Originally Posted by
Juan Foote
Man, I so feel this rant. Was reading a post the other day discussing Reserve America (or w/e it's called) that is most of the reason why you have to reserve two days for cabins, and can't get one on walk in, etc. Cabins that used to be $40 are over $100, primitive camping sites are $25, and to sleep next to a generator is $40.
RA is just a reservation service. It doesn't set prices for the use of the facility. Nor does it set minimum number of days required for a reservation. The agency running the facility does. For example, the two night minimum on weekends at New Jersey state parks was the rule before RA took over handling reservations.
I don't know how the fees is arrived at. For state facilities, I have never seen it higher than $5 except when it comes to MT state parks, where it's $10. Just made a reservation at a PA state park 10 min. ago. $5 fee. NJ is the same. I reserved a spot at a federal place for my tour last month. Fee was $9. The charge for the site itself was only $12, so the reservation fee was equal to 75% of the use fee. Ended up having to change the date. I think that was another $10 fee.