Lawsuit Could Upend Operations of Recreation.gov

Above, at camp at Chaco Canyon's Gallo Campground. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Back in July 2021, I went to Chaco Culture National Historical Park for a little visit, which included camping in my motorhome at the park's Gallo Campground.

I made my camping reservation through Recreation.gov., which is the official website for making camping reservations on federal lands. Unbeknownst to me, Recreation.gov is administered by a private company contractor and has been so since 2018. 

Herein lies the problem: they have been charging fees for reservations, which is illegal according to a lawsuit.

RV Travel discusses this lawsuit in an article.

They start it with:

Wilson, et al., v. Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., et al.

A federal lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, VA, could upend the operation of Recreation.gov, the website that RVers and other recreational users must use to reserve campsites on federal lands.

Since 2018, the U.S. government has outsourced the operation of Recreation.gov to Booz Allen Hamilton (“Booz Allen”) of Fairfax, VA, a vast international consulting firm and major U.S. federal contractor. During that time, Booz Allen redesigned the Recreation.gov website and smartphone app and began taking reservations. The company created a fee structure for its services that included an array of fees for making campground reservations, acquiring hiking and river rafting permits, drive-through vehicle permits for national parks and monuments, and other recreational activities. Recreation.gov reveals no disclosure that the site is operated by any entity other than the federal land agencies. The use of the top-level domain attribute “.gov” adds to the opaque nature of the cite.

Lawsuit filed for refunds of “Junk Fees”

On February 11, 2023, the Washington D.C. law firm Tycko & Zavareei filed a lawsuit against Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. over the fees on behalf of seven plaintiffs, requesting certification as a class action. Plaintiffs are seeking more than $5 million in refunds of fees the law firm calls “Junk Fees” and compensatory and punitive damages.

In their complaint, plaintiffs aver that their case is about holding Booz Allen, a multibillion-dollar for-profit federal contractor, responsible for forcing American consumers to pay “Ticketmaster-style Junk Fees” to access National Parks and other federal recreational lands in violation of the Federal Lands Recreational Enhancement Act (“FLREA”).

The complaint cites many so-called Junk Fees, such as those that Recreation.gov charges users through the Recreation.gov website and app. They include, among other things, “park access reservation fees,” “processing fees,” “reservation fees,” “permit fees,” “lottery fees,” and “cancellation fees.”

The lawsuit differentiates between the so-called junk and bogus fees and does not include “use fees” lawfully charged and retained by the Federal Agencies and not paid to Booz Allen.

As far as I can recall, I've only gone though Reservation.gov for camping reservations once since 2018, and that was for camping at Chaco Canyon.

This lawsuit is definitely one to watch. If this goes class action, then those of us who were subjected to the "junk fees" would be added plaintiffs in this case.

To read more, go here.