System to reserve cabins changing

State park cabin fans, it’s time to learn a new routine.

Don’t program your speed dial to the number of your favorite park on Monday morning. The State Park Service no longer takes reservations for the new year beginning the first Monday in January.

Instead, a new centralized reservation system will begin operation on Feb. 16. Then, you can call toll-free at (866) 345-7275 to reserve a cabin at the state park of your choosing. Soon after that date, you’ll also be able to make reservations and search for cabin openings online.

The State Park Service hopes the change will prompt new fans and make the playing field more fair for all who want to stay overnight at the 14 parks with rental cabins and many of the 35 with camping sites.

“People who have traditionally been so frustrated on that first Monday of January should like the new system,” said Phil Gaines, assistant director of state parks.

In the past, people have complained of dialing every 15 seconds to Hunting Island State Park for several days before getting through, only to find all of the most-desired summer dates at the beach park taken. The individual parks, with limited staff and phone lines, had difficulty handling the flood of calls in early January.

Starting Feb. 16, those calls will be handled by ReserveAmerica, a national company that has contracts with other state and federal parks. That doesn’t mean your chances of getting the cabin and the dates you want are any better, but at least you won’t be frustrated by busy signals.

The State Park Service hopes the online aspect of the system will encourage people to keep checking the inventory of 233 cabins or lodge rooms and more than 3,000 camping sites. Under the old system, people frequently reserved a cabin nearly two years in advance and later canceled that reservation. People who had called the parks in early January and had been told there were no summer cabin openings didn’t check back.

People assume that Table Rock is full this summer, but it isn’t, said Van Stickles, director of state parks.

Under the new system, if the park you want has no available cabins, you can ask the reservation assistant about openings at nearby parks, or check online yourself. You can even price-shop for cabins that range from $36 to $172 per night and sleep from four to 10 people.

The reservation system also applies to camping sites. Under the old system, about 40 percent of those sites could be reserved. The others were first-come, first-served.

Starting Feb. 16, nearly all of the camping sites will be available for reservation. Gaines admitted that might force a culture change for some campers used to heading to their favorite park on a Friday afternoon without reservations. Now, they’ll have to plan ahead to be assured a camp site.

“The flip side is that now we are making it easier for you to plan,” Gaines said.

Reach Holleman at (803) 771-8366 or jholleman@thestate.com.