Anyone know the criteria for being included in GS directory?

great

parkmanaa wrote:
westernrvparkowner, I need to find out your secret. I am a TEXASRVPARKOWNER (not GoodSam) and wonder if you would like to see the bill I will be paying next month to have my campground ad renewed in the massive Trailerlife directory?
If you advertise in GS directory, the annual inspection and rating is free, but listing in the directory and/or listing on-line are chargeable items.
I will say, we are perfectly happy with our listing, exposure and charges thru GS.

You could drop your ad completely, and your listing will still be in the book. The inspections and the book listings would still be free. You wouldn't have a display ad, just the listing under your city.
The value of an ad will vary widely from park to park, the cost will not. A full page ad would be a waste of money for me, because all I would be doing is spending money to attract customers I cannot accommodate. Likewise, a park in an area with very limited traffic could spend a huge amount on an ad and get no additional traffic.
The best value in advertising is when there is upside to more customers and there is competition for that customer. Parks along major thoroughfares often need big ads to capture the transient customer. Same with parks in highly competitive areas (look at the Pigeon Ford area park listings). If you are a seasonal park near a major metro area you might not have a single customer that ever looked in the book or at the online directory.
I suggest you track your customers and find out how they find you. That is how you should develop a marketing plan. Put the money where it does the most good. You need to know how many of your customers that ad brings in. If the ad is costing you $10,000 and you are getting 300 customers at $40.00 a night, you are wasting your money. If your survey of guests show you are getting 1000 customers, maybe it is worth it.
Do you really need the big ad you are buying or would a smaller ad cost less and still deliver the customers? Would that money that you don't spend on an ad be better spent on internet advertising, or advertising locally? The more information you have to make your advertising budget decisions, the more profitable you will become.

westernrvparkowner, I need to find out your secret. I am a TEXASRVPARKOWNER (not GoodSam) and wonder if you would like to see the bill I will be paying next month to have my campground ad renewed in the massive Trailerlife directory?
If you advertise in GS directory, the annual inspection and rating is free, but listing in the directory and/or listing on-line are chargeable items.
I will say, we are perfectly happy with our listing, exposure and charges thru GS.

RRinNFla wrote:
Just finished a six week trip which included the Dakotas. I picked up a Good Sam directory at the start of the trip. I used it a couple of times to find a campground, but I found a couple of nice campgrounds on my RVParky app that were not mentioned in the GS book.

The GS directory went into great detail on how they calculate their grades, but there was no mention of what criteria they use for inclusion or exclusion. Does anyone have insight into that?

Hello RRinNFla,

For a private park to be listed in the Good Sam RV Travel & Savings Guide, it must have 10 designated overnight RV sites and inspected by one of our Rep teams. There could be several reasons why we don’t have a park listed such as less than 10 designated sites for overnight RVer, park’s primary business caters to permanents or seasonal RVers, park management/owner has decided they do not want their park listed in our directory, new park management/owner does not know about Good Sam or it could be a timing issue as the park management/owner contacted us after we had gone to press.

Good Sam RV Travel & Savings Guide is always looking for quality parks to list. Any RVer that has stayed at a park that is not listed but feels that it should be listed, can submit the park’s information (park name, city, state and contact details such as telephone number, email or web address) to parks@goodsam.com. We will reach out to the park regarding a listing.

Lauren wrote:
I respect westernrvparkowners comments.

However, having been to many rv parks (178) I do find that there are times that there are things that simply cannot be in the ratings as compared to what one finds. I am not saving these are ad influenced; I am just saying I find things higher rated than what one finds on occasion.

I walked in to check in to a park last Fall and as I approached the desk I was greeted with, "Welcome to the only Good Sam 10-10-10 rated park in Colorado". I don't know if that was true or not but they certainly did not deserve the rating for many reasons.

I use RVParkReviews - do not go back more than 2 years, throw out the high and the low, look at the website (knowing this can be kinda slanted :-)) and make a decision from there.

That' why you have to put on your blinders and toss your personal feelings aside and use the score card exclusively. If there is a rusty swingset and a lopsided slide, the park gets a recreation point, regardless if you would ever let your child play there. A postage stamp pool that looks like it houses the monster from the black lagoon gets a point. 40 foot wide concrete roads in perfect condition get 1/2 point more than gravel roads. Same with site pads. Give a point for someone being in the office, doesn't matter if they are Mother Teresa or Vlad the Impailer.
It is what it is. Not saying it is good or bad, but it really is something you can check on your own. There is very little left to personal feelings and preferences if you follow the scorecard to a T.

I'm currently at a COE park northeast of Dallas.

I can drive around this lake, and find almost 20 'RV Parks' from their signs by the highway.

When I look at Allstays - I see three of those, RVPark Reviews - only two, TripAdvisor - none, GoodSam on-line or the GoodSam directory - only one.

Because those 'RV Parks' are all in business for long-term residents. They don't want or care about short-term visitors, weekenders, etc.

None of them want to be listed in directories for traveling RVers.

I'm seeing more and more of this type RV park across Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma. People who in the past would have been in mobile homes/mobile home parks are now are in 5th wheels and TTs.

Mobile homes can run upwards of $100K, while 5ers and TT can be had used for under $25K. Another factor is the RV parks don't have long-term leases. Rents are month to month, so either the resident can move if they pick up a job somewhere else, or the park can tell an undesirable resident to move.

Moved from Campgrounds to Good Sam Forum

Lauren wrote:
I respect westernrvparkowners comments.

However, having been to many rv parks (178) I do find that there are times that there are things that simply cannot be in the ratings as compared to what one finds. I am not saving these are ad influenced; I am just saying I find things higher rated than what one finds on occasion.

I walked in to check in to a park last Fall and as I approached the desk I was greeted with, "Welcome to the only Good Sam 10-10-10 rated park in Colorado". I don't know if that was true or not but they certainly did not deserve the rating for many reasons.

I use RVParkReviews - do not go back more than 2 years, throw out the high and the low, look at the website (knowing this can be kinda slanted :-)) and make a decision from there.

Only been burned twice on the ratings, I do not use rvparkreviews because the are too hard to submit to and most times the reviews are from years ago

I have found tripadvisor very useful and now use them and Goodsam

I respect westernrvparkowners comments.

However, having been to many rv parks (178) I do find that there are times that there are things that simply cannot be in the ratings as compared to what one finds. I am not saving these are ad influenced; I am just saying I find things higher rated than what one finds on occasion.

I walked in to check in to a park last Fall and as I approached the desk I was greeted with, "Welcome to the only Good Sam 10-10-10 rated park in Colorado". I don't know if that was true or not but they certainly did not deserve the rating for many reasons.

I use RVParkReviews - do not go back more than 2 years, throw out the high and the low, look at the website (knowing this can be kinda slanted :-)) and make a decision from there.

Whole lot of BS being slung around.
A park does not pay to be rated or included in the guidebook.
The criteria is the park has to offer sites to the public. (can't be a church camp, a park that is completely members only or some guys private enclave). They book publishers and rating staff have to know the park exists. The park can opt to not be rated and therefore not be included in the book.
Rating is also free. The raters do sell ads, but there are plenty of parks with no ads and good ratings. In the book is the exact scorecard the raters use when reviewing a park. If you were to score each park using that scorecard and put your personal feelings aside, you will almost always come up with the same score +/- maybe 1 point. I have never been offered a better rating if I buy an ad, and have never been told the rating would go down if I didn't.
The whole world isn't just a collection of scam artists looking to screw you, really.