The Archives: Havasupai Falls Permit Problems in 2023 & 2024

The Havasupai Reservation system failed the Tribe again in 2024, along with an untold number of hikers eager to visit this stunning site near the Grand Canyon.

Key Info on Havasupai Reservation Overbookings:

• The overbooking was confirmed via email on February 20th.
• Reservations from April through May were impacted.
• Permit holders in February and March were not affected.
• The notified impacted hikers by email.
• The lodge was also overbooked, and those emails went out March 1st.
• We have no idea how many people bought Havasupai reservations for overbooked dates.

Options for Impacted Havasupai Permit Holders

Hikers who bought permits for a now-overbooked date should log onto the Havasupai Tribe’s online portal to choose from these options:

• Cancel for a full refund (within 7-10 days).
• Try to move the reservation to an available date in 2024 or 2025.

Hikers were given four days to make a choice on what to do with their Havasupai reservation. Many chose to ride it out, hoping others would drop out and opt for refunds on their dates to the point where they were no longer overbooked.

As unbelievable as it may sound, people who were overbooked and canceled in 2023 were among those impacted by the same problem in 2024!

The good news for them: they were first to move up in line as others cancel and move dates.

For everyone else, the Tribe instituted a “last in, first out” policy.

The “last” reservations made became the “first” to be kicked out due to overbooking.

Again, exact numbers were unclear.

A third-party private company, called Fasturtle Interactive, took the blame for the reservation debacle in 2024.

The Havasupai Tribe’s records aren’t public, so it’s unclear how much the Tribe pays Fasturtle to run its reservation portal.

We do know: Fasturtle was contracted by the Tribe and sent the email to impacted permit holders in February.

Aside from offering apologies to tourists and the Tribe, the company says its booking system was tested several times before it opened to the public on February 1st. They didn’t say what went wrong, only that “the system did not work as tested.”

The official reservation shut down for about 10 days, to allow Fasturtle (the hired contractor) to work on cancellations and rebooking.

A lot of people saw the Havasupai reservation mess coming again in 2024.

The first warning signs came shortly after the Tribe’s first-ever attempt at a “pre-sale” for reservations in January. The pre-sale ran for a few days, and the “winners” were notified just before the bulk of the 2024 reservations went up for the general public to bid on at 8:00am February 1st.

One week later, on February 7th, all permit holders got an email from the Tribe, offering a “one-time only refund opportunity.” They were allowing anyone having second thoughts, or anyone who didn’t like the dates they’d secured during the pre-sale to back out for free.

This raised a lot of eyebrows. Normally, people who want to give up their tickets are stuck eating the cost, unless they sell them on the Tribe’s transfer site. Even there, you’ll get hit with a 10% fee. Permits now cost $455 each, so 10% on two permits is approaching a $100 loss.

People were right to be suspicious about the opportunity to forfeit their reservations without penalty.

The next clues came in private messages from people at the Havasupai Tribe’s Tourism Office, who confirmed the concerns of hikers: reservations were oversold … again.

For weeks, it seems the Tribe and Fasturtle worked to figure out the extent of the problem, and how many reservations would have to be canceled and revoked.

Yes, we’ve seen this before, and yes steps were taken to “never let it happen again.”

When Havasupai Falls reopened in 2023, after a three-year Covid closure, the overbooking and confusion could be easily blamed on getting the system up and running again.

People impacted (again, the exact number was never released) were told to pick new dates later in 2023 or in 2024.

The Havasupai Tribe said it was a one-time mess. Visitors were double-booked for many days during February, March, April, and May of 2023.

I’m using the word “cancellations” even though the Tribe takes issue with it. From their standpoint, reservations are just delayed or rebooked. From my standpoint, hikers who purchased reservations only to be told they can’t come have indeed been impacted by a cancellation.

With that said, let’s go through some frequently-asked-questions. Several of these have also been answered above.

What does the “last-in/first-out” policy mean?

Reservations made in 2023 (after prior rebooking issues forced hikers to transfer) will be honored first. The “last” reservations made are the “first” to be kicked out due to overbooking.

Basically, the “last” or most recent bookings (likely from February 1st) are the most-likely to be overbooked and canceled.

What happened to People Who’d Booked Flights?

Some worked with airlines to get refunds or credits for a future flight. The tribe does not assist with any travel planning.

They advise all visitors to buy travel insurance. HOWEVER, make sure the travel insurance you buy (now or in the future) would actually cover a situation like this.

What caused the overbooking at Havasupai Falls?

The Tribe hasn’t clarified, other than passing the blame to a third-party web contractor, called Fasturtle. They claim the system was tested, but still failed for some reason.
It’s possible that some hikers planning to visit in 2024 had permits from before the pandemic which were canceled/postponed when Havasupai reopened in 2023.
Add to that the mass confusion over the first-ever “pre-sale” in January, and you have the elements that created the situation.

How many permit holders had their Havasupai Falls reservations canceled?

It’s unclear. The Tribe didn’t release numbers after the same situation happened last year either.