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Yosemite National Park Officials Instituting Reservation Program Changes To Stop Campsite Scalping

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With hopes of bringing an end to the scalping of campsites, Yosemite National Park officials will require that visitors show some identification to claim their campsites, and won't allow reservations to be transferred to anyone else.

Campsite scalping has been a growing problem in Yosemite in recent years, with reserved sites being offered for sale on Craigslist. The other day park officials announced three changes to bring this practice to a halt:

* All visitors checking into a campsite will have to show identification upon arrival at the Campground Reservation Office. Currently, campers do not need to present any form of identification to secure their reserved campsite. However, this new identification policy is being implemented to ensure that the person who arrives at the campground office is the same person who made the campground reservation.

* Campground reservation holders will no longer be able to change the name of the person on the campground reservation. Previously, the original name on the reservation could be changed online on the reservation contractor's website. This would not change any components of the existing reservation. However, this change precludes the ability to change the name on a reservation once the reservation is made. There is a $10 cancellation fee for any reservation that is cancelled. Further, the same reservation under a different name is not guaranteed. 

* The final change to the campground reservation system will be implemented later this summer. This alteration will change the way in which cancelled reservations are released back into the system. Currently, once a reservation is cancelled, the campsite is put back online to be purchased. However, under the newly implemented system, the campsites that become available can only be reserved by calling the campground reservation phone number. There is no date available for this change.  

All campsites reserved in Yosemite National Park are reserved through a contractor, Active Works. The website is www.recreation.gov . They can also be reached at 1-877-444-6777. The park is implementing these changes to ensure equity and fairness for visitors wishing to make a campsite reservation within Yosemite National Park.

Comments

Get real:
Get real, this has been going on as long as the park has had a presence
on the net. Has it ever struck you as simply egregious, that for so many
years you have needed to poke around to find a date that has
availability, when they could of simply told you what dates are
available.

  What reservation system does that? I remember looking for sporting event tickets, and the ticket counter agent had to scroll through different dates for availability. Really - who is going to say they want three days, but not be specific about a time. Perhaps ask for weekends, weekdays, a specific date range, etc. The system is complex as it is. Do you want three nights in May or three nights in August?

Besides that, booking peak-season Yosemite campsites over the phone is likely a futile effort.

I guess they could go the old way, which was to sell campsite reservations on Ticketron, and where the ticket was a bearer instrument.


As of today, July 10, 2011, it still appears that cancelled reservations are made available again via the online reservation systems of both recreation.gov and yosemitepark.com. Can anyone update the information in this post regarding the timeline when cancelled reservations must be requested via telephone?
Out of all of the information in this post, I am skeptical of the one point that cancelled reservations are only made available again via telephone. The human resources required to implement such a change well would be quite a drag on any system. The switchboard would be filled all day everyday with inquiries.


zealousagenda:
As of today, July 10, 2011, it still appears that cancelled reservations are made available again via the online reservation systems of both recreation.gov and yosemitepark.com. Can anyone update the information in this post regarding the timeline when cancelled reservations must be requested via telephone?

  Unknown. It still makes it a bit more difficult for the scalpers when many potential buyers understand the system is changing.

Also - Yosemitepark.com is the website of the concessionaire. Lodging reservations aren't subject to federal regulations regarding resale. A good deal of businesses legally resell for a small markup, although I can't figure out why anyone would deal with those businesses when it's easy enough to book on your own.


Scalping at Yosemite is alive and well. I just got back from there and did a little interviewing with a few groups. Families and freinds love to go together and have a big party, but that is about imposible to accomplish with the GOV reservation system. Although I called 5 months ahead of time, I could only get 3 nights.

2 large groups were near me and they both told me it cost about 2600.00 for the week!

One bought on Craigs list, and the other from an Iranian guy who has some sophisticated computer program that locks up lots of campsites.

The system is broken and the average voting American is getting the shaft.

I'll bet there isn't one member of congress that owns an RV or a nice tent-----they are out of touch, and I am writing mine in Nevada.


As far as people who can't go at the last minute--------the rangers told me that if they wrote a note about the problems about not going, and listing the relatives / freinds that will be going----they were good with that, and would not delay the check in to the campsite. Otherwise, they just cancel, and some lucky camper gets the space.


I support the park efforts to reduce the scalping of campsite reservations. One interesting aspect of the campground situation in Yosemite Valley has been the almost 40 year effort to reduce the actual number of sites in Yosemite Valley, and parkwide for that matter. For example, as late as the middle 1960's, there were up to 2500 campsites in the Valley. The campgrounds were not unitized, most of them being just hugh parking areas under pine trees. Out of bounds camping was permitted also. With the population growth in California, change was needed, and both upgrades of existing camping areas and elimination of out of bounds camping were started in the early seventies. Unfortunately, a continued policy of reducing sites was maintained until about 1997 when there were approximately 800 camping sits left in the valley. This as opposed to a approximately 1200'/1400 motel, hotel, cabin, tent type. accommodations. Afer the 1997 flood, another roughly 500 campsites were removed, even though 250 cabin units at Yosemite lodge were removed they are scheduled for replacement, leaving roughly 350 camping sites currently in the Valley. These all rough figures but the trend is hotel/motel units are 4 times the actual number of campsites. This raises interesting issues, but I think part of the problem is the removal of camping opportunities (20 bucks a night), verses the motel experience, which is very pricey. A tent right now rents for 100 plus and that is the low end. I for one would like to see many of the campsites removed, post 1997 flood, restored both in the Valley and parkwide. If reductions are needed on overnight use, we should hold the line on new hotel/motel units.


I support Ron Mackie's proposal to increase the ratio of tent camping to more expensive motel-type accomodations in Yosemite Valley. Tent camping in Yosemite Valley was a family tradition.


The best way to alleviate the issue would be to let would be campers bid on the camping sites and let the market work itself out. It'd work a lot better than setting prices lower than what the market would bear.


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