Monthly calculation on extra days

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.

xomkid

Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2011
Posts
23
Location
Snyder Texas
We are long e stayed time RV's but have never had this happen. We have stayed at Ransom Road RV in Aransas Pass for a month.
we had planed on tow months, but have a family emergency and have to leave three days into the second month. We are being charged the daily rate for those days instead of pro-rating the monthly rate as we have always experienced. That could get very expensive. What have you found in your travels?
 
We have changed plans and moved early only a few times through the years. When we did, we paid the daily, or sometimes a combination of weekly and daily, rates. Frankly, I would not expect to pay a prorated, heavily discounted, rate when we did not stay the full period.  If what you want were standard policy, what would keep everyone who intended to only stay one month and a week from saying they wanted two months and then claim an emergency to leave early to get the big discount? Campgrounds are no different than other, for profit, businesses. Our life emergencies do not, IMO, deserve special consideration.
 
It's not clear whether you are being pro-rated for your entire stay, or just the three days, but how we normally handle that is only book one month at a time. Usually around the 21st day you break even with the regular rate.

With as many fairy tales (not yours) as most campgrounds hear, it is not surprising to me that they have strong rules about leaving early.

Another habit we have on long term rentals is to be crystal clear on arrival what happens if there is an emergency. Some parks are able to fill the gap, others not so much, and that's when you see the strong penalties, especially in parks with short seasons.

Sorry you had a bad experience.
 
This seems to be standard practice, no doubt for the reasons the others have explained. Basically, to get the monthly rate you have to stay the whole month.
 
Some parks have hard rules on exactly how payments are handled and prorated or not prorated at all.

Others can be negotiated if you approach them in the right way.  If they want you back again as a customer, they may negotiate something pleasant. I stayed in a park 3 months and found out I had to leave a week into the 4th month to go take care of something 500 miles away. I asked the manager if she would consider prorating the extra days on the monthly rate and she did because she wanted me back the next year and she felt it was good customer service since I asked her so nicely (or so she said).

If all you stayed was one month and 3 days, sounds like you owe the monthly rate and 3 daily rates. A smaller park might prorate the extra days in the name of good customer service, but that would be more typical if you had stayed much longer. Some parks are so busy they don't care whether you come back or not.

Some parks have their rules hard and fast about how rent and possible discounts are handled. Some will jump at any opportunity to work everything in their favor only. A few others are more reasonable and able to be flexible if they are so inclined.

Some make it clear that you only get the monthly discounted rate when you pay up front for a full month...

Every park is different it seems. Even the Reserve America parks which charge you everything up front, have wildly different rules from state to state and park to park about possible changes or refunds. There is no hard one size fits all cases rules that parks seem to follow.
 
We usually are either staying one night, while traveling, or a week or more.  If the latter, I establish the refund rules before I pay for the longer term and especially if paying for more than a week.  With kids, grand kids, now ggrand kids all over the country and our ages, anything can happen that could result in our having to leave on short notice.  I just want to know what the rules are for the "IF's" in  our lives.  I have only changed plans a couple of times when I thought the rules were unduly harsh, as in forfeiting the month if we left after paying for the site, i.e., for example the next day or anytime before the month was up.  Another example was if we cancelled the reservation less than 2 weeks before the arrival date, etc. 

Rallies and caravans are an exception as money are spent once the reservations are in but even there a good understanding of the "rules" is required.  In one case, no refund but a allowance for a different caravan at a future date.  That worked out quite well as the price increased over the next year but they gave full credit for our aborted trip and waived the increased cost difference.  We actually probably had a better trip because of a couple of people that were on our trip became friends.  That is not to say we would not have made friends on the planned trip but these were "special" people with common interests to my technical side.  :)
 
A couple of times I've stayed 3 weeks but paid for the month as I saved a few bucks...
Told them in advance I was doing this and for them to feel free to rent out the spot after I left..
It's not the nicest place I've been but it is the place I'll probably use when in that area...
When I've found a place I'm happy with I tend to go back..

George
 
If I pay for a month, unless I have to leave within 2 or 3 days of arriving, I just figure its a sunk cost.  It would be nice to get some back but it wouldn't surprise me if I don't.
 
We've found that pro-rating a partial monthly stay seldom happens.  We've been known to inquire when we've got to bail out early but with the exception of a resort owned by friends it's never happened.  Currently we're in a KOA paying $300 per month due on the 21st.  We'll be heading north right around the first of May so we'll have a week or two left over.  We'll have to see what happens but I'll probably leave with two weeks left and eat it rather than taking the hit of a nightly rate.
 
In this park If you pay for a month and leave after three weeks you will be charged for  three weeks at the weekly rate, not the monthly rate, even though you have already paid for the month.
 
xomkid said:
In this park If you pay for a month and leave after three weeks you will be charged for  three weeks at the weekly rate, not the monthly rate, even though you have already paid for the month.

Please identify that park..

George
 
xomkid said:
In this park If you pay for a month and leave after three weeks you will be charged for  three weeks at the weekly rate, not the monthly rate, even though you have already paid for the month.

So in the third week of the month if you take your rig out "to get the oil changed" one morning and never come back are they going to chase you down to try to collect the extra cost of a 3 week stay compared to a month?  IMHO that makes no sense.  It sounds like a policy that can't be enforced; furthermore, I doubt it has any legal basis.  You've paid for the site for a month; nothing in that contract requires you to actually be present at the site.
 
You've paid for the site for a month; nothing in that contract requires you to actually be present at the site.

Actually, it is fairly common for monthly or seasonal contracts to require that the site be occupied at all times. But if it is not, you probably just forfeit the balance of the monthly fee, which is prepaid in most cases. As you say, they probably aren't going to file a lawsuit to recover the daily rate fee!  However, you might find yourself unwelcome if you ever want to go back there.
 
Not all parks require you to be on site every day. The park I am in leaves sites empty that are prepaid until the owner officially cancels their reservations.

However, I have seen in some park rules, that being a no-show the first night is considered a complete cancellation for the balance of the reservation. Others keep holding it if it is prepaid.

Each park is different from the last.

I often alert them when I check in, that I do not have a car and may take my rig on day trips and so on. So far everyone has assured me that my site is paid for and therefore mine whether I am in it or not 24/7.
 

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
134,549
Posts
1,431,331
Members
140,124
Latest member
Pete b
Back
Top Bottom