Encountering some strange things for my trip to Florida

[Stan Simpson]

I have spent the past few days setting up my trip to our winter home in Florida. I've noticed some comments in Campground Reviews that I didn't understand, until I started using the online reservation systems.

In the last couple of years, since the China flu, there has been a lot of automating of reservations. For six stops from home to the Clearwater area, five of them used online reservations.

So, this is the what I discovered.

1. They give you an interactive map of the RV park, and you can click on sites that are designated as 'available' for the dates you select. A picture of the site comes up, with a description and the amenities there. Such as, 50 Amp, Sewer, Cable TV, etc.

2. You select a site, navigate to the payment site, and there, you are told that the site you chose is not guaranteed, you have merely requested it, and to lock it in is an up-charge. The up-charges I encountered were from $15 to $30!

3. In some campgrounds, before you 'place order', you are asked if you want to shop for additions to your site. I clicked on the link, and additions were things like a picnic table delivered to your site, rental of a golf cart, cable TV.

4. None of them take a deposit. You have to pay in full when you book the reservation. I suspect the reason you can no longer pay for one night (say, out of three) as a deposit to hold your reservation, because most of the cancellation fees are now more than the cost of one night, and now they already have your money.

We did a trip of 60 days around Lake Michigan in August and September, and ran in to the same things with some of the parks on that trip as well.

Has anyone else encountered these things?

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

We avoid the Pay in Full at reservation like the plague after we lost over $250 because we didn't cancel a week in advance. If enough RVers avoid these parks, maybe they will quit trying to rip us off (IMHO).
Steve

[David T. Richelderfer]

A few years ago we booked a night or two at an RV park in Parker, AZ across from the Emerald Canyon Golf Course.  Just as we departed Yuma, we lost a U-joint on the driveline.  We did not get there because we were stranded beside the road - still in Yuma - dead in the water, as they say, for several days.  Leslie called the RV park to cancel the reservation, explained the circumstances, and was told the fee paid on the credit card was non-refundable.  She called the credit card company and explained the situation.  The fee charged to our credit card was 100% refunded.  I don't know if the credit card company ate the fee or whether they got their money from the RV park.