Forum Discussion

Beer_Belly's avatar
Beer_Belly
Explorer
Jul 31, 2021

Campground Rates

My Wife and I usually start and end the camping season with a weekend at a local CG (Cozy Hills in Litchfield CT), and when we called to make a reservation at the start of the season, we were told "All weekends are a 3 day minimum". I can't see checking in on Friday afternoon, checking out on Sunday (because of work on Monday), and paying for a 3rd day. So, fast forward to end of season, we called and the 3 day weekend is gone and rates for full hookups are less than W/E ?, I questioned the rates and was told "The pricing is being driven up by availabilty, much like booking on an airline", either way, I'm not willing to spend $94 per night for W/E, nor $85 for full hookups on a basic CG....it's not a camping resort by any means. Has anyone else run into ridiculous pricing or gimmics.
  • Alex and Tee wrote:
    Kind of surprised no one is talking about Passport America. Lot’s of places to stay from $20 - $50 a night with full H/U. Yes, some have limits on time of year or number of nights you can take the discount but still lots of choices. My wife and I aren’t much for “roughing it”.


    Yeah PPA is just about the only one of those 'clubs' that are worth the price. Finding a PPA cg can be tough but you only need a couple to break even.
  • There is a practice that is being adopted by some campgrounds called dynamic pricing which is similar to airlines seat pricing. Your price might vary by time of year, number of bookings, and other factors. There is a service that they are subscribing to that calculates the pricing for them. There is a series of articles in recent RV travel newsletters. https://www.rvtravel.com/part-1-dynamics-pricing-campsite/
  • Yes, I've heard of both of these. The "fare bucket" pricing is kinda new to me, although I'm not entirely sure that's the correct term for pricing. I've seen some sites that offer me one price, and my friend (sitting right next to me on his phone) sees another price for the same site. It's apparently some algorithm that determines how many times I've come back to that page, or how much time I've spend on that page or something else and adjusts the price because I might be more likely to book with that site. I'm not sure how it works, but I've seen the effects of it.

    The minimum stay issue is another one. On one hand I get it, on the other hand it can be ridiculous at times. We just got back from a trip to Vermont and I realized that I didn't book an overnight stop on the way home. Called a bunch of places that were booked. Found another place online that had a vacancy for Saturday night (and ONLY Saturday night), but they had a minimum 2 night reservation policy so I couldn't book it online. That's ridiculous to me, because there was no available site anywhere in the park for Sunday night (so I couldn't stay 2 nights even if I wanted to!!!). Of course it was after hours so there was nobody in the office to call and ask for a variance. I eventually found a site that I could book online for the night though.

    I'm hoping this is a fad, while things are hot in the RV market. I realize that there aren't many new campgrounds and there is a high demand right now for RV sites. I hope to get back to a point in time where its not this crazy and I don't have to book months or years in advance to get sites. We love fall camping in the mid-Atlantic, but weekends can be hit or miss. An October weekend could be 30 degrees or 90 degrees. It might be sunny or it might be a deluge of rain. Its hard to know much more than a couple days in advance how the weather might be, and you have to make reservations months in advance. No thanks...

About Campground 101

Recommendations, reviews, and the inside scoop from fellow travelers.14,716 PostsLatest Activity: Oct 15, 2013