Obtaining a valid permit to legally camp at one of the 218 campsites found at 17 city-run campgrounds on Oahu now means using a new online camping reservation system.
The Department of Parks and Recreation, along with the Department of Information Technology, last week migrated the old system to the existing Parks and Recreation Online System, or PROS. As a result, the link to the old system — camping.honolulu.gov Opens in a new tab — will remain active.
As designed, the city says, that site now redirects the public to the new PROS website: pros.hnl.info Opens in a new tab.
Those seeking a permit — particularly for so-called “family campsites” that hold up to 10 people including children — will need to use hnl.info account information to log in and submit a permit request. Log-ins for the old system were voided effective Sept. 25 at 9 a.m., the city says.
Permits issued under the old system will remain valid for those individual, designated camping periods. Meantime, the city hopes users will more easily book the mandatory three- or five-day reservations to obtain camping permits. The online change also includes changes to park permit fees, which are expected to increase, albeit slightly.
But on its first day of operation, issues appeared.
“Two details might throw off the public a little bit,” Nate Serota, DPR spokesperson, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser via email. “The old camping.honolulu.gov Opens in a new tab website provides an error code. We hope to redirect that domain to the new PROS website in time.”
He said that “the already permitted campsites are showing up in the gray color indicating they are ‘Out of Service’ as opposed to the red color meaning they are ‘Assigned.’ This is because those campsites were previously permitted under the old system.”
Still, Serota said the desired outcome is few complaints from users of the new system. And he added that the “big test” will be this Friday and Saturday when the city receives the most camping permit requests.
“We hope it is a ‘no news is good news’ situation, where the public easily adapts to the new system and we receive little to no complaints,” he said. “Certainly we want to know if campers run into issues with the new system, but again we hope the transition works smoothly so there is no lapse in our family camping program.”
To use the PROS system, the city recommends users set up an hnl.info account well before making a camping reservation as the old system, and its log-ins, will no longer be valid.
Online registration must also be completed within a specific time frame due to high demand.
In addition, the hnl.info platform includes a credit card service fee, increasing the cost of the mandatory permitting fee for three- and five-day campsites. Camping permits cost $10 per day, with a $2 administrative fee and a 2.35% credit card service fee, the city says.
With that additional service fee, the cost for a three-day camping permit is $32.75, up from $32, while a five-day camping permit will cost $53.22, up from $52. The amount of camping days and the amount paid per campsite are not adjustable. And there are no 24- or 48-hour camping permits available, the city says.
Campers are not obligated to use the entire camping period, but fees will remain the same regardless of use. Also, camping permits are nontransferable and nonrefundable, unless campgrounds are closed by DPR officials.
The city says it’s working to incorporate group camping into PROS, as only family camping is available for online permitting, which is similar to the old system.
Other camping procedures and rules remain unchanged, including but not limited to:
>> Reservations open at 5 p.m. Friday, for camping periods two weeks in advance. Online reservations close at 11:59 p.m. on the Thursday immediately before the camping period.
>> In-person reservations can be made up to 4 p.m. the Friday of the camping period. In-person reservations are still available at the DPR Permits Office, first floor of the Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building, 650 S. King St., for those without a computer/internet access or a valid credit card.
>> The ability to add vehicle information to camping permits after a permit is paid.
>> Only 10 people and three vehicles allowed per campsite.
>> No permitted camping Wednesday afternoons through Friday morning.
According to the city, the new website, created in-house, is also supposed to save the city money — roughly $92,000 a year.
Last fiscal year, Honolulu paid approximately $6,000 for the old system’s subscription, with an additional $86,000 required if the city chose to upgrade the old system with the contracted vendor, the city says.
Currently, the PROS registration system serves numerous DPR facilities and activities. Those include the city’s Summer Fun Program, season park and garden activities, Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, Koko Head Shooting Complex and schedules for park gymnasiums, skate parks/rinks and pools, the city says.
Meanwhile, the Honolulu Police Department enforces all camping permits on the island.
A valid camping permit is required to camp in all city campgrounds. Camping without a valid permit can incur penalties of up to $500 and up to 30 days in prison. A person cannot apply for a camping permit for a year following revocation of a camping permit, the city says.
And not all parks have campgrounds. But all campgrounds — save Hoomaluhia in Kaneohe — are beach parks. Hoomaluhia itself is a mountain park, the city says.
DPR says it issued 8,776 permits in 2022 for campsites on Oahu.
For further information about camping permits, contact DPR at 808-768-3003 or email parks@honolulu.gov.
PARKS AND RECREATION ONLINE SYSTEM
>> The city recommends users set up an hnl.info account well before making a camping reservation as the old system and its log-ins will not be valid.
>> The hnl.info platform includes a credit card service fee, increasing the cost of the mandatory permitting fee for three- and five-day campsites. Camping permits cost $10 per day, with a $2 administrative fee and a 2.35% credit card service fee.
>> There are no 24- or 48-hour camping permits available.
