Expectations at RV Parks - Do you adapt?

Mr.Mark wrote:
Docj, thanks for chiming in, it's nice to know who is doing the editing/observing.

I certainly do read RVparkreviews.com to check on parks that we are not familiar with. As others do, we try and read between the lines. Several things usually get my attention when they say:

- the park is full of long term tenants (has never proven to be a plus).
- low hanging branches, narrow roads (I really don't want to scratch the coach).
- rude staff (especially if it's a constant remark).

I pretty much agree with you, but the comment "the park is full of long term tenants" I think is a pejorative remark that is often unfair and out of touch with the realities of life in the US these days.

As full-timers my DW and I like to travel and have found that the percentage of RV parks with "long term tenants" is well over 50% and includes major chains such as KOA that have, in the past, almost exclusively appealed to families on vacation.

For a variety of reasons there are lots of people living on a long term basis in RV parks and I, for one, don't have any problem with that as long as the appearance of the park doesn't suffer because of it. Many of these folks are in towns on temporary jobs and prefer to living in their RVs rather than in hotels or short-term apartments. Even my DW and I could be considered long term tenants at the park where we winter for 4-5 months. Do we make that park less desirable because of our presence?

As an admin of RVParkReviews, I feel that the derogatory use of "long term residents" and similar terms is unwarranted in many of the cases in which it is used. If the park looks "seedy" because of its long term residents, then you have every right to comment on that, but it's not at all clear why the very presence of long term residents, like ourselves, for example makes a park a less desirable place.

Joel