RV Club Discounts

[ncarter3]

I will be purchasing a RV soon.  I have a couple of questions about RV camp grounds.
1. What is the average cost of a RV campground?
2. I was told that if I join certain RV clubs that I would be able to pay an annual club fee and then receive discounted rates at RV campgrounds that average $5 to $10 per day.  Can anyone tell me more about this?
Thanks

 

[Tom]

Campground prices vary all over the place, dependent on things such as geographic location, private CG vs state or regional parks, BLM land, etc. Most private campgrounds we've stayed at cost $25-$35, but the range is much wider that this.

There are different kinds of "discounts", sich as:

• Most private campgrounds will give you a discount if you are a member of AAA, FMCA, or Good Sam.
• KOA (Kampgrounds Of America) membership entitles you to 10% off at participating KOA campgrounds.
• Some organizations such as Escapees have their own or affiliated campgrounds, which offer a cheaper alternative for Escapee members.
• An outfit such as Camp Club USA charge an annual fee ($40-$50), which entitles you to 50% off at participating campgrounds.

I'll let others add to the list.

 

[Ron]

I will be purchasing a RV soon.? I have a couple of questions about RV camp grounds.
1. What is the average cost of a RV campground?
2. I was told that if I join certain RV clubs that I would be able to pay an annual club fee and then receive discounted rates at RV campgrounds that average $5 to $10 per day.? Can anyone tell me more about this?
Thanks

We find Passport America to be excellent. Most find they save many times more than the membership fees.  If you have a MH FMCA is good.  Escapees is a great group.

Now Personally while I am a lifetime member of Good Sam I DO NOT recommend them unless you want to receive a lot of Junk mail.  Also IMHO Good Sam is no longer the RVers Friend but being a part of the Affinity Group they support campground organizations that work very hard to dictate where you can park your RV to camp.  Oh by the way the only reason we are members of GS is because we purchased our lifetime membership when GS was the RVers friend before it was sold to Affinity Group.

We also avoid KOA when ever possible.

I don't recommend buying into a membership park that is a whole other story.

 

[JGarrick]

We also avoid KOA when ever possible.

What don't you like about KOA?

 

[Tom]

Personally, I've been disappointed with most, but not all of the KOAs we've stayed at. Most are mediocre campgrounds that charge too much for what you get. But there have been exceptions. I'm sure their price reflects what they have to pay for franchise fees.

 

[Ron]

We too have found most KOA/s disappointing and costly.  We generally avoid KOA when ever possible.  Too many better options IMHO.

 

[JGarrick]

That seems consistent with my general impression of KOA. I've always imagined them to be somewhat like Burger King - the second-rate fast food of camping - but I wasn't really aware of them being generally overpriced.

Thanks to both of you (and apologies to the BK lovers out there). 

 

[joelmyer]

Jumping in here with less experience than the others that have responded,

Yes - Passport America - good deal.

KOA - based on inputs from here mostly avoid KOA unless it seems to be the right choice for reasons other than being a KOA.  Have been both pleased (Mount Pleasant, SC) and slightly dissapointed (Scottsbluff, NE).  The Verona, VA KOA is spoken very highly of in other campgrounds in VA,

 

[annetay]

I am a member of Passport as well, and another club (about the same number of parks, but not too much overlap), Happy Camper Club.  Both save us quite a lot of money.  The new one, Camp Club USA, is also an Affinity-thing.  I just got a flyer from Camping World on it.  Their web site doesn't show many parks.  Think I'll stick with the two I have.

 

[Ron]

IMHO it is better to avoid anything that Affinity Group  has a part of.

 

[Jeff]

IMHO it is better to avoid anything that Affinity Group has a part of.

Ron:

I operated for years on the theory that a happy customer would tell 10 of his friends about you but a dissatisfied one would tell 20.

After observing you and Affinity I think the second number is closer to 100!

 

[Jim Dick]

I will be purchasing a RV soon.  I have a couple of questions about RV camp grounds.
1. What is the average cost of a RV campground?
2. I was told that if I join certain RV clubs that I would be able to pay an annual club fee and then receive discounted rates at RV campgrounds that average $5 to $10 per day.  Can anyone tell me more about this?
Thanks

I think $25-$35/night is a fairly accurate average. I've paid as much as $44 and I know in the Florida Keys it's over $60/night during the winter.

The ONLY RV club I would recommend is Passport America. It's around $40-$50/year and you get 50% off any of their participating campgrounds. However there is a time limit on how long you can stay and it varies from one night to perhaps a week or more. We have stayed where the rate was good for one night but the manager let us stay for over a week. It depends upon the campground. This club is really great when you are traveling and only need a night's lodging. Many times it has only cost $9/night.

I do not recommend anything like Coast to Coast or RPI. They charge huge entry fees, sometimes thousands of dollars, and you must keep paying the yearly fee even if you no longer want to participate. About the only way to change that is to sell your membership. They, too, have time limits on how long you can stay in a park.

 

[John From Detroit]

IMHO it is better to avoid anything that Affinity Group  has a part of.

Thank you Ron, saved me the trouble of looking into it
(just got the flyer from Camping World too)

 

[John From Detroit]

After observing you (RON) and Affinity I think the second number is closer to 100!

I remember the manager of the K-Mart where worked many decades ago.  He told us that one dissatisfied customer cost the store as much as a full colo rmulti page ad in the Sunday Paper.

I'd like to think that in these days of easy electronic communications that a unhappy customer can be much, much, more expensive.

 

[Ron]

Ron:

I operated for years on the theory that a happy customer would tell 10 of his friends about you but a dissatisfied one would tell 20.

After observing you and Affinity I think the second number is closer to 100!

Probably more than 100. ;D ;D? I do not like having anything to do with an organization that IMHO tries to give the impression they are your friend while they are working to restrict your rights and freedoms.? I.E. working with the campground associations in their effort to force RV/s into commercial campgrounds..


On the other hand I have been known to present awards to individuals and businesses that I feel do provide much better than average service to the customer.? Matter of fact I am currently working on such an award and letter asking their corporate office to join me in signing and presenting this award.

 

[Ron]

I will second Jim's advice on Passport America.  We have saved many times over what we paid for our membership in Passport America.

 

[Jeff]

PA is the best buy out there. We saved three hundred dollars in the Phoenix area in four weeks. ;D

 

[Wendy]

Ditto on Passport America. It paid for itself the first 3 nights we used it at Terrible's in Pahrump.