As ussual I agree with Gary. But I also see the other side, after a presentation from hell we were never going to buy one of these scams! Then we realized there were a handfull of resorts near our home that we really wanted to visit, but they were not just membership parks but membship only parks. The cost of membership was really just out of reach for us, several thousand to purchase and several hundred to a thousand per year after that, and what if we didnt actually like these parks we couldn't get into? How do we get rid of the membership when we are done with it?
We started looking at second hand memberships and found several, even locally that were much more affordable but none had a provission for getting out and the transfer fees were steep. Then we found Golden Eagle Vacationland in MN. The cost was around 700 bucks (I think just under?) including RPI Prefered and the first years dues, and the renewal is around 250 including RPI Prefered Gold. We could hand back the membership when ever we wanted. Now we stay about 2 times per year at 4 of the local resorts that accept RPI (One of them is a Thousand Trails). We enjoy them quite and bit and have learned what we already knew, we dont like camping. We like amenitys, we like pools, and game rooms and well maintained playgrounds.
This was something we could comfortably swing and with 10 nights per year in full hookup sites for around 12 dollars per night, vs the $50 per night full hookups cost us in a county or state park, using the 10 night per the cost difference is 380 dollars. But the real savings is that because we can go places we like that are local, we actually use the rig A LOT more than we would if we couldn't.
So is it a scam, probably for some. (The only scummy thing to me is when you can't reasonably get out of it.) Is it something we use and feel we get some value for our money, definitely!
Jeff