GS rv travel guide

If possible I try to get a google view of the park and it's surroundings after it makes my short list. A great deal of knowledge can be gained from things not seen in the brochure or website.

With all due respect to the GS rating process, it is very clear that a major portion of the rating is dependent on the presence of a variety of amenities, such as laundries, swimming pools, and internet access, not all of which may matter to you (for, example, we don't care at all about the ones I've listed). The second rating category has to do with restrooms and showers neither of which we ever use. The third category is overall visual appeal.

As a result, we find that the GS ratings are biased towards attributes which we consider irrelevant. On the other hand, a CG without bathrooms, for example, would not rate well with GS, but we've stayed at quite a few and have no problems with them.

The GS system is good for families and less so for full-timing adults. The reviews on RVParkReviews vary in their usefulness, but at least we can read through the narratives to determine if the pluses or minuses are in areas of concern to us.

Over the years, I've found the GS guide to be fairly accurate. But, you have to pay attention to the site descriptions in terms of average width and depth. But, you also have to remember that campgrounds don't get reviewed every year, so things can change. As an example, I just looked up a campground for our upcoming trip and it was listed as a GS campground (eligible for a discount). When I went to the campground's website, they have become part of the KOA network.

As to personal reviews....they are really so subjective and all you can do is weigh the amount of positive versus negative reviews and whether it's only a handful of reviews, or lots of them.

It can help to view the campground via Google Earth. By zooming in, depending on what satellite images are loaded, you can get a better idea of the size of the campsites and the layout of the campground.

Last year I used the GS criteria as explained in the book to rate two campgrounds. Following the criteria in the rating sheets led to ratings within 1 point in each criteria. The scoring sheets are actually pretty objective. Try it next time you have a chance.

The book will tell you a public campground exists and what services are available, but it doesn't rate them.

There are many private and public campgrounds that are not listed in the book.

Like kknowlton we don't search out the highest rating. Our first criteria is a star on the restroom rating with a rating or 7 or 8. We also like the GS members since they have to meet a minimum rating to be listed.

Opinions are indeed subjective. We've found we often don't enjoy highly-rated CGs we found thru TL.

One disappointment we have with the new GS campground guide is that very little info is given about most public CGs. Our old (2012) TL directory will continue to be the one that accompanies us on trips, since most CGs in there have info such as site size, shade, hookups, directions, etc. - all of which is missing from most of the kinds of CGs we like. Only the "paved parking lot" types seem to have a full rating in the new directory.

H345 wrote:
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Person-to-person comments are usually valid
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Depends....I've seen where people have posted in rv park reviews a 5 when everyone else is giving 9s and 10s. Opinions, no matter who, are subjective.

Moved from the RV Parks Forum to the Good Sam Club Forum for more input.
Sandi (Moderator)

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Person-to-person comments are usually valid , where printed media that makes money from advertising and members is usually not .
Clubs , magazines , and product guides are paid for by the advertisers - how can they be objective !

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Your criteria for rating may be different. The GS guide is based on several criteria that you might not consider. Also parks have good seasons and worse seasons in the year.

Those of us who like natural settings, vegetation and room between the sites would give a 9 or 10 to a cg with those attributes. We would also give only a 2 or 3 to a cg with a sardine parking lot for sites and concrete everywhere. Hence the difference in scores at rvparkreviews.

If you want to understand how Good Sams rates the cgs, read the info at the front of your guide. You can also read it here
http://blog.goodsamclub.com/2010/11/how-are-good-sam-rv-parks-rated/