Community Forums

Gammel · 12-04-2020, 03:08 PM

Is there a more useless website? Did they design it just to be frustrating or also to help foster mistrust of government? Actually, my theory is that it was designed to cut down on national park visitation.

chindog · 12-04-2020, 03:19 PM

It used to be a lot better before they improved it a couple of years ago.

twinboat · 12-04-2020, 03:20 PM

The " old " system was over performing, so they hired some lobbyists brother in law to design a new program.

crb478 · 12-04-2020, 05:08 PM

Ok I don't normally jump in on these bashing discussions, but I will make an exception. This is without a doubt the worst, most difficult to navigate website that I have ever been FORCED to use.

If that was not bad enough, it seems to encourage people to cheat up on the days they really want and then cancel others later without any punitive action!

I have cussed the site more than once, and I am sure I will again. The bad part is no one seems interested in improving it.

rogerfromco · 12-04-2020, 05:13 PM

It let us book a campground last week 2 hrs before arriving that was closed due to COVID and they won’t respond for a refund. I just disputed it with Amex.

twinboat · 12-04-2020, 05:19 PM

If you want some frustration, try booking Long Pine Key or Flamingo campgrounds in the Everglades.

They went with a private vendor and have a strange website.

Barefoot. · 12-04-2020, 06:51 PM

It isn't very user friendly. I provided feedback to them about their reservation system... don't think it'll do any good though.

DbleDutch · 12-04-2020, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chindog

It used to be a lot better before they improved it a couple of years ago.

Agreed the old system worked, then they improved it to not work.

RonLC · 12-04-2020, 08:55 PM

I used it yesterday to book a couple of days at a COE campground. The only thing I had trouble understanding was the day at a time method. Got it done, saw confirmation and payment info, and all is well. My first time with it.

Tomahawk · 12-06-2020, 10:06 AM

I was looking around yesterday and noticed that several camp sites in Sequoia NP have changed so reservation can only be made 3 months in advance. This is a change for this year apparently since I made reservations 2 years ago and it was 6 months in advanced. Last year I was unable to go (but it was still 6 months) due to COVID restrictions. The National Forest camp sites nearby are still on the 6 months ahead of arrival. I think this will make things worse as people who really want NP reservations make NF reservation to protect their trips then cancel later if they get the NP reservation.
I also noticed there were some places where reservations could be made a year in advance. That for a group site, but it made think "better check the specific campground a year before hand to see when the window will open".

Gammel · 12-06-2020, 12:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twinboat

The " old " system was over performing, so they hired some lobbyists brother in law to design a new program.

Twinboat for the win!

ArtJoyce · 12-06-2020, 12:26 PM

My impression is the old system was owned and operated by Reserve America. The fed fired Reserve America and the fed built there own system. Its is a lot better then the first version. Im sure it will continue to get better with time.

I

twinboat · 12-06-2020, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArtJoyce

My impression is the old system was owned and operated by Reserve America. The fed fired Reserve America and the fed built there own system. Its is a lot better then the first version. Im sure it will continue to get better with time.

I

That makes it OK ?

Are we to expect lousy service because its new ?

I guess we are, look at the new RVs coming out with all sorts of quality issues.

slowlanelife · 12-17-2020, 07:53 PM

The most intuitive reservation site I've used was for Gulf State Park in
Alabama. Now they are revamping it and I have to learn all over. The other sites had frustrated me until I forced myself to learn them. In the winter when we huddled inside looking out at the snow out of boredom I would practice before the time came to make actual reservations. Rec.gov, Reserve America, etc. Id go through the process of booking a site right up to the point of making payment. This really helped and I'd suggest trying that. Even the poorest designed sites can make sense after wading through the process a few times.