Forum Discussion

Sooner_Schooner's avatar
Mar 12, 2015

Please THINK Before You Review

Okay, time to vent a little. First of all we are full timers and do not own or operate any RV park. We do volunteer and workamp often so we do see how parks work. Some people just don't think before they post a negative comment. We are currently working at our first KOA and for giggles we like to read reviews and some are just plain ludicrous. Some of the negatives are:

Dirty bathhouse at 8AM. These bathhouses are cleaned regularly, so some of our fellow campers trashed the bathroom before the cleaning staff arrived, so it's unfair to insinuate the bathrooms are always dirty.
Customer got mad because they extended their stay and had to change sites. Someone else already made a reservation for that site NOT the campground's fault!
We all have WiFi issues, we also hate problems.In every park we have worked, the park pays the company big bucks for what they believe is quality service. When it goes down it's NOT the parks fault. If your satellite tv goes down in your rig or home, is it your fault when the kids get mad because they can't watch their favorite show?
Occasional dog poop problems. Our fellow campers who are not very responsible sometime leave dog poop for all of us to enjoy, just because you found it before the camp host did, don't automatically "dog" the campground. Now if it's obvious it's been there a long time, or there is a lot of it, you may have a valid complaint.
Yes, we have also stayed at a bad campground and reviewed it accordingly, but our reviews are when it's obvious it's long term neglect or terrible employees.
So before you hurt someone, put yourself in their place trying to take care of a large park with lots of people, many who are slobs,and please as many people as possible.

46 Replies

  • I've seen several very negative ratings on products and services and when you read what the person has to say it's garbage. One campground I was looking at had a 1 star review. When I read the comments they said that they had made reservations and then tried to cancel them the day before they arrived and the campground wouldn't refund their full deposit. They hadn't even seen the campground and had really trashed it in the ratings.
  • korbe wrote:
    ....And the people reading the reviews need to read a few, do some averaging, and go from there.


    X2. People complain about the stupidest things. But if I read 5 reviews from a 2 year period and 4 of them have similar concerns, it's a reasonable assumption that there is a problem that I can avoid by going elsewhere.
  • Sooner Schooner wrote:
    korbe wrote:
    ....And the people reading the reviews need to read a few, do some averaging, and go from there.


    very good point, korbe. When you have 10 "great staff" and then one "rude staff", you may want to think about where the problem really lies.


    You certainly must read between the lines to form an opinion on a park before blindly accepting a bad review. The one that I always love is the person with the giant 45 bus that complains about a park not being "big rig friendly" when the site size is easily viewable before making a reservation and the omipresent complaint of poor satellite reception due to a large overhanging tree cover. I mean who wants to go to a park with some actual trees growing in it?
  • korbe wrote:
    ....And the people reading the reviews need to read a few, do some averaging, and go from there.


    very good point, korbe. When you have 10 "great staff" and then one "rude staff", you may want to think about where the problem really lies.
  • Sooner,

    When I'm researching a park to stay in, I read the reviews and if a park has significantly more good than bad reviews the park goes on my list. If the bad and good reviews are equal then I read through the bad and throw out the ones like you posted above. Those are reviews from folks who have never had to deal with the public or maintaining a facility used by the public.

    If the bad reviews are greater than the good reviews, I read through again throwing out the reviews like you describe. Those that are left will usually indicate things like:
    Trashy Permanent tenant RVs
    Rundown facilities
    Rude staff
    Restrooms always dirty
    Loud parties after 10PM not stopped by security/staff

    These parks would not go on my list.

    My favorite negative review regarding what I consider as a 5 star RV Resort came from a Gay Couple. They claimed they were kicked out of the park because they were gay. Which is ludicrous because the park would be liable for slander plus the resort each year hosts several gay camping club events.
  • ....And the people reading the reviews need to read a few, do some averaging, and go from there.