Coast to Coast resorts issue

sarhvac1 wrote:
Kamp-k
check out Pennsylvania campgrounds on ctc they just about all have every weekend blocked our home CG is in Gettysburg we will also be staying there for most holidays and traveling around the east coast for about 3-4 weeks of vaca time the only thing I have to complain about would be that our home base when we joined last MAY didn't tell us about the blocked weekends never realized it till we got online about 30 days after the waiting period we new about the holidays. just a little a bummed about it we like to do a few weekends a year in between our week longs. we just have to drive further now. and C2C has added quite a few more CG's to the list even in New Jersey just can't see them on the site as of yet to tell if they are going to block weekends. heck we even got into 1 last year for the labor day weekend by accident so we were told when we got there. But they were most accommodating and we had the best time!! VA. has a lot of great CG's on the ctc network we will probably be spending a lot of time in your state. by the way we were at Shenandoah over labor day last year what a great place!!!!

Hi Sarhvac1...I did look at Pennsylvania and do see what you mean about weekends being blocked out. Saw that on 3 different parks in your state. Like I said, I had never seen that before on any of the parks we've wanted to visit, but I had never looked at Pennsylvania before either. I can see how that could be frustrating as it limits the parks in your state that you could spend a weekend at. On the flip side, I have no idea how busy those parks happen to be on the weekends, but if I was a paying member at any of those parks and any of those parks happen to be my homepark, I would be highly upset if I wanted to come spend a weekend at my homepark and was told there were no sites available to me because they had to keep 5 sites available for C2C members, meaning I couldn't get in to my own homepark, but a C2C member could get into my homepark on that same weekend that I can't. Now that doesn't make sense either, does it?

To me, there's a fine line there, but before we joined C2C we researched the C2C parks in our states as well as some out of state that we knew we would want to visit. We looked at the availability of these parks and which parks blocked out holidays and for how long were they blocked out. For example, my homepark blocks out the entire week before and after major holidays like Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day, and C2C members can't come in during those entire weeks. Having camped at my homepark during these holidays, I know my homepark is 99% full those weeks, and again, I would have a major problem if I could not get a reservation at my own homepark during those weeks, but a C2C member could, when I am the one paying yearly dues at this park, not the C2C member.

Having said all that, we've never really run into any major issues with the C2C parks we use, but admittedly someone else's experience with C2C may be different than mine simply based on geographical location. But it felt like most responses to this thread were more negative in nature, and I at least wanted to provide a positive example of how C2C has been a tremendous value for us considering the way we use it in conjunction with our homepark.

And yes, you are right, Shenandoah Crossing is an outstanding resort, one of our favorites, in fact. We go there a couple of times every year, and will be making our first trip of the season there in April.

For those of you who belong to C2C: If our home address is in Washington, and our home park is somewhere farther from home than 125 miles, will KM resorts let you in at the C2C rate? Example: If we "own" a lot at a Sunrise resort out of state, will KM treat us like we are from out of the area, or will they look at our home address, rather than our membership campground, to exclude us?

Kamp-k
check out Pennsylvania campgrounds on ctc they just about all have every weekend blocked our home CG is in Gettysburg we will also be staying there for most holidays and traveling around the east coast for about 3-4 weeks of vaca time the only thing I have to complain about would be that our home base when we joined last MAY didn't tell us about the blocked weekends never realized it till we got online about 30 days after the waiting period we new about the holidays. just a little a bummed about it we like to do a few weekends a year in between our week longs. we just have to drive further now. and C2C has added quite a few more CG's to the list even in New Jersey just can't see them on the site as of yet to tell if they are going to block weekends. heck we even got into 1 last year for the labor day weekend by accident so we were told when we got there. But they were most accommodating and we had the best time!! VA. has a lot of great CG's on the ctc network we will probably be spending a lot of time in your state. by the way we were at Shenandoah over labor day last year what a great place!!!!

We've been members of C2C since 2011, and just signed up for 4 more years (for the price of 3 years). We really have no complaints with C2C (as evident by the fact we just signed up for 4 more years) because if you know understand how to use C2C to your benefit, it IS a great cost saving method. No, you cannot get into most C2C affiliated campgrounds on major holidays, but anyone signing up for C2C knows that upfront, as that is clearly stated. For us, this works fine because we spend all major holidays at our home campground anyway.

At our homepark we can stay for 14 consecutive nights, then we have to be offsite for 7 days, then we can come back onsite for 14 nights again. We use the C2C parks for those 7 days that we have to be offsite from our home park. For us, we camp the entire summer starting with Memorial Day weekend at our homepark, then after 2 weeks, we'll leave and go to a C2C park for a week or two (depending on which C2C park we go to) then we'll come back to our home park for 2 more weeks, then go to a C2C park for a week and so on. We do this for the entire summer, but spend Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day holidays at our home park. In between those holidays, we travel to our favorite C2C parks, and yes we have a couple of favorites that we have never had a problem getting into during the past 3 years we've been camping this way. Also, I for one have never seen random weekends blocked out on C2C at the parks we looked at, unless it was a holiday week, but granted all of the parks we have been to have been on the east coast, so I can't say I've ever looked at C2C for a park in California or Texas for example.

With the friends & family benefit that C2C offers, even my inlaws have been able to use my C2C membership a couple of times per year on their trips to Florida and Myrtle beach at $10 per night.

I am in no way affiliated with C2C other than as a member for the past 3 years, but I can't help but feel like people that complain about it, either don't have the proper expectations or don't understand how C2C works. What I can say is this. Last year, my family camped a total of 65 nights between my homepark and various C2C parks, which last year consisted of 5 different C2C parks that we stayed at. After factoring in what it cost us to pay our homepark yearly dues, our C2C yearly dues, and to buy C2C points, those 65 nights cost us $19.66 per night (which included all taxes we paid as well), which is far cheaper than the average cost of any state park in my state or any other private campground that I've personally ever stayed at.

Not trying to sway anyone's opinion as I have nothing to gain personally by doing so. Just offering a perspective on how and why C2C works for some families, particularly if C2C is used to supplement a homepark that one may already be a paying member of.

thgoodman wrote:

bigdogger wrote:
It appears the majority of the defenders are the employees. That is another red flag to me.

Other than Coast-Admin, who are the C 2 C employees you have identified on here?

member name Bruce Hoster for one. Since he and coast-admin were the only two who defended C2C, I guess I probably should have changed "the majority" to "the only".

bigdogger wrote:
It appears the majority of the defenders are the employees. That is another red flag to me.

Other than Coast-Admin, who are the C 2 C employees you have identified on here?

I looked at several membership programs, and compared the "benefits" to our style of camping and travel. ALL such programs came up short. For us, there was absolutely NO benefit in having membership in any of them, not even Good Sam!
Therefore, we have no such memberships, and, for the foreseeable future, will not have any.

It appears the majority of the defenders are the employees. That is another red flag to me.

Let me address a few of the issues raised here. Coast to Coast, and our resort developers who sell campground memberships, have seen some very good growth the past three years. In the case of our developers, this has enabled them to put more money back into their resorts, and to purchase new resorts. While I cannot speak for the competitors you mention, Coast is experiencing a renewed vitality in the membership camping industry. So it is simply not accurate to say that Coast to Coast or our developers are declining, because we are in fact growing.

There have been resorts who have stopped selling memberships and at some point have closed. Businesses closing is something that happens in any industry. Coast always works with the remaining members of these resorts to place them at new resorts for a transfer fee that is much less than their original purchase price. Also what we are seeing now is that our stronger developers many times will purchase a resort like this, and invest to rebuild the membership and the resort facilities.

Membership camping represents a real value compared to other vacation ownership options such as timeshare or property ownership. And I don't know how an RVer can travel the country any less expensively than $10 per night, while staying in nice campground resorts. Coast has 40,000 members who enjoy their membership and our system.

Specifically to cKarlGo, I previously replied to your post earlier this week on Mill Creek. To give you an update, we have spoken to the resort several times this week to try and resolve the situation you raised. I can't advise our final solution at this time, but we are taking action. As soon as we have a final resolution, I will post that to you as I promised in the last post. We are acting upon your feedback just as we act upon all Coast member feedback we receive.

sarhvac1 wrote:
I feel there is value in the C2C we will definitely get our monies worth out of it the cost of the coast membership is not that high we make that back with the first or second time out the problem I see is the weekends blocked for right now that I still work fulltime. there are enough campgrounds that don't block just a lot further away. now the (home base CG) price was a bit steep but that too will be recouped after a few years..most perm. sites are around 2-4 grand a year so you camp 2 weeks in 1 week out with your home camp it pays back quick.. looking at the big picture when your retired and want to travel it should work out perfect cause no need to be anywhere except where you want to be.

That works for you today, but what happens when the home park struggles and it either declines in quality or closes completely? When you retire and can go anywhere you please, why be locked into parks that are not high quality and not available at the times you want them, if they are even still in business at all?