Planning your RV trip can be a lot of fun and a great activity for parents and kids to share. With so many places to go in an RV, it can also be overwhelming. Places that seem to have little to do often turn out to be the best ones, either by encouraging more family time or because they often have more to offer than you think.
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RV Park Reservation Policies
Reservation practices at RV parks vary widely.
Some parks will hold a space for you and simply request that you call if you’re not going to make it. Others ask for a prepaid deposit, part or all of which may not be refundable. Others ask for a credit card number but don’t charge anything unless you fail to cancel within a specified period of time.
Tip: Be sure to ask what the RV park’s reservation and fee policies are.
Choosing an RV Park
There are many ways to choose an RV park to stay in these days. Clubs like Good Sam’s, Escapees, and many others publish magazines with ads and articles about parks.
You can run an Internet search on each park that interests you and find a satellite map of the area and park layout either from the browser map or from Google Earth, if you have downloaded that software. From the aerial views you get a pretty good look at the park, the area, and what’s nearby. Other parks or boondocking options may be worth noting. If you’re familiar with the area before you arrive it will make it easier to get around, or even to find places to turn around.
Park photos and satellite views are nice tools for helping you choose a space before you arrive. Whether you can request a spot, or need to drive around and pick one out, it’s easier to get around some of the parks when you know the layout. Some can lead you into some pretty tight squeezes.
Online sites like RV Park Reviews give you lots of information about parks all over the U.S. Several others include:
Campingfriend.com offers the option to search for RV parks and campgrounds and in cooperation with Reservationfriend.com helps you register online at participating parks and campgrounds. Not all parks use this service, but if the one you want to stay at does you can register at the last minute as long as they have a space available. Since we’ve never used this system I’d say it’s probably a good idea to follow up with a confirmation phone call until you are comfortable that it works well for you.
With Reservationfriend.com you can enter your profile and RV needs such as 30 or 50 amps, length, etc. and simply register with multiple parks along your route. Unfortunately, not all RV parks and campgrounds use the Reservationfriend.com and Campingfriend.com systems at this time, but those that do can save you some time and effort.
Whenever possible, we physically visit the parks we think we’d like to stay at. We can drive around easily, note several sites that look shaded, roomy, or otherwise preferable, and even make reservations while we’re there.
Tip: Check out the area and your alternatives before you make your reservation.
Inquiries about RV Parks
We often call a couple times before making a reservation. Several reasons for this are that we often don’t think of all of our questions during the first call. But after getting some answers, then looking at the park photos, aerials, and any other information we have, we often think of more questions.
Sometimes we get a staff member who doesn’t know all the answers or was misinformed. We try to get the owner at some point to fill in any blanks or to confirm what we were originally told. Many times we are corrected.
We learned this lesson from one park after we were told that Wi-Fi was $90.00 per month extra. Just before our month was up I mentioned that to the woman at the registration desk and was told that it was only $1.00 per day for monthly stays, but $3.00 per night with daily rates. We went most of the month without Internet because we didn’t ask again when we checked in.
Tip: Ask as many questions as you can and get answers confirmed by the owner
Confirm Your RV Reservations
It’s a good practice to reconfirm your RV reservations just before you leave on your trip and, again, early the day you plan to arrive. Most of the time reservations work out just fine, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. Temporary help may be new, staff may be swamped with check-ins when you call–really just about anything can distract someone causing them to leave your reservation incomplete (…ahem, not written down.)
By reconfirming you know before you leave if you need to adjust your arrival date or time or even find another park. If anything delays your arrival, you can make sure they hold your space or don’t charge you for the night if you can’t make it. The courtesy is appreciated, and goes a long way in maintaining your welcome.
Tip: Double check your reservations, date, time and space number before you arrive at the RV Park.
Last Minute RV Park Reservations
Since you’ve already checked out the RV Park with an Internet search or Google Earth, you have an idea of other parks, campgrounds or boondocking sites in the area or along the way. This gives you the advantage of calling and making a reservation at another park or avoiding an out of the way trip only to find no space available. If other parks are full for the night, knowing where to find a Walmart, truck stop or rest stop can put you at ease.
Tip: Don’t forget to run a search on "boondocking", or "RV boondocking". With so many potential adventures, you may develop reservations about making reservations at all.
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RV Park Reservation Policies
Reservation practices at RV parks vary widely.
Some parks will hold a space for you and simply request that you call if you’re not going to make it. Others ask for a prepaid deposit, part or all of which may not be refundable. Others ask for a credit card number but don’t charge anything unless you fail to cancel within a specified period of time.
Tip: Be sure to ask what the RV park’s reservation and fee policies are.
Choosing an RV Park
There are many ways to choose an RV park to stay in these days. Clubs like Good Sam’s, Escapees, and many others publish magazines with ads and articles about parks.
You can run an Internet search on each park that interests you and find a satellite map of the area and park layout either from the browser map or from Google Earth, if you have downloaded that software. From the aerial views you get a pretty good look at the park, the area, and what’s nearby. Other parks or boondocking options may be worth noting. If you’re familiar with the area before you arrive it will make it easier to get around, or even to find places to turn around.
Park photos and satellite views are nice tools for helping you choose a space before you arrive. Whether you can request a spot, or need to drive around and pick one out, it’s easier to get around some of the parks when you know the layout. Some can lead you into some pretty tight squeezes.
Online sites like RV Park Reviews give you lots of information about parks all over the U.S. Several others include:
Campingfriend.com offers the option to search for RV parks and campgrounds and in cooperation with Reservationfriend.com helps you register online at participating parks and campgrounds. Not all parks use this service, but if the one you want to stay at does you can register at the last minute as long as they have a space available. Since we’ve never used this system I’d say it’s probably a good idea to follow up with a confirmation phone call until you are comfortable that it works well for you.
With Reservationfriend.com you can enter your profile and RV needs such as 30 or 50 amps, length, etc. and simply register with multiple parks along your route. Unfortunately, not all RV parks and campgrounds use the Reservationfriend.com and Campingfriend.com systems at this time, but those that do can save you some time and effort.
Whenever possible, we physically visit the parks we think we’d like to stay at. We can drive around easily, note several sites that look shaded, roomy, or otherwise preferable, and even make reservations while we’re there.
Tip: Check out the area and your alternatives before you make your reservation.
Inquiries about RV Parks
We often call a couple times before making a reservation. Several reasons for this are that we often don’t think of all of our questions during the first call. But after getting some answers, then looking at the park photos, aerials, and any other information we have, we often think of more questions.
Sometimes we get a staff member who doesn’t know all the answers or was misinformed. We try to get the owner at some point to fill in any blanks or to confirm what we were originally told. Many times we are corrected.
We learned this lesson from one park after we were told that Wi-Fi was $90.00 per month extra. Just before our month was up I mentioned that to the woman at the registration desk and was told that it was only $1.00 per day for monthly stays, but $3.00 per night with daily rates. We went most of the month without Internet because we didn’t ask again when we checked in.
Tip: Ask as many questions as you can and get answers confirmed by the owner
Confirm Your RV Reservations
It’s a good practice to reconfirm your RV reservations just before you leave on your trip and, again, early the day you plan to arrive. Most of the time reservations work out just fine, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. Temporary help may be new, staff may be swamped with check-ins when you call–really just about anything can distract someone causing them to leave your reservation incomplete (…ahem, not written down.)
By reconfirming you know before you leave if you need to adjust your arrival date or time or even find another park. If anything delays your arrival, you can make sure they hold your space or don’t charge you for the night if you can’t make it. The courtesy is appreciated, and goes a long way in maintaining your welcome.
Tip: Double check your reservations, date, time and space number before you arrive at the RV Park.
Last Minute RV Park Reservations
Since you’ve already checked out the RV Park with an Internet search or Google Earth, you have an idea of other parks, campgrounds or boondocking sites in the area or along the way. This gives you the advantage of calling and making a reservation at another park or avoiding an out of the way trip only to find no space available. If other parks are full for the night, knowing where to find a Walmart, truck stop or rest stop can put you at ease.
Tip: Don’t forget to run a search on "boondocking", or "RV boondocking". With so many potential adventures, you may develop reservations about making reservations at all.
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