ReserveAmerica

I made a reservation for Chain O Lakes State Park on Reserve America and only after looking at my printed confirmation realized it was Chain O Lakes State Park in Illinois instead of Indiana. The website does not say anywhere on the reservation page what state you are in. I tried to call and cancel my reservation for a very frustrating hour, where I could not speak to anyone in the correct office. I finally figured out to cancel it online, which left me with a $5 cancellation fee. I eventually spoke with staff from the Illinois office after leaving a contact request and she was very unsympathetic and basically told me, "Too bad, we're not giving your $5 back and next time type in the state before the park." Yes, it's only $5 but that is an amount I paid for NOTHING except to speak with a rude and uncaring Reserve America employee!

Overall, booking with Reserve America has been pleasant. I recently booked a trip online and cancelled within 24 HOURS of the booking. Also, the dates that we are travelling is 3 months out. I was still charged $10 just to cancel. I find it LUDICROUS that I would owe $10 to hold a spot in their system for less than 24 hours.

I will use FAR BETTER JUDGMENT prior to booking with them again. It's very shameful that their cancellation guidelines are written like that.

I booked a camp site@ wells state park for 6/4 check inn check for 7/6 well due to rain I didn't show up Monday because Tuesday the was forecast was rain. So I called on the 4th stated I was coming on the 5 th which was already paid for. Because it rained I wanted to book Thursday the 7/7. They confirmed Mr reservation but told me to call the site. I did to get no answer. I called back, once again they confirmed my reservation but stated I had to go today or it will b canceled. I said it's raining I'm not going today that why I want to pay for a extra night. I tried to book it myself online, the system said the site was open but it wouldn't take my reservation. So I called back and was told if I didn't come today the reservation would b canceled. They keep my money, wouldn't allow me to book the the same site which was open. Got nothing but the run around after going to the Wells for the last 4 years. Customer service did nothing to help my situation but keep my cash. What a RIPOFF

Reserve America needs to hire people who know how the program works! I spent two hours on hold being transferred between people and ended up losing my reservation! Very frustrating!

Why is it Northampton campsite has has so many sites with x through them (not available) for months at a time but when you go to the campsite people are camping?

Arbitrary, heavy handed fees... no flexibility... no consideration of extenuating circumstances! All in all, if this outfit is how I have to make reservations for state parks in Florida, it totally eliminates any thought of a state park in Florida for me! I absolutely abhor doing business with people like this! Adios R/A... enjoy the $50 you made off me... it'll be all you ever get... for damn sure! Signed: NORTH CAROLINA DEPLORABLE WHO WILL NEVER GET SUCKER PUNCHED BY RESERVE AMERICA AGAIN

Experience with CT state park. Reservation fee is $9 and force me to take at least two nights. After reservation I am not able to change the dates if that site is not available for new dates (their web site will not allow me to change the dates and site). For cancellation I had to pay another $9 but they end up charging $18 and on enquiry there is non refundable $9 fee for non refundable reservation fee! I will try to avoid it and will research other ways... I rarely see any state park completly full, woundering if I can call them directly on the day of stay and pay on the window to avoid these fees.
Not sure I want to call this site a scam but they do not disclose all the fees. Question is why most of the state parks contract with them? State park hace their own systems and staff they not remove the middle man.

I DO NOT recommend using Reserve America or calling the toll free number for NYS Park Campsites. I never understood my mom's stress each year over making reservations. NOW I understand! Not worth it. Good way to get your heart rate up and have a heart attack. If you don't care what site you get or if you can't get a site near your family or friends, I guess it wouldn't matter. But if you want something specific. FORGET IT. You have to wait EXACTLY 9 MONTHS and to the second (9am) before you can reserve your desired site. It's like Russian Roulet. There are literally hundreds of people on the very same time and day. They need to come up with a more friendly system AND website. I will not be going to any NYS Parks. Not that they care anyway :( Completely just wasted two mornings trying to get a decent campsite. Completely wasted my time.

It's really weird that a private company took over the whole Federal and State Park System's reservation. That was a great deal for them, someone made huge bucks to make that happen. How is that a private company can charge any amount they want for people who want to make a reservation in parks which are already managed by State or Federal Tax dollars? They can also charge if you update or cancel your reservation as they please. The fees are very high - $8/ reservation or $10 to change? How did this happen? How did they got this good deal? I am going to create a good reservation system, which would take a bit of work to program... can I take over? Nowadays fees are usually paid by the business and not the consumer. Not in this case. Since the prices of the parks are keep going up, and in many cases you pay $60-$75/night for an RV site in California, which is already more expensive than some motels, can't the government just create an online system which would not add additional fees? The most ridiculous thing is that they still sell out and booked all summer. There is no reason for them to change this.

It doesn't make sense that Gov. Cuomo allows this company (Reserve America) to continue to be the agent for the State of New York for on-line reservations of camp sites. Gov. Cuomo is usually very keen on what the state provides as far as services are concerned, and he has done an excellent job in pushing his executive agencies to provide the best there is, but the Reserve America on-line platform is antiquated in so many respects. One only has to read the reviews of the service as a start to see how bad the program functions. It is so difficult to navigate the system to make a reservation. So much so that you have to wonder whether it is intentional. Meaning, the State may have made the decision to continue using this system because it would be too easy for the majority of the citizens of this state to make reservations thereby depleting the inventory of available campsites too quickly. That is mere speculation, but what I do know is that the current system is totally in adequate in today's world of tech savvy citizens.
Please change to a new reservation provider!
Thank you,
Mike N.

Constant error messages since the changes were made to the website this year. Incredibly frustrating & I can only imagine how it must be affecting the campgrounds. Please figure it out!

We were scheduled for 2 weeks in the Fl Key and they canceled the whole stay instead of just the 2 days the park was going to be closed for the storm. I called the park they told me to go back and re-book it, I tried our camp site and all of them for that matter were already taken. Ruined our whole vacation. It should be left up to the patron to cancel, we already knew we were going to have to forfeit the first few days of the trip but not the whole thing. THANK YOU RESERVE AMERICA FOR DESTROYING OUR VACATION! FLORIDA STATE PARKS NEED TO STOP USING THEM! Let people book online like city parks do instead of being charged all these ridiculous fees and being totally disappointed this trip has been booked and paid for for a year.

Going from one step to the next to reserve a site. Page won't refresh. I have missed many site reservations because of this problem. WHY SO DIFFICULT?

I was assigned a disabled campsite at Mt Tamalpais Steep Ravine I had not requested as I am not disabled. My reservation included instructions for disabled discount I assumed did not apply as I am not disabled and had not requested such. I was there two days talked to camp host and pleasant ranger asked if I needed to do anything answer: no. A friend arrived to join me another nasty ranger said we had to leave that minute because we were not disabled at 8:30 p.m. The website is confusing I received no warning or alert DISABLED ONLY my only vacation of the year was ruined. It is unconscionable the state turns over such a precious resource to a private service whose communication totally sucks. The ranger told us he kicks out 50 people a year for not being disabled... that tells you something about the website language and the incompetence of this company. I am receiving no refund, no disabled person stayed there during my reserved time and the only one who wins is ReserveAmerica. Absolutely worst company ever.

How stupid are you people at Reserve America? Every other business I deal with (my bank, my grocery store, my cell carrier, etc.) is bending over backwards and even cancelling totally legitimate fees for their customers. But Reserve America actually feels that it is good business sense to STEAL the $12 reservation fee (which is ridiculously high to begin with for the service you are providing) from people that are having their reservations cancelled by the government during an international crisis. Congratulations on being penny wise and dollar foolish. I have used RA for years (typically at least a dozen reservations a year) and know many people that USED to use RA. I will never use Reserve America again, even if it means that I am spending the night on the side of the road. Everyone I know is of the same mindset. These customers are lost to you and WILL NEVER RETURN. You should be ashamed of yourselves. The solace I take from this is that with this level of idiocy, your company will surely go bankrupt soon.

Their website never works, Goodwill and DMV provide better service! The racial questions are ridiculous. I will not use them ever again.

Although their website says they are under reconstruction, yet available 24/7, we were unable to make reservations and could not connect with a live person on the phone or through chat.

I cancelled 4 nights in Washington DC due to all the COVID cases. Every tourist site announced closings everywhere... I was going for the sights. The RESERVE AMERICA THIEVES stole $60 to cancel. ABSOLUTE inhuman organization. I will never book through them again. Bull Run Regional Park in Virginia should be ashamed to use this dispicable reservation agent! SHAME on both of you!

So many horrific problems with this company and i pray the government cuts ties with them in future
I mad rez on april 22 and just 4 days later i needed to cancel bc my rv broke down - they charged me $29 - cancellation not clear and is WAYYYY too greedy - you should be able to cancel for free with 24 hour notice but not these greedhogs!
So many examples of them feeing you to death and tricky cancellation policys and change confusion. I stayed at ponderosa park in idaho and their water tasted like it would catch fire - the poor staff was alarmed but no one could reimburse me - i couldn't fill my tank with water and well you know
Reservation america makes camping and just trying to enjoy some nature a pain in the butt! They also don't make it clear if parenthesis are used around your refunded money or money they're keeping! I'll comb through all tomorrow oh! But they charge you tao get help on the phone too! State parks need to quit using these guys - they are complete robbers! They've taken over $160 off of 2 cancellations and i absolutely don't understand their math or policies. Bad eggs all the way around!

Several scammers are working to book all prime sites here in Florida and charging customers $23 per night for the "service". This violates ReserveAmerica rules, but they do NOTHING to prevent it.

I will never use them again-they suck one star is too good for them the will not answer my calls or E-M

The online experience sucks. I guess this is the quality you get when the government works with a monopoly.

Very rude, difficult to deal with. They make me want to quit camping! The invisible jerk on the other end of the line.