Passport America, worth it or not?

Agree with Guidry, not a bait & switch situation. Very straightforward about restrictions. We've used it seven years, more than paid for itself.

Some of the CGs are strictly overnighters and ask for cash. But we've stayed at several very nice places and returned at full price during blackout periods.

Bob & Ann wrote:
We took a two week trip in January and more then paid for the yearly fee. We were able to use it in three parks which were all very nice. It saved us a good bit on money in New Orleans as we used it for six nights in a very nice location.

Hi Bob and Ann,

Which campground did you stay ay near New Orleans? We are headed down that way in April and I just joined PA so I'm looking for good campgrounds for a cross country trip.

Thanks,
Donna

Before retirement we looked at joining for a couple of our 2-3 week trips but did not find enough parks on the way or at our destination to make it worth it. Now that we are retired and spend 1/2 of the year on the road it is definitely worth it.
Saw where some replies say that destinations may not have PA in the area. One place that does is Branson, MO. Definitely saved us money there. While it was not one of the closest parks to Arches NP, we stayed at a PA park in Moab.
Just do the research before leaving on a trip and see if there are PA parks that you can use. We do make sure that we check RVparkreviews.com on all parks that we stay at. Some PA parks we will not stay at because of bad reviews. Of course you have to be careful about the reviews as well. We stayed at several PA parks on our trip to the Grand Canyon with just middle of the road reviews. Several were places to just hookup over night without any other amenities. They were just what we wanted. A decent safe place to spend the night.

I've had PA for several years and never had a bait and switch campground. The restrictions are spelled out when you search the website.

Passport America pays for itself quickly of you travel. It has for us.,

It is not useful for destination stays.

We use it four or five times a year, almost always for one night stops.

I guess stopping at Walmart would be cheaper, but with travel trailer with a need to open slides on both sides, I prefer an RV park.

Often we find CGs that offer several discounts and PPA is almost always the cheapest.

We used it for one year and did not renew. Most of the time it seemed that we were "one week too early" or "just missed the discount season." Weekends were always out of discount time. We did use it twice, once in a shabby RV park that we used ONLY because it was 1/2 price and another because it was the only place around for 75 miles.
I won't buy it again.

We had two different cards.
Passport America & Happy Camper.
With these we had over 2,000 camp grounds! About 50% were the same CG's.
But it still gave us a lot to choose from.
Only one in 10 years was about 15 miles off the main highway, we were in for a real nice surprise!
It was on a small lake and our site was on the second row up the hill. Good views all around!
Getting to and from the CG was on a two lane road and was very pretty.
Good Luck & Drive Safe!

A word of education. Deep discount parks have a motive to somehow profit, on your stay, whether it is days, site type or service, a miriad of reasons parks choose to join or not PA.
For 'you' the same applies. You may get substantial savings if you are willing to fit into the box those camps define. Look closely at what the camp will provide for that 1/2 price fee. Could be limited to difficult backins , or such as 20a electric only sites. Then when you arrive, you need 'more' PA. no longer applies.
Its a Bait and Switch game for both parties.
No business can survive on 50% Thats a less than cost for us.
There has to be a catch.

YES!

Look at their web site to view all the parks that are members then decide if those are places you might be passing through or staying.

As full-timers we used it a few times a year and it paid for itself. We're not RV park folks anyway but once in a while we'd have occasion to use one.

We never made a reservation... just pulled in and got a site. A few times they let us stay more days for the same rate. The ones we used were very flexible.

I'd advise you to try it a year. You're not out a lot of money.