Some Alberta campers say new reservation site is 'a challenge'
Alberta's new camping reservation website had its first real test on Monday morning as thousands of outdoor enthusiasts went online to secure their favourite spots.
Starting at 9 a.m. on Monday, the Alberta government launched its new website that officials said had been redesigned to be more streamlined and user-friendly that the previous version.
Monday's launch opened bookings for individual sites.
However, once the site actually launched, some users said they experienced the same old problems.
"I'm disappointed because of several reasons," Larry Hubick told CTV News in an interview on Monday.
"Booking campsites has always been a challenge for me online. I've never been lucky in pursuing what dates I want."
He says the new website isn't any better.
"I assume they created this site to prevent bots from booking sites but a long weekend is coveted in this province for camping."
Hubick says he was booking a 10-day from May 12 on, which would have included the long weekend.
"I started early enough in the day and by the time I got my site that I wanted and had so as soon as it hit 9 a.m. I clicked 'book,' it thrust me into a waiting queue of three minutes."
As soon as that time elapsed, Hubick says his reservation was gone.
"I had to settle for something else – I did get a 10-day booking, but not including the long weekend."
Meanwhile, other users had similar or entirely different problems with the reservation site on Monday.
While Hubick says the new site was likely built to combat the number of bots designed to snap up campsites, it also makes it difficult to search for what you're looking for.
"It's cumbersome and it's always been a challenge for the last several years to try to get a campsite of your choosing," he said.
"I don't know how the government is going to come up with a way to make it seemingly fair."
Nancy MacDonald, executive director of visitor experience and business with Alberta Parks, is pleased with the website’s performance and considers today a huge success.
“Like any new system there’s things we have to learn and we’ll do post mortems as we go through each of our launch days,” she said. “We’re just so pleased with how the system has functioned and we’ve certainty got lots of feedback from users so far.”
Individual campsites opened at 9 a.m. and according to MacDonald, some 20,657 individual camping nights, or 6,211 reservations, were booked by 11:30 a.m.
“By 9:30 a.m., just about everybody who had wanted to make a reservation was going on with their day, which is really great,” she said.
Tyler Dixon, Alberta Parks ambassador, says once people familiarize themselves with the new site he doesn’t anticipate too many hiccups.
“It does look different and it takes some time to figure out the changes but once you’re in there and you use it I found it quite simple to use,” he said.
Dixon says there are certain sites that will always be hard to secure a site just due to their popularity.
Dinosaur Provincial Park, for example, has 120 sites and was almost immediately booked for the May long weekend but there are 14,000 sites across Alberta’s Park system, 9,000 of which are reservable and 5,000 which are first-come first-serve.
“There is always high demand places and those are always challenging, old site or new site I don’t think it matters.”
Dixon encourages people to familiarize themselves with the new site and be open to trying some place new in the province.
“Going in with a plan, being flexible, maybe looking at midweek if it’s possible for you than weekends which are always busier,” he said.
“There is also a bunch of hidden gems that are out there in the province and if you’re willing to travel a bit further and, like I said, be flexible with some of them it’s worth kind of exploring those comfort zones.”
Group camping bookings go live on the website on Wednesday at 9 a.m.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canadian former Olympic snowboarder wanted in Ontario double homicide: DOJ
A Canadian former Olympic snowboarder who is suspected of being the leader of a transnational drug trafficking group that operated in four countries is wanted for allegedly orchestrating the murder of an 'innocent' couple in Ontario in 2023, authorities say.
Ontario school board trustees under fire for $100K religious art purchase on Italy trip
Trustees with an Ontario school board are responding to criticism over a $45,000 trip to Italy, where they purchased more than $100,000 worth of religious statues.
A photographer snorkeled for hours to take this picture
Shane Gross, a Canadian marine conservation photojournalist, has won the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
Tobacco giants would pay out $32.5 billion to provinces, smokers in proposed deal
Three tobacco giants are proposing to pay close to $25 billion to provinces and territories and more than $4 billion to some 100,000 Quebec smokers and their loved ones as part of a corporate restructuring process triggered by a long-running legal battle.
More Trudeau cabinet ministers not running for re-election, sources say shuffle expected soon
Federal cabinet ministers Filomena Tassi, Carla Qualtrough and Dan Vandal announced Thursday they will not run for re-election. Senior government sources tell CTV News at least one other, Marie-Claude Bibeau, doesn't plan to run again, setting the stage for Justin Trudeau to shuffle his cabinet in the coming weeks.
Robert Pickton's handwritten book seized after his death in hopes of uncovering new evidence
A handwritten book was seized from B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton's prison cell following his death earlier this year, raising hopes of uncovering new evidence in a series of unprosecuted murders.
Former members of One Direction say they're 'completely devastated' by Liam Payne's death
The former members of English boy band One Direction reacted publicly to the sudden death of their bandmate, Liam Payne, for the first time on Thursday, saying in a joint statement that they're 'completely devastated.'
Israel says it has killed top Hamas leader Yayha Sinwar in Gaza
Israeli forces in Gaza killed top Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of last year's attack on Israel that sparked the war, the military said Thursday. Troops appeared to have run across him unknowingly in a battle, only to discover afterwards that a body in the rubble was Israel's most wanted man.
Indian government employee charged in foiled murder-for-hire plot in New York City
The U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges Thursday against an Indian government employee in connection with a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.