RV park "STANDARDS"

we don't have a dog in this fight, but we do try to avoid them whenever there is other places to stay. Costs are usually higher with every little thing. i.e. Front row, water front, kids, pull through site. etc, etc.
We stayed at the KOA in Mr Pleasant SC one late Fall season and were given one of the best sites on the property. Then the construction crew showed up digging and adding more sites beside the pond. Still the best KOA we have stayed at. We were there because of the short distance to our favorite restaurants in the area on Shem Creek

We stay at KOA most of the time. We’ve only had issue with 1 and that was before I figured out about the ranking. Good Sam is as others have said , a directory and a 10% discount. If you do your research you’ll find good and bad in all of them, weather it’s KOA, good Sam, or what ever.

Part of the problem is people have champaign taste on a beer budget. Expectations do not meet reality. What is it that turns you off to a campground? What makes a campground unacceptable to you? Is it for a 2 week/2 month stay or an overnight stay? I've run the gamut of put your money in the slot in the door CG to the high end resort CG. All depends on what my needs are at the time. I have never been in any CG that I have felt unsafe in and wanted to leave. I've had the neighbors from that hot place that I had to tolerate until THEY left. I've had some of the most wonderful people as neighbors too and have had great times around the campfire with them and that reflects MOST of my experiences, the good ones. It would take a lot of negative issues to turn me off on any campground.

It's all about marketing techniques.

Marketing does not equal reality.

I have never had an issue with a KOA.

lately noticed lots of turnover on who ownes/runs parks. All boils down to finding a clean park with level sites, good utilities and enforced policies. Do your research :C

Mike

JoeH wrote:

toedtoes wrote:

afidel wrote:


KOA actually does have definitions and requirements for Journey/Holiday/Resort and if you call to complain about a resort not having amenities claimed the campground has to respond to corporate with an explanation and a timeline for the issue to be resolved. Campgrounds that get lots of complaints can get kicked out of the KOA system, I've seen it happen. Jellystone is similar, though they're a bit more skewed towards the campground owner in that I've read many reports of it taking quite a few years for a campground to have the Jellystone name removed.

KOA is different. It is a "company of campgrounds" not a directory.

Not sure what you mean by a company of campgrounds. KOA is mainly a franchise operation that brands privately owned properties, along with a couple dozen corporate owned cg's. I have had less than pleasing experiences at some of these franchise locations and have notified corporate. As the post above indicates, they do contact and have leverage over the franchise holders to make corrections.
Good Sam-- I'm with the others that see GS and Camping World as having evolved into a substandard operation under Lemonis' "leadership"

I mean just that. KOA is a franchise. All parks in the franchise carry their name. The KOA company has a vested interest in each park holding to a standard - because they have an ownership in the park. If a park doesn't hold up to their standard, they kick them out of KOA.

Good Sam is just a directory. It just lists a bunch of parks so folks can find them in one convenient place. They have no ownership, no vested interest, etc, in the individual parks.

It doesn't matter if you like Lemonis or not. KOA is a completely different thing than Good Sam RV Park listings.

Comparing them is like comparing McDonalds to the local morning show's "10 best hamburger joints" list. The former, you know you're getting McDonald's - the food will be pretty much the same, the atmosphere pretty much the same. With the latter, you could get anything - and the joint may be on that list because they paid a fee not because they are actually any good.

I've found that parks can go dumpy after meeting whatever standards their "sponsor" requires.

As someone said earlier need to look at a satellite view of the campground along with reviews.

As to KOA they run the gauntlet from packed in like cordwood (South Dakota near Mt Rushmore ) To nice wide open areas (east side of Glacier NP) But always clean and well kept up. Geared towards families looking for activities.

toedtoes wrote:

afidel wrote:


KOA actually does have definitions and requirements for Journey/Holiday/Resort and if you call to complain about a resort not having amenities claimed the campground has to respond to corporate with an explanation and a timeline for the issue to be resolved. Campgrounds that get lots of complaints can get kicked out of the KOA system, I've seen it happen. Jellystone is similar, though they're a bit more skewed towards the campground owner in that I've read many reports of it taking quite a few years for a campground to have the Jellystone name removed.

KOA is different. It is a "company of campgrounds" not a directory.

Not sure what you mean by a company of campgrounds. KOA is mainly a franchise operation that brands privately owned properties, along with a couple dozen corporate owned cg's. I have had less than pleasing experiences at some of these franchise locations and have notified corporate. As the post above indicates, they do contact and have leverage over the franchise holders to make corrections.
Good Sam-- I'm with the others that see GS and Camping World as having evolved into a substandard operation under Lemonis' "leadership"

afidel wrote:


KOA actually does have definitions and requirements for Journey/Holiday/Resort and if you call to complain about a resort not having amenities claimed the campground has to respond to corporate with an explanation and a timeline for the issue to be resolved. Campgrounds that get lots of complaints can get kicked out of the KOA system, I've seen it happen. Jellystone is similar, though they're a bit more skewed towards the campground owner in that I've read many reports of it taking quite a few years for a campground to have the Jellystone name removed.

KOA is different. It is a "company of campgrounds" not a directory.