Campsite scalping

[Porkchopexpress]

Apparently campsites at state parks are being sold on the secondary market for a profit.

Campsites Are Being Illegally Resold on Secondary Market

Drivin' & Vibin' LLC is an innovative lifestyle brand that blends the freedom of RV living with the passion for music. Founded by Kyle Brady, Drivin' & Vibin' has become a go-to resource for RV enthusiasts and music lovers alike. The company is renowned for its unique approach to travel...

drivinvibin.com

It seems to be a significant problem in Ontario

Scalpers resell Ontario campsite permits for up to five times the original cost

Campers are expressing frustration at scalpers selling campsites at steep markups. 'The parks are for everyone not just the wealthy'

nationalpost.com

Recently I have seen opportunists artificially increase demand and charge a huge premium on products in low supply. It is especially egregious when people try to profit on public land that we are all supposed to have equal access to.
Hate to sound preachey but hopefully no one buys the campsites from these scalpers and they move on to some other scam.

 

[workerdrone]

ugh....seems they would have to add some new enforcement angle or it will probably continue

I've also seen a lot where sites are just empty because people are willing to reserve and pay for them, "just in case", but they never show up. Less crowded camp, but also people are being turned away on site when there will actually be capacity

 

[Todd780]

Apparently campsites at state parks are being sold on the secondary market for a profit.

Campsites Are Being Illegally Resold on Secondary Market

Drivin' & Vibin' LLC is an innovative lifestyle brand that blends the freedom of RV living with the passion for music. Founded by Kyle Brady, Drivin' & Vibin' has become a go-to resource for RV enthusiasts and music lovers alike. The company is renowned for its unique approach to travel...

drivinvibin.com

It seems to be a significant problem in Ontario

Scalpers resell Ontario campsite permits for up to five times the original cost

Campers are expressing frustration at scalpers selling campsites at steep markups. 'The parks are for everyone not just the wealthy'

nationalpost.com

Recently I have seen opportunists artificially increase demand and charge a huge premium on products in low supply. It is especially egregious when people try to profit on public land that we are all supposed to have equal access to.
Hate to sound preachey but hopefully no one buys the campsites from these scalpers and they move on to some other scam.

Yep. It's a problem in Alberta too. What maybe people don't realize is when you book the site online, you have to enter your vehicles license plate number.

Now that the province is aware this is happening, they said they will be checking plates at the sites to ensure they match the booking to curb the issue.

Good! People booking up 20-30 sites or something and reselling them? Get out of here!

These people prevent the average person from booking the site at the provincial rates. So glad Alberta is stepping in.

 

[gkieser92]

That's also not easy to enforce. Last weekend I had to switch which vehicle I took to a state park because of a last-minute mechanical issue. We booked the site months ago. Also, my wife booked a spot for my in-laws under her name and their license plate. One could simply register the plate of the person they scalped it to. Given that many of our park "rangers" are college kids on a summer gig, I wouldn't ask them to do too much detective work.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

That's also not easy to enforce. Last weekend I had to switch which vehicle I took to a state park because of a last-minute mechanical issue. We booked the site months ago. Also, my wife booked a spot for my in-laws under her name and their license plate. One could simply register the plate of the person they scalped it to. Given that many of our park "rangers" are college kids on a summer gig, I wouldn't ask them to do too much detective work.

Maybe get more restrictive on reservations. Require names and license plate numbers when the reservation is booked and don't allow changes. If the plate doesn't match but the name does with a good explanation, (car trouble ect.) Allow the ranger on site to use best judgment. If names don't match either, kick them out and ban the account that made the reservations to begin with.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

ugh....seems they would have to add some new enforcement angle or it will probably continue

I've also seen a lot where sites are just empty because people are willing to reserve and pay for them, "just in case", but they never show up. Less crowded camp, but also people are being turned away on site when there will actually be capacity

They should start banning accounts that don't show up. Maybe you get one warning then you are banned.

 

[calicamper]

Apparently campsites at state parks are being sold on the secondary market for a profit.

Campsites Are Being Illegally Resold on Secondary Market

Drivin' & Vibin' LLC is an innovative lifestyle brand that blends the freedom of RV living with the passion for music. Founded by Kyle Brady, Drivin' & Vibin' has become a go-to resource for RV enthusiasts and music lovers alike. The company is renowned for its unique approach to travel...

drivinvibin.com

It seems to be a significant problem in Ontario

Scalpers resell Ontario campsite permits for up to five times the original cost

Campers are expressing frustration at scalpers selling campsites at steep markups. 'The parks are for everyone not just the wealthy'

nationalpost.com

Recently I have seen opportunists artificially increase demand and charge a huge premium on products in low supply. It is especially egregious when people try to profit on public land that we are all supposed to have equal access to.
Hate to sound preachey but hopefully no one buys the campsites from these scalpers and they move on to some other scam.

Yes huge problem!!! But has been going on for about 15yrs. Its such a huge business the scalpers are using custom code and high speed automated robo booking software to book up open slots the moment they are opened up.

Its so pervasive there are Face Book groups actually named “canceled camp sites for different regions” within these groups you can watch them and see a trend of “sites” being offered likely by faux named members selling off robo bookings.

NP and states have only just in like the past yr started to try and stem this business but its like a kindergartner trying to compete with a College scholar on the SAT?‍♂️

 

[WeLikeCamping]

They need to revert to FCFS and quit all this reservation BS.

 

[vintageracer]

How about cancelling all reservations for people who do not show up on their original day of arrival. So what if they paid. Not there by the first day 12 PM that night your entire reservation is cancelled, the campground keeps ALL the paid rental Moolah and the campsite is NOW available for rent to Drive-Up Campers ONLY! No puttin open rental site back on the website for rental. Let the drive-ups rent the site for the rest of the available dates of the now cancelled original reservation. Make a hard 7 day cancellation policy to receive a total refund and 24 hour minimum cancelation requirement to git back 50% or less of there original paid in full reservation for those with the reservation if they wish to cancel. Transfers of reservation by anyone to anyone will automatically oid the reservation.

The campground is not ANY Moohlah for the no show as they got paid, they double up on rental for the remaining days of the unkept reservation and best of all the site can be occupied by a local or drive-up camper.

That WILL stop a lot of crap from reseller's!

 

[Todd780]

Maybe get more restrictive on reservations. Require names and license plate numbers when the reservation is booked and don't allow changes. If the plate doesn't match but the name does with a good explanation, (car trouble ect.) Allow the ranger on site to use best judgment. If names don't match either, kick them out and ban the account that made the reservations to begin with.

That's how it works here. Plate number, names etc have to be entered at time of booking.

 

[Todd780]

They need to revert to FCFS and quit all this reservation BS.

Meh. I don't want to spend 5 hours driving somewhere to find out they're full and there is nowhere else nearby.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

Another idea, keep half the sites FCFS plus show the reserved site plate numbers on the reservation website and if you find a spot that doesn't match and report it, rangers check it out and if it's scalped, you get it after they are kicked out. Now you have free labor checking for scalpers.
You just have to make sure no one is confronting campers on their own. Could get ugly.

 

[Todd780]

You just have to make sure no one is confronting campers on their own. Could get ugly.

Yeah, I could see that happening. Families desperate to go out so, bought over priced reservations then someone wants to kick them out...

 

[Willsfree]

Huge bummer...we went backpacking in Sequoia National Park last weekend; tried to get a wilderness permit for inside the park. No staffed ranger station, all permits and camping reservations now through Reservation.gov. Started going through the process of trying to navigate the site and got discouraged. Googled the issue and popped up that people are using paid BOTs/ programs to get reservations for camping/concerts/wilderness etc. I'm at a loss that our public access to public lands has been coopted by private companies and computer hacking. We ended up doing a route through National Forest lands instead. I have know this is happening when I witnessed the million dollar RV parked in the number 1 spot at Kirk Creek State Park a few years ago; the RV had been delivered by a team and the owner showed up in his matching Lamborghini while we were headed out for our hike. I realized that some folks just have their personal assistants get the reservation and now it's the BOTs.

 

[calicamper]

Meh. I don't want to spend 5 hours driving somewhere to find out they're full and there is nowhere else nearby.

Vacation with kids doesn’t work with roll of the dice “we might get a spot” approach. I have two weeks in the summer where kids sports schedule and work make a trip most practical. Its not being gambled on First Come first serve which in my region gets snatched up by available friends and family days ahead of the actual trip. So its not first come first serve its more like who can pay a nanny or college kid to go camping for a few nights and hold a camp spot. ?