Florida Keys State Park Reservations

[SpeakEasy]

I know the way things are supposed to work. Eleven months ahead of the date you want, you are supposed to be able to go on ReserveAmerica and claim your site.

I've tried repeatedly to get a site for next winter at any one of the four Florida Keys State Parks. I've signed in to my account before 8:00AM, found an available site before 8:00AM, told it I'm not a robot before 8:00AM, opened my computers date/time app so I could see the exact second that it became 8:00AM, hit the "book" button precisely at 8:00AM, only to have it tell me that the site is not available.

Some days there have been only a couple sites available. Other days there have been as many as 10. Doesn't matter. Precisely at 8:00 AM they are all gone.

How do you do it? How do you get a site?

(If there is a secret formula, PM me instead of revealing it here for all to see - LOL)


By the way - we miraculously scored 6 nights at Bahia Honda for this upcoming April. Apparently there was a cancellation, and we found it at just the right time a couple weeks ago. WooHoo!!


-Speak

[jplante4]

Moved from General RVing

[bucky]

My main problem with the FL state parks is that they could care less. Try getting a response at the state level about an issue.
They know they have a monopoly. I will give them credit for trying to keep the reservation system fair, but that might actually be RA doing it.

[Guy_Roan]

We played that game for years and that is why I finally bought a site
in "Key largo Kampground" and am living happily ever after.

Guy

[toedtoes]

Also, using a third party to MAKE your reservation is different than a third party scooping up reservations and then selling them.

[toedtoes]

JaxDad wrote:

toedtoes wrote:
Here is some information that be of help.

I have heard the "resell" theory before. I don't know if I buy it. If there were that many selling these sites at a premium, we'd see it. But whenever I have seen a "reservation for sale" it has been at or below cost.

A fast Google search turned up dozens of hits like that below.

Clicky.

That is simply saying that it is happening. What I mean is where are the resale advertisements? How are these scalpers selling the reservations? I have not seen them.

[wowens79]

I've tried to get sites 11 mo out twice and was successful both times. Although for my upcoming trip in March, I had a site at Bahia Honda snatched away in a split second. I did get one at Pennekamp that was my backup.
It's crazy how hard it is to get in there. The gulf coast is getting almost that bad if you want a full week including the weekends during the summer.

[JaxDad]

toedtoes wrote:
Here is some information that be of help.

I have heard the "resell" theory before. I don't know if I buy it. If there were that many selling these sites at a premium, we'd see it. But whenever I have seen a "reservation for sale" it has been at or below cost.

A fast Google search turned up dozens of hits like that below.

Clicky.

[Big_Katuna]

I’ve gotten a week here and a week there in the keys. Bahia Honda is the hardest.

I’ve never had any luck with the 11 mo routine.

When I got mine, I looked multiple times a day, every day until I got lucky.

I started about four months before.

I never got them for when I wanted but took what I got and bent my schedule

People tend to make cancellations a month out or less.

The ones that raise my eyebrows when talking to other campers at Bahia Honda on one of the waterfront sites, that bragged how they come back every year in Feb for a month, is how the heck do they do it?

I’m sure there’s a trick. BTW that was before the change the cancellation policy which made it easier to reserve and cancel into the window.

[Dutch_12078]

I know some folks that start checking for sites at hard to get state parks several days to a week before they want to be there. If they want to stay for a week for example, they start trying to book a week ahead of time, reserving for 14 days, then 13, 12, etc, as the days count down. If they do get in ahead of time, they make the full reservation and then later on change it to just the actual days they want, paying the change fee out of the refunded difference. Is it gaming the system? Yes, but apparently it works...

[toedtoes]

Here is some information that be of help.

I have heard the "resell" theory before. I don't know if I buy it. If there were that many selling these sites at a premium, we'd see it. But whenever I have seen a "reservation for sale" it has been at or below cost.

[JaxDad]

No different than ticket scalpers do it, with an array of computers that jump in and tie up the popular sites, they then resell them for a profit.

I met a guy a few years back who made a pretty substantial income doing this.