Prospective campers excited for Canada’s provincial and national parks to open up for spring and summer bookings are going to be faced with a slightly different process this year as Parks Canada revamps its booking system and hopefully solves problems that have plagued the agency in the past.
The reservation system will be down completely from Feb. 27 to March 2 as Parks Canada makes the transition, according to the agency, which will include a new look but will “offer similar features and functions.”
Users will have to make a new account on the new system after it launches in order to book sites when reservations open up starting on March 13.
The announcement came on Jan. 30, along with the official list of reservation launch days for the 2023 camping season in provincial and national parks across Canada.
Reservation launch dates are often posted earlier, making this a later launch than usual.
In response to comments on their social media posts asking why the dates were being revealed so late in the season, Parks Canada explained that the announcement of the launch dates were delayed this year because of the reservation system being updated.
“Like a lot of technology, the platform currently housing our reservation service is becoming out of date. Our service provider is moving the Parks Canada Reservation Service to a more modernized platform to help ensure the continued stability of the service,” Parks Canada told CTVNews.ca in an emailed statement.
“The 2023 Parks Canada Reservation Service update is a transition to the newest version of the provider’s software, which will look somewhat different from the previous one, but will offer similar features and functions for making Parks Canada reservations.”
The updated booking system will apparently include more measures to cut down on bulk reservations and provide an equitable opportunity to get a spot at popular camping spots.
Starting on March 13, users will be able to begin reserving camping spots, roofed accommodations and activities at parks across the country. However, there will be a staggered launch, with some parks opening up their reservations across the following two weeks.
The staggered launch and the new booking system aim to help smooth out a booking process that has had more than its fair share of issues in the past.
In previous years, campers have often logged on as soon as reservations opened only to watch campsites be snapped up as heavy traffic slowed the website to a crawl.
When reservations opened for Banff National Park in Alberta in January 2020, so many bookings had overwhelmed the system that several campers reported the system appeared to be charging their credit cards multiple times for one booking.
The new system should not suffer from these issues, according to Parks Canada.
“Parks Canada has been working with its service provider to ensure that our reservation service is configured to accommodate the maximum volume of users,” the agency said.
“Throughout the launch period, a virtual waiting room will be in place to ensure equitable access to the reservation service for everyone. The addition of a virtual waiting room will help maintain optimal performance of the reservation service and mitigate the risks of access by automated programs and bots.”
Another feature to help stop bulk reservations claiming too many spots at once is that users will only be able to place up to five campsites in their shopping cart at a time before they have to checkout.
“Each camper can only be responsible for a single campsite on any calendar date,” Parks Canada added, stressing that it “understands the camping experience is very important for our visitors.
“We are working hard to ensure this transition is made as smoothly as possible.”
In a response to a comment on their Facebook post about the reservation dates, Parks Canada stated that while a camper can only be responsible for one site at a time, they can make multiple bookings at the same time for the same night as long as they name different occupants for each site, meaning a person will still be able to book several sites on behalf of friends if planning a trip with a group.
Parks Canada is encouraging users to log onto the old site during February in order see and note down sites they’ve booked in the past before that information disappears in the move to the new system.
Starting on March 3, campers will need to create a new account in the system in order to make future reservations.
Those with existing accounts on the current system will only be able to access their past reservations through the old webpage until Feb. 26.
The vast majority of reservations will open up between March 13 and March 31.
Reservations for the Lake O’Hara day-use shuttle in Yoho National Park do not open until April 12, and reservations for the shuttle to Moraine Lake and Lake Louise in Banff National Park will open the next day.
The popular shuttles will also be seeing an update with the new system.
Parks Canada clarified in a comment on their Facebook post about the reservation dates that “due to the move to a new software system, reservations for the Lake O’Hara day-use shuttle will be using a queuing system, just like camping reservations, to help manage demand and ensure reliability.”
The queueing system will direct users to a waiting room thirty minutes before reservations open, and then exactly at 8 a.m. on April 12 those users will be randomly assigned a place in the queue, with the goal of giving everyone a fair shot at the reservation they want.
CHICAGO (AP) — United Airlines has struck a deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to offer satellite-based Starlink WiFi service on flights within the next several years.
The airline said Friday the service will be free to passengers.
United said it will begin testing the service early next year and begin offering it on some flights by later in 2025.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
The announcement comes as airlines rush to offer more amenities as a way to stand out when passengers pick a carrier for a trip. United’s goal is to make sitting on a plane pretty much like being on the ground when it comes to browsing the internet, streaming entertainment and playing games.
“Everything you can do on the ground, you’ll soon be able to do on board a United plane at 35,000 feet, just about anywhere in the world,” CEO Scott Kirby said in announcing the deal.
The airline says Starlink will allow passengers to get internet access even over oceans and polar regions where traditional cell or Wi-Fi signals may be weak or missing.
TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.
The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.
“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.
The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.
But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.
Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.
“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.
“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”
Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.
In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.
Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.
The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.
The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.
Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.
Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.
It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.
Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.
Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Ukraine should be allowed to strike deep inside Russia, regardless of Moscow threatening that this would draw Canada and its allies into direct war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the NATO military alliance would draw itself into war if it allows Ukraine to use donated weapons to make long-range strikes inside Russia.
His comments come five weeks after Ukrainian forces stormed the border and put parts of Russian territory under foreign occupation for the first time since the Second World War.
Trudeau says Canada “fully supports Ukraine using long-range weaponry” to prevent Russian strikes on hospitals and daycares across the country.
He says Ukraine must win in fighting back against Russia’s invasion, or it will encourage other large countries to try absorbing their neighbours.
In May, Washington began allowing Ukraine to use American weaponry to strike inside Russia, but only for targets near the border being used to attack Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.
“Canada fully supports Ukraine using long-range weaponry to prevent and interdict Russia’s continued ability to degrade Ukrainian civilians (and) infrastructure, and mostly to kill innocent civilians in their unjust war,” Trudeau told reporters at a news conference in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., on Friday.
“(Putin) is trying to deeply destabilize the international rules-based order that protects us all, not just in every democracy around the world, but in all countries around the world,” Trudeau said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
