The ultimate problem with all of these reservation systems is that it's too cheap to cancel, and the window is too short.  
 
If I were called in to fix the problem, I'd make it work like this:  
 
Cancel outside of 2 weeks, get all of your money back.  
 
Cancel outside of 48 hours, get half of your money back.  
 
No refunds after that time.  
 
It's not unreasonable to expect people to keep their appointments, if they are serious about taking a trip. Forcing people to cancel earlier to get their money back would eliminate the weather watchers, and for the "not sure which week" folks, cancelling 2+ weeks out would at least give other campers time to make some plans of their own.

These people that digure theyll book all these qeekends just in case they want to go. End up cancelling the majority of them leaving sites opened and people that couldnt originally book because they were taken and they couldnt care at all obviously. Pure selfishness. Care about them and them only. These people dont care if other people wanted to go and they cancel last minute leaving an open spot. All they care about is that if they wanted to go they would have been able to.

works for me, jerks who think its ok to screw everybody else over don't deserve anything back.

MrsZ2015 said "I feel ya. I was trying to book for Stephenfield for August long and aside from overflow, they have nothing. .. most of their sites go to seasonal. "

of my favorite places to camp!!  
Keep going to the site everyday and the last couple of weeks of August go several times a day if you can - something will open up.  
 
Just to clarify so people are not misinformed that most are seasonal.  
They have:  
44 Seasonal sites, electric only  
63 Electric sites  
35 Electric / water sites  
36 Basic sites

Sorry to hijack thread, but speaking of Stephenfield, why do you like it? We have gone twice and I like the campground, but it's been cold and rainy both years we have gone, so don't know what the swimming is like?

If the weather is bad I will still continue to cancel. I book the weekends I want the moment online camping opens. If we had weather like last weekend by all means pull out your tents and enjoy. Sorry if I won't risk my camper for bad weather. I have seen campsites after a good storm and some campers don't weather the storms so great. Why would I want to take that chance over a 30 dollar a night camping fee. If you don't want me to cancel then take my full payment for the site and leave it empty for that time I had booked. I could really care less. Then the people seeing these empty sites would complain still even though they are paid for but not used......Then it would be "Why don't these people cancel so other people could have the chance to rent a site."

has identified one of the abusers.  
 
I agree with staged refunds, however if there is no refund inside of 48 hours then you will have sites go vacant, thats not good. so i would go one step further. if you are not showing up and decide not to advise the park then you get an addition surcharge on your next weekend outing.  
or even if you late cancel, if someone does pick up the site you get your money back, if it remains vacant you don't.  
 
identified abusers could be barred from renting again that year.  
 
there has to be some kind of compensation, when you consider some of the expensive rigs people are pulling these days a couple hundred dollars in camp fees for a weekend are not going to be missed by cancelling late or not at all.  
 
we could do the same thing as they do at concerts, a handful of people just bookem all then resell off a different site for exorbitant increases. now would that be a hoot or what.

thecdnmole said "Sorry to hijack thread, but speaking of Stephenfield, why do you like it? We have gone twice and I like the campground, but it's been cold and rainy both years we have gone, so don't know what the swimming is like? "

the swimming area is nothing special but this is what I do like:  
 
1. Always get a site with water which is not something you find in many Provincial Parks.  
 
2. Love the sites - find them fairly private and a nice size.  
 
3. Love the way the entire place is designed with a path in the middle of each bay like a cross which makes it very fast to get anywhere.  
 
4. Just love the way the entire park is designed with that paths in the middle which I already mentioned - another path around the four main bays that intersects with the center paths and love walking around the path that goes around the outside of the entire park, but intersects with all the others paths so you can cut it shorter anytime you want. Also has a nice path to Stephenfield Resort as I know a few people that camp there.  
 
5. Like that if you go with a group of people to the beach that some can sit in sun, some in shade, some can be in the water and some can be at the playground (which is shaded) but you can see everyone in all those places by just turning your head.  
 
6. Each bays washroom is in basically the center of that cross path.  
 
7. Love the showers, nice and big and if you have small kids you can easily take the family in them.  
 
8. If you go during the week, it is very quiet compared to other Provincial Parks because it is off the beaten path.  
 
9. For those that rent Yurts, ( I never have) I love the fact they are located right off the beach with a lake view.  
 
10. You won't catch the biggest fish there, but every time we went we caught some and even when we throw them back, the fun is in the catching.  
 
11. And of course, can get ice cream just off the edge of the park. We walk or bike

goshdarn said "has identified one of the abusers.     I agree with staged refunds, however if there is no refund inside of 48 hours then you will have sites go vacant, thats not good. so i would go one step further. if you are not showing up and decide not to advise the park then you get an addition surcharge on your next weekend outing.   or even if you late cancel, if someone does pick up the site you get your money back, if it remains vacant you don't.     identified abusers could be barred from renting again that year.     there has to be some kind of compensation, when you consider some of the expensive rigs people are pulling these days a couple hundred dollars in camp fees for a weekend are not going to be missed by cancelling late or not at all.     we could do the same thing as they do at concerts, a handful of people just bookem all then resell off a different site for exorbitant increases. now would that be a hoot or what. "

How is it abuse if the campsite still gets the money? Hey how about this.....be like everyone else and book right when online camping comes available. Ok....and you can only book so many sites at a time. But if you want to go through the hassle of multiple accounts knock yourself out. Like you said the expensive rigs....well would you really take an expensive rig to a tree filled park with what....100km winds last weekend? Really? What about the campers to the east? Charge them extra if they bailed early? Road washed out....Screw the park and their early cancellation fees! I'm not leaving! Lol.  
 
Edited by Fishin Guy, 2016-06-27 19:46:47

So you can park your rv at home and a hail storm or wind storm will never hit it.  
You must have the "get smart" cone to be protected like that