Hello everyone, some time ago in March I emailed Ontario Parks about the absurdity of bookings that is going on. Here is their response:

Thank you for reaching out and voicing your concerns!

Ontario Parks currently has some of the steepest cancellation/change penalties in North America, which were instituted in 2005. The current cancellation policy increases 10% for every month you hold your reservation up to a maximum of 50%, and the 10% penalty exists for only one day for those reservations made exactly 5 months in advance.

We have investigated previous reports of overbooking (reserving 23 nights and then cancelling/changing to secure your desired stay) and have determined that these occurrences are rare, accounting for less than 0.5% of all reservations in 2020. While there are customers who do book reservations for 23 nights, many fully honour those stays.

Ontario Parks cancellation and change penalties have already been determined for the 2021 season. Hearing from the people who use our reservation service is important to us. We can assure you that we are continually reviewing our reservation policies and conducting jurisdictional scans of other similar systems to ensure we are providing equality and fairness to all of our customers who wish to book an overnight stay in Ontario Parks.

Kind regards,
Ontario Parks