California Has New Camping Cancellation Rules. Are They Working?

After two months, it looks like California State Parks’ new campsite reservation policies — with greater penalties for last-minute cancellations and no-shows — have already begun to affect campers’ behavior.

Mike Lee, the creator of last-minute campsite booking app Campsite Tonight, said he’s already seeing glimpses — however small initially — of the effect of the state’s policy change.

“It just says: People have seen the news,” he said. “They do know that if they cancel too late, they don’t get any money back.”

Under the new rules introduced in July, which apply to all California State Parks, any reservation canceled seven or more days in advance will be refunded, minus an $8.25 processing fee. Between six and two days before your arrival, you will also lose the first night’s fee. Within two days, there will be no refund at all.

And if you no-show three times within a calendar year, State Parks says it will ban your account from placing new reservations for one year. This is a change from prior policy, which was much more lenient and would refund no-shows their entire reservation cost minus the first night.

Lee said he’s encouraged by the results he’s seeing from Campsite Tonight’s data. He found that more people — around 76% — are canceling more than a week out from their reservation under the new policy. Before the introduction of the policy, he said, that number was closer to just 70%. 

Cancellations within six days of one’s reservation have also decreased by around 5%, Lee said.

• Jump to: How you can score California camping cancellations

“It’s nice that you can see a little bit of a trend shifting towards canceling earlier and getting more of your money back,” he said — although he concedes the impact so far is  “a little shift, but it’s not, like, humongous.”

The new policy, which was passed in the state Legislature, is intended to encourage early cancellations so that sites can be rebooked rather than sit empty.

California State Parks says it is still in the process of gathering and verifying its own data, but that the transition to a new policy has been “successful,” spokesperson Adeline Yee said.

“We are seeing that customers will cancel their reservation, even if they are no longer eligible for a refund,” said Yee.

This week, ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend, Lee said his data showed that nearly 300 two- or three-night reservations at popular state and federal sites in California were canceled ahead of the three-day weekend — making them available to prospective last-minute campers across popular parks in the state.

That’s not even including the one-night trips that were canceled, which Lee said make up a majority of reservations and cancellations for California campsites. His analysis also excludes all the last-minute cancellations due to fires around Big Sur that are forcing people to abandon their camping plans.

“There are opportunities to go last-minute,” Lee said. “You just have to be open to it.”

Compared to federal campgrounds, California State Parks saw a lower percentage of last-minute campsite cancellations, according to the Campsite Tonight data — which Lee said indicates to him that campers are getting the message from the state.

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Still, it will probably take more time to see a more full picture, he said. 

“It really depends on how the enforcement of the three no-shows [rule] takes place,” Lee noted, adding that “people who like to skirt the rules are pretty easy at finding the loophole.”

State Parks’ Yee said when no-shows happen, park staff are marking them in their system, and anyone whose account is at risk of being restricted will be notified. 

Prior to the policy change, Lee said, the relative cost of a State Parks campsite — around $30 per night — was likely low enough that people were just no-showing and eating that money without formally canceling.

“People like to have the optionality,” he said. “There’s very little penalty.”

The way to California campsite cancellation

The big thing to know: When someone cancels their reservation at a California state park, it doesn’t become available right away on reservecalifornia.com. 

Instead, the campsite goes into a queue to be released the following day at 8 a.m. PT.

So if you’re interested in a particular campground or campsite, your best bet is to check each morning at 8 a.m. for any new availability. 

Or, if you’re not attached to where you’re going, you can use a website like Lee’s, which lists upcoming available sites for your browsing pleasure.