Resorts of Distinction membership costs

[herekittykitty]

On the Thousand Trails Facebook page someone was talking about ROD only costing $135 a year, and then you can visit any of their resorts with no cost.

Some of those are in just perfect locations for me, but according to the ROD website, the way to become a member is to "associate" with a home park. It's kind-of beside the point that I have no home except the wheels under my feet, which they'd all probably use to disqualify me, but doesn't that mean that the true cost of an ROD membership is at least several hundred dollars a year?

 

[Cant Wait]

First off in order to be a member of ROD you have to have a membership with one of their parks (Home Park).  Membership cost here can be from $7000 to $12000 up front.  Then there's the annual membership maintenance fees for your home park (mine are $398).  The the annual ROD membership fee is around $200 per year. So you're looking at a minimum of $600 per year in annual maintenance/membership fees, on top of the initial upfront home park joining fees.  Ye joined a Home Park 7 years ago, and ROD at the same time.  Based on the figure of an average $40 per night a a regular campground, we're recouping all of our annual $'s and about $1,000 of our up front cost every year based on how much we camp at our Home Park and network ROD's.  The ONLY reason we bought into membership camping is because we're going full time next summer and then will realize more of a return on our investment.  Membership campground programs are not for everyone.

 

[herekittykitty]

Thanks, @Cant Wait. That's what I figured.

Good thing you're going FT! I can't imagine paying that kind of money!!

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The cost of an ROD membership varies with your "home park". Some parks include it in their base park membership fee, some offer it at a modest price (like that $135), and some charge more. And park membership prices varies a lot by region and the whims of the park. I knew of one in Alabama a few years back that was desperately trying to stimulate site sales and offered "free" ROD membership and deeply discounted site prices. A fulltimer friend bought in because the park was near their family (so they visited the area for a few months every year) and they also used the ROD parks (which are mostly quite nice). For them, the discounted price made it well worth it.

Your Thousand Trails "home park" probably isn't part of ROD, but there are some other parks under the ELS umbrella that are. Whether any of them are having a sale good enough to make it attractive is a different question. If you think you might lke ROD, check out the individual meber parks to see what's on offer. A re-sale might be attractive also. You might find one at a re-sale site such as http://www.rvparkstore.com/rv-park-and-campground-memberships

Have you looked into the RPI parks? Most TT parks are also RPI members (TT/ELS owns the RPI system ). And a few of the parks in RPI are also ROD parks.
http://www.resortparks.com/

 

[NickB]

There's also TOA - Travel Resorts of America. Like Gary mentioned about ELS, there is often some overlap with many parks belonging to multiple travel groups.

Signing a membership is a long term investment that should be looked at as being amortized over many years and even generations. Membership campgrounds also have the benefit of being private campgrounds (not open to the public) with the power to revoke membership if a visitor is breaking the rules. That means if somebody is bothering the other campers, they can literally lose a multi-thousand dollar membership instead of just being thrown out and losing maybe a couple nights at $45 a night.

 

[Cant Wait]

Nick; We also have a Coast 2 Coast membership that has a TRA home park.  If we had not gotten the membership for free (paid transfer fees only) I would not recommend people buy into Travel Resorts of America.  We have found that the way they set-up the membership is governed by what parks are in their system at the time you buy.  If they add (which they did) new parks, then try to hit you up for more $ (and not just a little bit) from you for the new parks. If you don't upgrade then you can't use the newer parks in their system.  When we attended the meeting on this the salesman was down right rude and mad that we refused to upgrade to the new plan.

 

[NickB]

Nick; We also have a Coast 2 Coast membership that has a TRA home park.  If we had not gotten the membership for free (paid transfer fees only) I would not recommend people buy into Travel Resorts of America.  We have found that the way they set-up the membership is governed by what parks are in their system at the time you buy.  If they add (which they did) new parks, then try to hit you up for more $ (and not just a little bit) from you for the new parks. If you don't upgrade then you can't use the newer parks in their system.  When we attended the meeting on this the salesman was down right rude and mad that we refused to upgrade to the new plan.

Wow. I didn't know they did that. We're members at a very nice park in NY, but opted not to get any of the travel group memberships because it didn't make sense at the time. Now that we're traveling again, we were thinking about picking one up. Thank you and I'll keep that in mind about TRA. I think we're leaning towards ROD.

 

[herekittykitty]

Have you looked into the RPI parks? Most TT parks are also RPI members (TT/ELS owns the RPI system ). And a few of the parks in RPI are also ROD parks.
http://www.resortparks.com/

I did buy my RPI membership ($119/year) through TT when I found out about it. Worth every penny and more to me as a FTer.  There are lots of $10/night parks (REALLY $10/night - not the ones with all the add-on fees) on my travel route. Good adjunct to my TT membership.

I guess ROD is an actual commitment, like my TT membership was. Though I bought TT used, I didn't even think about buying ROD used (or that it was possible). Will check into it. Thanks.

 

[Cant Wait]

herekittykitty; get a Passport America membership, and go to any National Forest Service office and get their Senior Pass. Both of these will save you $'s

 

[herekittykitty]

herekittykitty; get a Passport America membership, and go to any National Forest Service office and get their Senior Pass. Both of these will save you $'s

I do have PA but don't find it that useful and won't be renewing. (Probably because I rely on my TT membership for free, extended stays?) And I'm too young for the Senior Pass! That was one time I kinda wished I were older....