KOA Membership Required?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
I've lived here in ABQ over 30 years. I can't wait to leave. My employment is the only thing keeping me here, and that is open to negotiation at this point. I love the climate and the landscape, the political climate and crime is intolerable. The first opportunity I get to bug out, color me gone. No idea where "better" is but I'll take anything.

LMHS, the link you provided led here:

Military Lifetime Pass​

Cost:ā€ÆFree

Available for:
  • Gold Star Families with a valid Gold Star Family Voucher
  • US military veterans with a valid, veteran ID

Had no idea that was an option for "plain" vets. I guess I need to set about getting mine. We haven't visited a lot of these kinds of facilities but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Tools in the toolbox.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
LMHS said:
You don't need a membership to stay at a KOA. I've looked into a couple of them over the past couple of years and none of them require a membership. The last one I looked at was this year (ABQ KOA) and they don't require it either. KOA's are a bit pricey in my opinion, but everything is pricey in ABQ and there's no way I would stay in a parking lot in ABQ. I'll pay extra for a tiny bit of security. I live in NM and one of my daughters lives in ABQ. I know how dangerous ABQ is. I know how dangerous the town I live in is. Heck, the whole state is spiraling downward. NM likes their criminals running loose.

As for saving on rv parks (rvp's) and campgrounds (cg's), I use Passport America (50%). Just sign up online when I run across a PA member. And I only do that if I'm pretty sure that I will use it at least twice within a year or if it will allow me to break even on one stay ($44 for a 1 year membership = savings of one to two nights - generally). I can often beat the price of a public rvp/cg with a PA discount and generally end up with full hookups for the same price, or less, than a public w/e site.

These six agencies participate in the Interagency Pass Program:

Entrance Passes (U.S. National Park Service)
America the Beautiful Pass = any age ($80 annual - that's a lot of parks in one year)
Senior Pass = 62+yo ($80 lifetime or $20 annual - still a lot of parks)


Anymore, a 10% discount won't even cover the taxes (locally 7.59% sales + 5% lodging). I've been working on a POI file for my personal use and I've been looking at the rates for hundreds of rvps/cgs across 15 states. I've seen lodging taxes in excess of 10%. In a lot of places, the monthly rate is so much cheaper because lodging taxes tend to not apply tor monthly rates.
Click to expand...
If you go to ABQ often you should look at Enchanted Trails RV Park & Trading Post. That is my favorit place. Mostley based on location. By the way wesaved over $560.00 last year and over $250 this year so far with Passport America. I think it is worth the $44.00 price.
Bill
 
WILDEBILL308 said:
over $250 this year so far with Passport America. I think it is worth the $44.00 price.
Click to expand...
I had a free one-year membership that came with my 2022 Class A. I never even used it at all.

It also came with a free year of Coach-Net that I never used.

It also came with a thousand bucks worth of parts and accessories of my choice if purchased there. That I did use, in fact, I went over that amount and owned them around $300.00 as I purchased around $1,300.00 worth of stuff there when I went to unload that thousand bucks worth of credit.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
Since joining Passport America about 5 years ago it has certainly saved us more than the membership cost, which is way below $44 per year if you buy in when they are running various promotions, like 3 years at normal price and get 2 years free. They even have a lifetime member option that occasionally is offered at promo prices.

On our circa 2,800 mile trip from Louisiana to the Badlands of South Dakota and back we spent 4 nights at Passport America parks, though only received the discount rate at 3 of them, the 3rd one only offered PPA discount on weeknights, and we were there on a Saturday night. Still even just these 3 nights amounted to savings of over $65 off the standard rate, all of these PPA parks were along our intended route, and at or close to our projected stopping point for the night (one of which we drove about 6 miles off route to get the PPA discount, vs paying higher than their normal full rate at a different park on route, ie $22 per night PPA rate vs $57 per night for a different roadside RV park on route). Of these 4 RV parks, all were fairly basic roadside no frills parks, 3 were a bit worn and had a number of long term residents, could have used some fresh gravel, hookups were a bit banged up, etc. 1 was a bit nicer, had a new office and laundry room, and appeared to be under new management with other signs of ongoing remodeling.
 
Don, I guess travel style comes into it, for us when we are looking for a place to spend 1 or 2 nights while in transit to our destination we will check to see if there is a PPA park along the route near where we want to stop for the night, and use it if convenient. There are a couple of these that have become our go to overnight stop when driving in certain directions.
 
Isaac-1 said:
Don, I guess travel style comes into it, for us when we are looking for a place to spend 1 or 2 nights while in transit to our destination we will check to see if there is a PPA park along the route near where we want to stop for the night, and use it if convenient. There are a couple of these that have become our go to overnight stop when driving in certain directions.
Click to expand...
With very rare exceptions, if I am at an RV park my minimum stay will be 3 nights regardless of where. The exceptions are when I cannot find any nearby place to boondock for a night and am near an RV park when it is getting late. I think the last time I only stayed for one night was on my way to the Everglades, where I didn't even bother to hookup (other than electricity) at a full hookup RV park in NW Florida.

If I am going to go through the trouble of hooking up, setting up my ham antenna, unloading my electric motorcycle and such, I am going to stay for at least three nights regardless of where I am. At least whenever possible, such as not having a reservation at my destination.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
I just looked up the KOA nearest me. Santa Cruz/Monterey bay KOA.

Rates range from $115 to $370 a night. They block out whole weeks, Halloween for instance, and raise their rates to the sky. Why? Because they can! Their spaces are small and riddled with gopher holes.

We stopped going there over 15 years ago.
 
Don, our travel style may have us staying in COE, State parks, even local fairground campgrounds, then going to a commercial RV park for an overnight stay every 5 days or so to do laundry, possibly dump and refill tanks, etc.

Personally I generally prefer opting for the circa $20 per night campground with electric hookup option and not much else vs dry camping in parking lots, etc. while in transit. My preferred distant destination travel routine is 2 travels days to 1+ down tourist day, but I will also do short travel days with multiple tourist stops along the way.
 
8Muddypaws said:
Their spaces are small and riddled with gopher holes.
Click to expand...
Recently? I noticed a lot of KOAs have been fixed up recently and obviously they spent a lot of money doing such. I can understand why their prices are high. Besides the obvious that Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay will be high demand places for tourists who want to be near the Pacific Ocean.

To me, that is NBD as I lived very close to the ocean for most of my life in San Mateo County.

The price range you mentioned for the KOAs in that area are to be expected. Not that bad when we consider how much it takes to fill up an RV gas tank for a day or two of driving in CA. Or even here in Reno, where gas is very close to five bucks per gallon these days. For my 80-gallon Class A tank, that will be close to $400.00 when near empty to full.

RVing is expensive no matter what is done with one. Even if I do nothing with mine at all, ~2K$ per year in NV property tax and insurance and all that.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
Isaac-1 said:
Personally I generally prefer opting for the circa $20 per night campground with electric hookup option and not much else vs dry camping in parking lots, etc. while in transit.
Click to expand...
That reminds me of my stay at Dead Horse Ranch State Park in AZ. Only had electricty at my spot, but that was all I wanted. Everything else was at a central location. But I stayed there for a full week and I really enjoyed my stay. A great place for hiking as well as seeing other things, such as Jerome, which I could easily get to and back on my electric motorcycle. Dead Horse Ranch is high on my list of places I would like to return to.

Have you ever been in that area?

-Don- Reno, NV
 
We stayed at a KOA last night. Handy location, easy access, and just the right number of miles down the road from our previous location. We have been KOA members since we bought our first pop up in 1986. They were great for kids with all their activities. After the kids grew up we found many KOAs convenient for traveling stops. We have seldom stayed more than a night. We do a lot of traveling between more destination locations, and a KOA is pretty consistent in quality. We did NOT find that true with Passport America parks! I am more than willing to pay the KOA rates if I know what I am getting. Then again, we do a lot of boondocking so price really doesnā€™t matter much.
 
We stay at a KOA once a year because it is near a bluegrass festival that we go to. We go a little early and stay a few days after the festival. If I don't have a membership when we arrive at the KOA I buy it at the campground office and that saves me money on my stay and the savings pays for the annual membership. I get points for the stay. When we arrive the next year the membership still has some days on it so the membership discount and my points from the year before saves me more $. On the next year when we arrive I buy another membership. Works for us and we like this KOA/
 
Some who complain about PPA don't seem to understand that it is a tool for Campgrounds to fill less used slots. If you are not able to stay when the discount is active then you won't save.
Bill
 
Mark_K5LXP said:
I've lived here in ABQ over 30 years. I can't wait to leave. My employment is the only thing keeping me here, and that is open to negotiation at this point. I love the climate and the landscape, the political climate and crime is intolerable. The first opportunity I get to bug out, color me gone. No idea where "better" is but I'll take anything.

LMHS, the link you provided led here:

Military Lifetime Pass​

Cost:ā€ÆFree

Available for:
  • Gold Star Families with a valid Gold Star Family Voucher
  • US military veterans with a valid, veteran ID

Had no idea that was an option for "plain" vets. I guess I need to set about getting mine. We haven't visited a lot of these kinds of facilities but that doesn't mean it won't happen. Tools in the toolbox.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
Click to expand...
We're putting our house and 10 mostly-wooded acres on the market by the end of this year. The political climate is 100% opposite NM, the cost-of-living is low, and criminals are flooged nightly on the news (OK, I made that last part up, but we live rural and it's very safe). :cool:
 
No membership is required to book a site and stay at the KOAs, however, members can earn points and get great discounts off of rates and other fees. KOAs tend to run on the high side as far as rates go. I have seen many locally owned campgrounds that are less expensive and offer more amenities than that of the KOA.
 
Pre-Covid I would call this the KOA tax, ie KOA parks were typically 25% more than other surrounding comparable parks, however they were also the only ones at the time that had a nationwide online reservations system. Post covid, it seems everyone is going to online reservations, and the KOA tax has now went up to about 50%, I don't know if this is buying more amenities now, as we have not stayed at a KOA park since 2019.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 578 (members: 27, guests: 551)

Forum statistics

Threads
132,290
Posts
1,393,193
Members
137,997
Latest member
Flying B
Back
Top Bottom