Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

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Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

October 26, 2012, 07:05:14 pm

It's kind of a slow day on ForeForums today and I've been wanting to bring this topic up for a while so here goes.

Now that Mrs. D and I are fulltiming we need to cut our campground expenses so I've been looking at Campground Memberships. Unfortuneatly the more research I do the more confusered ( that's a word right

) I get. There are lots of companies out there offering lots of different memberships.

Is anyone successfully using campground memberships to save money? What are the drawbacks?

I found a couple of websites that have "used" memberships for resale.

RV Park and Campground Memberships
Available Parks | campgroundmembershipoutlet.com

Are these legit? Is it a good way to save a few bucks? Any pitfalls I should watch for?

Looking forward to your words of wisdom...

see ya
ken

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #1 – October 26, 2012, 07:52:55 pm

We have a deeded lot @ Holiday Camplands in Andover, Ohio. The Campground is associated with "Coast to Coast" (CtC). We have used CtC while we traveled for the last 15 years. At first it was difficult to locate member campgrounds, however in the last 10 years their system has grown and there are many more available camping sites. CtC is now associated with Good Sam Club, Camping World, and some others. I would request their Resort Directory prior to joining any camping club or membership, to make sure there are resorts in the areas I wanted to camp...... Research !!! before you invest $$

http://www.coastresorts.com/learnmore.cfm

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #2 – October 26, 2012, 09:28:52 pm

Something that very few people know is that Camping World, Good Sam, C2C, (Coast to Coast), Trailer Life and many more (10 organizations at last count) are all owned and operated by the same group of people. It has been this way for well over two decades. One little trick they pulled beginning in 2005 was telling folks they were selling off a few of their "losers" such has Camping World and C2C and their Golfing entity (don't recall the name). However, that also was at the same time they (Good Sam) were negotiating contracts with Nascar & Thousand Trails. All of the heavy players including Outdoor World keep shifting things around, but so far as I know—the same owners run the whole show (in the background of course). Pickup a copy of the Good Sam/Trailer Life campground directory and somewhere in the first 10 pages or so...look for the logos of these organizations and read the fine print. Just might shock you if you have always believed these are all separate companies, run by different people.

As for the best membership campgrounds...my personal opinion is that you will never find one that has more than one physical location that can provide consistent quality like you might expect from some of the single private campgrounds. If you are really interested, I have an unlimited campground membership that still has almost two years left on the original contract for Thousand Trails. It is eligible for another 10 year renewal at the full original price I paid. All you need to do is send me a check for $300 plus pay the $750 transfer fee and whatever the yearly dues are now. That will get you 50 nights/yr at extra NO CHARGE and any nights in excess of 50 will cost you $5 night. There are no other conditions unless you want to have guests or want to stay in one of their cabins or yurts. Some parks have 50amp service. Most all of them have 30amp and water only. There are a few parks in the system that provide full hookups. Only parks that offer 50A service may charge you $2-3 extra per night and some parks charge nothing extra for 50 amp. Send me a PM if this is something that interests you. The one concern that you should have before buying any USED membership is to know for sure that there is NOTHING owing on that membership or you will be caught with your pants down! (john@newgypsy.info)

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #3 – October 26, 2012, 09:45:46 pm

One side note I should have pointed out—if you've never heard of PASSPORT AMERICA Passport America The original 50% Discount Camping Club - Passport America this is definitely one organization that I can highly recommend. They are NOT a membership organization in the sense such as C2C or Thousand Trails. Rather they have a list of campgrounds all over the US & Canada that have reserved spaces just for PA customers. Cost at any of these campgrounds is 50% of their posted rates. Good Sam is NOT a membership campground system...they just have several thousands of campgrounds listed in their directory. Many of them give a 10% discount off the posted price...but not all. (Read the fine print).

I have either belonged to or have had some very close relationship with just about every campground association or membership park system in the entire United States. So if you have a specific question, I may be able to help you. My knowledge is current thru March 2011, but I doubt much has changed in this period of time.

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #4 – October 26, 2012, 11:10:36 pm

We went with Thousand Trails 10 years ago and bought a used contract. There are thousands of contracts and they are all different. What we were advised to do from sales is to get a copy of the original contract and read it carefully and go over it with someone from sales. This is what we did and it turned out to be a pretty sweet deal. We did upgrade a few years ago and this gave us more parks, 3 weeks stays, park to park with no timeout, reservations can be made 120 days out and we can stay 365 days at no charge. More and more of the parks are upgrading to 50 amp service and some of them do charge $3 to 5 a night.
Equity Lifestyles bought the Thousand Trails system a few years ago. In my opinion this has made the company stronger and they have added 2 more park systems on the east coast. They also own the Encore parks.
If you can't find a good used one and want to try out the park system before spending much money you can go with the Zone Pass. I think the yearly dues are still $495.00 a year. You pick the zone that fits your travel plans. At least it gives you an idea of the campgrounds and the type of organization it is. No long term contract. To learn more go to their website Thousand Trails - America's Finest Outdoor Getaways, Membership RV Parks and.
For the most part the parks are old and many of them are in need of basic upgrades electrical being the most important. The other disadvantage is many of them are in the boonies which means a long drive to shopping and sightseeing in the larger cities. Then on the other hand there are many times when the wildlife walking through your campsite makes it worthwhile.

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #5 – October 26, 2012, 11:36:22 pm

Rockey,

I agree with most of what you had to say. The only reason I stated that I wanted $300 is because I offered my membership to all of the park systems I belonged to when I tried to sell my coach last year. I had included what I paid for all three memberships combined for a total of $13,995 (the bulk of it for Thousand Trails) for FREE to the person buying my motorcoach. That never happened, so I'm asking $300 for what is probably the very best membership out there. I can make an advance reservation 150 days in advance (one of about 125 such memberships still around) and not only can I stay three weeks at any but 3 resorts, but since I did the upgrade at Palm Springs CA I can stay there without moving for up to 9 weeks during High Season. No extra charge for 50amp service if you time things just right...which I have on two occasions. My contract also allows me to freeze my dues at $0.00 per year up to five years. It is currently in one of those freezes and will expire the day my contract expires or I transfer the contract to someone else. They just pick up at the dues rate I was at before I added the dues freeze.

This sound too good to be true? Maybe, but that's what I negotiated and after four days, my offer was accepted and it's in writing!

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #6 – October 27, 2012, 12:11:21 am

Passport America will pay for its self in a couple weeks!!! You need to pay attention to the limitations of the member campgrounds. Some will not give you the discount on weekends. Some will only allow one day, while others will allow 7 days. If you are full timing, you will find Passport America the membership to have while traveling from one long term park to another. But it will not help you for staying longer periods of time.

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #7 – October 27, 2012, 07:14:54 am

We used to belong to three different clubs during our 20 years of full-timing. It cost a lot for that experience. Now we are only members of Escapees: Escapees RV Club

They have their own parks where you can stay very cheaply, plus they have discounts at many. Of course, they have a ton of other benefits for RV'ers.

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #8 – October 27, 2012, 07:30:51 am

Rockey,

We joined TT a couple of years ago and use it heavily. Paid $5000 give or take initially tehn $500 a year. Doiing the math and since we full time it has come out to about $8.00 a nite. Since that initial bulk payment isn't going to happen again the cost per nite will drop quickly. Figure it will get down to$12.00 a week by the time we're done with the fulltiming thing.

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #9 – October 27, 2012, 10:24:48 am

Thanks for the replies everyone. Very informative. Especially you John for your generous offer. (I sent you an email)

I guess I don't understand the business model for CTC & TT. I assume the membership company reimburses the campground when you stay there but the reimbursement has to be a small percentage of the normal rate. How are you treated by the campground? Are they glad to see you? Do they stick you in the worst spot in the park to make up for the low rate?

see ya
ken

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #10 – October 27, 2012, 11:32:04 am

We have been fulltiming for twelve years. We belong to the Escapees RV club (SKP). We joined that club not for campground membership but for their excellent mail service. Campground memberships values depend on the, let's say the "lifestyle" of your travels and are a personal preference kind of thing. When we began fulltiming we used private campgrounds most of the time, now we avoid them if at all possible, especially west of the Mississippi. We prefer dry camping on public lands, after all these are public lands therefor our lands. When we do stay at a private campground we do not stay long enough to use the facilities that we are paying for. National, State, BLM and Corps of Engineer parks are our preference for campgrounds. We also belong to the Elks and use their "parking" facilities when we travel to the East Coast. Many Elks lodges offer RV parking for a small "donation", some have electricity and water and some, not many have a dump station. We went "solar" the first year on the road, than as now I believe "solar is bliss" and a better investment than a campground membership. It keeps us "free". I am very fortunate that my DW also likes to be in out of the way places. Some of our best memories are being "camped out" in the middle of no where enjoying the solitude, scenery and wildlife. Gee, guess I'm rambling a bit. Bottom line, campground membership like everything else is a very personal and lifestyle preference thing.

Roland

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #11 – October 27, 2012, 12:05:08 pm

@Roland thanks for the input. The boondocking style of camping has a certain appeal to me. I plan to start another thread later this week on that subject.

see ya
ken

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #12 – October 27, 2012, 12:28:30 pm

Roland, you hit the nail on the head by saying 'going solar was the right thing" (my translation).
This is exactly the reason we have spent money (more to go) on solar as we also like to be free of other peoples issues mostly and just enjoy the "outside"
I like to catch up with others now and again (esp' camp FOT), but we generally like to go to out of way places and see what it is like and having solar allows us to do this (and not be dependent of Generator- using this as more of a last minute back up if need be). What do they say "each to their own"?
There are ,as you say, many places to park for the night without looking for RV Parks and their rules. On our 5 month trip around the states 2 yrs ago we actually enjoyed staying in Church parking lots, and met some really nice church members while doing this. It was dark and quiet during the night. We allways pulled into a corner or out the way so we did not inconvenience anyone. I personally do not like memberships in RV parks and it does not fit our lifestyle, but as I said "each to their own"
John H

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #13 – October 27, 2012, 03:49:53 pm

I have been a TT member since 2005 and worked for the company selling memberships for a couple of years before ELS bought them. In those days memberships were lifetime with unlimited transferability. Since they were bought out they have been selling 10 year memberships which then can be renewed, but at another large investment. They have to honor all original contracts by law so if you can find a used lifetime membership with unlimited transferability, that's a sweet deal if the price is reasonable. However check the contract carefully because some older Alliance memberships had higher dues after a certain amount of use and could only be transferred three times.

Keep in mind that once you have a membership, whether it's a free zone, an old membership with limitations or a new 10 year contract, they won't let you transfer a used membership into your name, even if that would be a better membership for you. So it is important to be very sure that what you buy is going to meet your needs.

That being said, I absolutely love my membership and as a full timer for years, am grateful for the lifestyle TT has made possible. I have a lease site with a nice park model on it at Pio Pico for my home base and once we hit the road in our Foretravel it is nice to know we have so many places to stay for free...most in beautiful locations. Also, I have made many friends in the parks and staff is always welcoming and friendly.

Membership camping may not be for everyone but I personally love it. If anyone has more questions I'd be happy to try and answer...if I don't know, I can easily find out!

Tys

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #14 – October 27, 2012, 07:49:10 pm

As far as I'm concerned when I was able to enjoy the RV lifestyle, I too think the "Escapees RV Club" had just about everything I ever wanted. Being a Lifetime member also had some benefits that I never really got to utilize, but then getting chased at least once a year away from CARE (in Livingston TX) because of a tornado or hurricane never appealed much for me neither. Of all the membership park systems, I can truly say that being able to have a Lifetime membership with the Escapees was one of my better decisions.

Now, solar, that's a horse of a different color. Just wait till you have to replace your battery bank. Assuming of course that you have the best battery made for a solar system—Lifeline Batteries. I almost always had to learn something new like solar—the hard (and expensive) way. Like one 75 watt panel on the roof couldn't begin to keep up with all the phantom loads I had going on in my first motorhome. Just your basic necessities were drawing 5 times what that little panel was able to put out on a very sunny day. Cloudy day—just forget it! Second motorhome, I managed to meet up with Greg Holder owner & super knowledgeable guy of AM SOLAR and installed 6-120 Watt panels with Lifeline batteries. Coach had so many on-going mechanical problems (nothing to do with solar system) that I sold it back to the dealer I bought it from. Now comes motorhome #3 and my first full timing coach. I told Greg I wanted as many solar panels as he could get on the roof of my Vectra. He was astounded that we got 1KW worth of solar panels up on the roof. Made him rather jealous, but in a couple years he was able to get 1.2KW worth of generating power on the roof of his coach. Greg was one of the first to design and install solar for RV use and was instrumental in designing one of the best controllers on the market. As part of his testing, he set me up with a bank of 10-6volt HD Lifeline batteries. I developed a software program that would report all the readings from the controller and transmit them to Greg's computer sitting in Springfield OR while I was in Arizona or New Mexico. He'd then call me and ask me to tweak this or that trying everything out.

Would I do solar again? NO WAY! It's just like buying a hybrid automobile today. When you add up the extra weight that those panels and batteries carry with them and the eventual cost of replacement solar panels as well as batteries and let's not forget you have to sunshine with a UV rating of at least 8 to do much good—well I just didn't want to be married to my solar system and have to change the position of those solar panels every 3-4 hours to maximize your generating power...I gave up on that idea. I'm not saying that it's a waste for anyone else. After all, each of us have our own wants & desires. Mine just happens to be that I want my creature comforts more often than I'm willing to do without.

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #15 – October 27, 2012, 07:57:19 pm

We recently bought a Thousand Trails membership after receiving an email offer ... 1 Zone for $495 plus a second zone free. I figured we would get at least the $500 bucks worth out of the deal, so I went for it. Early days yet, but all we got in the mail was the membership cards! No contract, no campground directory, nothing. We stopped for 4 nights at a TT campground in Oregon (there is $100, already!) and paid nothing. Nice park great facilities. The sales person there for TT printed out one of the most basic contracts, so we could read the boilerplate language. We also get a campground directory and a bit of basic advice on how to use the system. So far, I am convinced that we will more than break even on this membership ... but I would still like some specifics on exactly what I purchased! The gal in Oregon said that to her knowledge there are at least 472 different contracts floating around. (I don't know if she pulled that number out of her hat or if it has a basis in fact.) We will be using a great many more of their locations this winter ... we will see what happens when it comes time to renew next August!

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #16 – October 27, 2012, 09:21:01 pm

John, yes I have Lifeline and Greg is the one who I have been getting my Solar parts etc from as he definitly knows his game.
I am happy so far and will be adding more watts to the roof this winter. 900 total (more or less ) I have a way to go before I spend the money some up front costs of cheaper nights in an RV park cost thru memberships etc OR paying 25-40 a night for full hook ups if not a member.
I have proven it to myself already that I can get along and do what we want with not having to plug into a park. The batteries will last as long as anyone elses without solar, so that is a non issue to me I feel.
I will know better after this year but have full confidence in the decision to go this way. We do not smoke or drink (too much) and have no loans on the coach or anything else so what ever happens it is just a trade off for other vices.
JohnH

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #17 – October 27, 2012, 09:26:15 pm

Carol... we are also looking hard at a Thousand Trail deal. There are a lot of campgrounds in WA including one near Leavenworth, WA that we've actually visited. Seems like just one weekend a month would pay for the $400 price except that in the summer we commonly hit the COE campgrounds along the Snake River east of Pasco, WA for $5 a night (with the geezer pass).

One thing is that after 30 days of camping (free) you will have to pay $3 a night. This is not an onerous charge, I don't think.

The TT campground near La Connor, WA is in a spectacular setting with Whidbey Island to the west and the approaches to Deception Pass to the NW and tidal flats. We would probably head over there for a week if we get a TT pass. And that would be worth the price of admission.

Keep us posted. Some (perhaps many) of the TT campgrounds are open all winter (including, oddly enough, the one at Leavenworth for skiers).

Craig

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #18 – October 27, 2012, 09:31:26 pm

Quote from: John Haygarth – October 27, 2012, 09:21:01 pm

I am happy so far and will be adding more watts to the roof this winter. 900 total (more or less ) I have a way to go before I spend the money some up front costs of cheaper nights in an RV park cost thru memberships etc OR paying 25-40 a night for full hook ups if not a member.

It's all a matter of how you use your RV. A few nights in the boondocks with the generator will do fine. But a winter in AZ or MX parked in a quiet place with no power would make the generator pretty expensive. Since the prices for panels have been going down and with the advent of MPPT charge controllers and the ability to put 24vdc panels up on the roof, there is now good value.

Besides, I like having the freedom of a solar panel. Our coach - and our lifestyle - doesn't require a lot of electric power so we are probably over kill with 600 watts. And if we get a natural disaster that knocks out all the power in the area for a week or so we'll be prepared.

Craig

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #19 – October 27, 2012, 09:35:02 pm

Carol, which park in Oregon did you go to? I just love the Oregon coastal parks and spent a summer working in Pacific City...

Also, how many free days do you get with your zone membership and how much is it a night after those?

Tys

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #20 – October 27, 2012, 11:12:44 pm

John,
I think your contract at $300.00 will be a great deal for someone. We have certainly enjoyed ours and in the long run it has saved us money even with the upgrade. With the upgrade our dues are frozen for life and that was another reason we did the upgrade. We have stayed in TT parks for over 100 days since Apr. And plan on using them on our way back to FOT in Jan.

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #21 – October 28, 2012, 12:07:29 am

We stayed at Whaler's Rest in South Beach, OR ... nice facilities and right across the street from the ocean! Short trip to Newport and the Rogue Brewery, too!! We get 30 nights free and then I am fairly sure we pay $3 per night. It can be $5 per night in some parks for a "deluxe" site. I am going to have a lengthy conversation with a TT "person" this week and compel them to email me more specifics that I can rely on.

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #22 – October 28, 2012, 12:25:29 pm

One remark about membership campgrounds, be real careful with Western Horizon Resorts, all of the parks are for sale. Appears new park owners are not honoring existing contracts.

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #23 – October 28, 2012, 01:26:14 pm

When we began fulltiming in 2001, we looked at a lot of the campground memberships. The ones we looked hardest at were Western Horizon (WH), Thousand Trails (TT), Resort Parks International (RPI), and Coast to Coast (CC).

We really liked the couple of WH parks that we visited. However, we did not buy into WH for several reasons: limited number of parks, mostly western if I remember right, expensive membership, and a threatening salesperson (if you walk out of here today without buying you can never buy into WH...). And, as another person has posted, I think now, WH is in trouble.

We didn't buy TT because, to be honest, we couldn't understand them. Every membership seems to be different. Different memberships had different dues, different parks you could go to, different nightly rates, etc. As TT bought new parks (like the NACO and LTR parks), existing memberships could be upgraded to include the new parks or not. We had several people offer to give us their memberships just to get out from under the annual fees (seems like there must be at least some contracts where you were committed for life to pay the annual dues unless you sold it to someone else to take over the committment). It was just too confusing for us. Plus, at least the original parks, although large in size, had narrow roads, lots of trees, and small sites.

We bought into RPI/CC. RPI/CC require that you belong to a "home park" in order to belong to RPI/CC. We found a home park in Delta, Utah that we could join for $99 to join and then $99/year dues. RPI and CC cost about $99/year each to maintain the membership. The parks in the RPI and CC system overlap -- I'd say about 95% of the parks in RPI are also in CC. When we first joined, I almost always used my RPI membership. It was easier to make reservations with RPI than it was to make them with CC. CC was mostly geared to driveup stops which we don't do (we want to know there is a spot waiting for us). Several years ago, that all changed. CC introduced an online reservation system that is great to use. They also backed away from driveup stops. Reservations for both RPI and CC need to be made at least 3 days in advance. If it is less than 3 days in advance, you can call the park directly to try to get in. I have been less than successful doing this. The cost per night was originally (I think) $6/night. It is now at $10/night and in what they call their "Good Neighbor Parks", it is $15/night. Still not a bad rate. Many of the parks in the RPI/CC system are also TT parks or WH parks (they come and go each year as, I assume, RPI/CC negotiate with the park systems).

When we first started fulltiming, we didn't have any particular destination in mind. We were just seeing the country. The RPI/CC system was great for that. We'd look at where there was a park, and go there. It was a great way to see the country. We more than got our money's worth each year. We nearly always stayed in a RPI/CC park when we traveled. The parks do limit the number of RPI/CC sites they have available. The park may be virtually empty, but if the RPI/CC sites are full, you can't get in. This only happened to us a couple of times. The parks may also block off periods of time where RPI/CC members can't come in (like during fishing season on the Oregon/Washington coast, for example, and major holidays). You can only stay in a particular park twice a year and only for a maximum of 7 nights. We like to stay less than a week (3 days for us tends to be optimal) so this limitation doesn't bother us.

I found that, with CC's new reservation system, that I was not using RPI so a couple of years ago, I dropped RPI. This next summer, I will evaluate continuing with CC. This past summer, we only used it for one night. Next summer, we will be doing a lot more traveling than we did this year, but to specific locations. If I don't use CC next summer, I will drop it too.

One other thing -- we don't dry camp. I want my power. But, we don't use any of the park ammenities other than their power, water, and sewer. We don't use the pools, the restrooms, or their activities. Therefore, I can't rate the facilities other than the parking spot -- which were, except in a couple of cases, acceptable. We ran into one park in Menefee, CA where the duck poop was so thick and the feedlot smell so bad that we left almost immediately (I actually think this is a TT park). We ran into a park in Texas where that ground stickers were so thick the dogs couldn't walk. We left there immediately, too. But, those are the only two problems I remember.

We also are Escapees. We use Escapees for their mail handling service. We have stayed at an Escapees park maybe twice in all the time we have been traveling. When we wanted to stay in the one on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, they were full and were going to be full forever.

I would recommend CC (with Antelope Valley in Delta, Utah as the home park) if you are just starting traveling and don't have a particular destination. It worked for us. It doesn't work for us now because we now own an RV lot in Indio, CA where we spend the winter. In the summer, we are going to specific locations (pickleball tournaments and relatives).

You can do an eBay search for Coast to Coast and Thousand Trail memberships and come up with several being sold via eBay.

I hope this helps. Campground memberships are confusing!

Re: Campground Memberships (General Discussion)

Reply #24 – October 28, 2012, 04:19:52 pm

I think I've mentioned before that the DW's parents were early adopters of camping. They had a Champion motor home in 1972 and we discovered that we had been right next to each other while winter camping. Me in my home-made camper on a 1956 International pickup truck and them in their new Champion. I was cross-country skiing and snow shoeing with friends from work and they were on snow machines. We didn't talk a lot! LOL

They had also been early adopters of camping clubs, with several memberships. Over the past 40 years or so several of those clubs with "lifetime" memberships went bankrupt and sold assets to what appeared to me to be the same people with a different corporation. They then canceled all the memberships but offered "special" pricing to those who had already bought "lifetime" memberships so they'd get new "lifetime" memberships. In short... there were a lot of scams.

They also had problems with one park or another moving to another club. Their favorite RV park, east of Seattle, moved in and out of their clubs several times.

So these experiences, coupled with what looked (to us) as high prices for these memberships along with high risk, have deterred Sue and I from camping clubs. Plus the nice State Parks in WA along with our penchant for just camping somewhere in the desert.

One thing I like about Thousand Trails is that it seems pretty straightforward with what looks (to me) to be a clear-cut return on investment. If you like using their facilities (and the ones we've seen are very nice) and use them enough then it's worth it. Otherwise, it's not.

Also, many of these clubs have a very high "transfer" fee. That is, to transfer a membership that you have "purchased" from a private seller, you may have to pay thousands of dollars in transfer fees. Watch out for this.

Craig

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