Valley of Fires Rec Area-New Mexico

[crstrm]

Just fyi...Valley of Fires Recreation Area in Carrizozo, NM (not to be confused with Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada) has just gone on a reservation system using Recreation.gov.

According to the person I spoke to in the office, the reservation system just rolled out today April 4th. It isn't clear to me if there will be any first come-first served sites. The reservation system looks to be a work in progress.  Here is a link:

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/10060263?tab=campsites

 

[trailertraveler]

8 hours ago, crstrm said:

It isn't clear to me if there will be any first come-first served sites.

Based on previous visits to this campground and the gaps in the site numbers available for reservations, it appears that there are six water and electric sites available on a first come first serve basis.

[bigjim]

I recently went on recreation.gov since I frequently send people to that site to reserve mostly day use sites on our district (where I volunteer)   I know this area well and I found recreation.gov to be very confusing.  I hope it is not the same for all the other places they are responsible for reserving.

[TXiceman]

The recreation.gov is confusing to use at times compared to the old site.  They need to fire their site developer.

Ken

[bigjim]

ut  i

7 hours ago, TXiceman said:

The recreation.gov is confusing to use at times compared to the old site.  They need to fire their site developer.

Ken

I hate to see some one get fired but considering how many people are affected by this I sure would like to see them assigned to something they are better at and let someone else that knows what they are doing run it.  To be slightly fair they are using information they get from the different entities .

Everyone thinks it is so important to put their own spin on something that works good just so they can justify their job.  That is why that saying, If it ain't broke why fix it is so popular.  I hope google and microsoft and Chev and everyone else is listening.  😀But I won't hold my breath.   New and Improved. A statement that srikes fear in my heart.

[Dutch_12078]

The current Recreation.gov site was designed by and is operated by IT consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton under a contract they won by underbidding the previous contractor, Aspira. A campground reservation software developer, Aspira operates the ReserveAmerica.com site used by many state, provincial, and private parks.

[TXiceman]

On 4/7/2022 at 7:27 AM, Dutch_12078 said:

The current Recreation.gov site was designed by and is operated by IT consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton under a contract they won by underbidding the previous contractor, Aspira. A campground reservation software developer, Aspira operates the ReserveAmerica.com site used by many state, provincial, and private parks.

We all see what going with the CHEAPEST bid can get you.

I was in a highly technical sales for 30 years and was seldom the lowest price bid, but I prided myself in being the best design and cost balance for the application.

Ken

[Dutch_12078]

8 hours ago, TXiceman said:

We all see what going with the CHEAPEST bid can get you.

I was in a highly technical sales for 30 years and was seldom the lowest price bid, but I prided myself in being the best design and cost balance for the application.

Ken

No argument here. I was disappointed when the government chose an unproven newcomer over the company with a proven track record. The few new features the contract specs called for could have easily been worked into the then existing system that millions of us were familiar with.

[hemsteadc]

On 4/5/2022 at 5:43 PM, bigjim said:

  I know this area well and I found recreation.gov to be very confusing.  I hope it is not the same for all the other places they are responsible for reserving.

They aren't any better in Utah.  One CG reservation map has numbered sites on the wrong side of the road, for years.   All I get when I mention it is excuses and arguments.  Hosts don't care, rangers don't care.

Reserve California has their share of goof ups too.

Edited April 11, 2022 by hemsteadc

[bigjim]

Don't jump to conclusions about who does or doesn't care. "Maybe" you are right in at least the one instance but no blanket statements.  A lot of us do get really sore heads from running our heads against the same  tree over and over trying to get things right.

 

[2gypsies]

21 hours ago, hemsteadc said:

They aren't any better in Utah.  One CG reservation map has numbered sites on the wrong side of the road, for years.   All I get when I mention it is excuses and arguments.  Hosts don't care, rangers don't care.

Reserve California has their share of goof ups too.

Don't blame hosts and rangers. They have nothing to do with correcting web sites.  It's upper management who makes decisions.  As hosts for many years I know they care about things they can't control.

[hemsteadc]

2 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

Don't blame hosts and rangers. They have nothing to do with correcting web sites.

Of course I don't blame them, but I thought a complaint coming from them might carry a bit more weight than from a disgruntled old man.  When I say they don't care, I mean that nobody says "Gee, I wasn't aware of that.  I'll mention it to my boss."  Nobody. 

It's hard to imagine that with the site numbers being on the wrong side of the road, not a single person has mentioned it to the host but me. The sites on one side are large pull throughs, and the other are smaller backins.  Big difference.  And you book a site by number, not by location.  I also had a ranger from this campground (on the phone) tell me there was no cell service there.  I mentioned I had Verizon and it worked just fine.  The normal reaction from a normal person would  have been "Oh, thanks, I didn't know that."  Nope.  She just seemed to get more angry and ended the conversation.

Like the saying goes, it's not what you say, it's how you say it.  I try my best to be honest and factual without being confrontational. I don't know, maybe they just don't like dealing with problems, because somebody up the IT ladder is going to have to fix it, and then somebody will have to be blamed, and boy is that uncomfortable for someone.  So I guess everybody figures it's just better to leave it alone and let the public deal with it. 

Perhaps it's my IT background that causes me to get perturbed with these rookie mistakes on websites. It's just pure laziness.

And what is THIS topic doing in Travel?  hahahahahahahahaha....

Edited April 11, 2022 by hemsteadc

[2gypsies]

2 hours ago, hemsteadc said:

Of course I don't blame them, but I thought a complaint coming from them might carry a bit more weight than from a disgruntled old man.  When I say they don't care, I mean that nobody says "Gee, I wasn't aware of that.  I'll mention it to my boss."  Nobody. 

 

Sorry you had a problem.

[bigjim]

Well you are correct that if no one ever mentions it then what seems obvious my never be noticed or an attempt made to fix a problem.  And there are fair share that don't care.  Some of course are burned out or are frustrated with the system themselves. I did not mean to come across as thin skinned about this but sometimes  I get really frustrated about the way things don't work. NOW back to travel, right.🙃

 

[trailertraveler]

On 4/4/2022 at 11:43 PM, crstrm said:

It isn't clear to me if there will be any first come-first served sites.

 

On 4/5/2022 at 7:49 AM, trailertraveler said:

Based on previous visits to this campground and the gaps in the site numbers available for reservations, it appears that there are six water and electric sites available on a first come first serve basis.

I just made reservations on the Reserve America website for a New Mexico State Park that has both reservable and first come first serve sites. The reservation map only shows numbers on the reservable sites. Unnumbered site locations on the map are the first come first serve sites.

On 4/6/2022 at 2:49 PM, TXiceman said:

The recreation.gov is confusing to use at times compared to the old site.

It seems every website has its issues. Again with Reserve America, I tried to add days to an existing reservation. I followed the links to change the reservation but the system would not let me add the days even though it showed that they were available. It would let me cancel das or the whole reservation. I called the Reserve America Reservation Center and was told that I had to cancel the reservation and make a new one, I  decided to just make a new reservation for the additional days. I do not know if this is a system wide issue or state specific.

16 hours ago, hemsteadc said:

And what is THIS topic doing in Travel?

Unfortunately making reservations, especially at public parks, has become an almost necessary part of RV travel.

Edited April 12, 2022 by trailertraveler

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