Good Sam campground guide

westernrvparkowner wrote:

4X4Dodger wrote:

ETyson wrote:
Hello Shearwater,

I am sorry to read you were not satisfied with the Good Sam RV Travel Guide.

The listings you refer are complementary listings, and include public parks (state, national and provincial). These listings do have limited information, but all include a phone number and either an address if a private campground, or directions if a public park, and we offer the park the option to enhance their information in their listing. We always encourage users to call ahead to confirm amenities and if space is available before arriving.

Please note that ALL private campgrounds, whether Good Sam or not, are rated and inspected each year.

Your feedback is very much appreciated and we always take it seriously when we begin working on future editions of the Travel Guide.

Kind regards,

Ellen
Sr. Marketing and Product Manager
Good Sam Enterprises

With respect, at the price of that book and the amount of very expensive advertising that is in it there is little excuse for not having complete ratings on ALL included campgrounds.

I am sure you are aware that the real reason for the minimal attention to NON Good SAM parks is that the idea is to drive people to the good Sam parks and not others. While I agree with this premise to a point it is completely out of balance in this publication. The book has many many flaws that make it hard to use and not very useful unless you are looking to staying in a big resort type park with the Good Sam seal of approval.

I think many feel as I do that it is a good idea poorly executed and could be so much more useful. (I use mine to stop up the heater vent in the bathroom of my TT.)

I think Mr. Lemonis might want to lessen his TV appearances and focus more on his customers. There seems to be a growing sentiment that Customer service and the needs and ideas of the customers are not a priority at GSE.

Camping World sells the 1664 page book for $11.95. If you consider that to be expensive, you should really find another hobby. The book and Good Sam make it very clear the book is intended to rate PRIVATE campgrounds and RV parks. The ratings criteria are designed to rate those campgrounds. From what I can tell, all the private campgrounds listed in the book do have a rating, an address and a phone number. Most have a bunch of additional information. Local, state, and federal parks have addresses and phone numbers. They are not rated, nor should they be, since they are not private parks and they are built much differently. They generally do not have showers, utilities and the like. A state park or national park would score very low if rated using Good Sam's criteria. It would do them a disservice if they were rated, not help them.
This is America, if you think the world needs a book that rates state parks, create it. Nothing is stopping you. If this thread is an indication there are two or three customers just pining to get their hands on the first issue. You grouse about Marcus Lemonis wasting his time on TV when he should be reviewing campgrounds, yet you are wasting your time complaining about someone's business plan when you should be writing and compiling your own guidebook that apparently would be the cat's meow.

I am not sure why you exhibit so much hostility over this issue especially with my post. But you might want to stop and think a minute about all of those that agree with me. They are YOUR customers westernrvparkowner and it might behoove you to listen to the issues being brought up here as they affect you too.

I never claimed Mr Lemonis was wasting his time...only that his focus should be more on his customer base. The landscape is littered with former "celebrity" CEO's that eventually lost their companies because they lost their focus on what is truly important.

You seem to react almost reflexively to any criticism of GSE, the Guide or any other arm of The Conglomerate and rush to their defense. You risk sounding like a corporate apologist.

Just for clarification the retail price of the book is $25.95. Yes you do get a discount as a gsc member but that is not it's actual retail price. I also did not mention state or national parks.

And if I was inclined to write my own book...an entirely unrealistic undertaking for one person...you can bet it would be easier to access, to handle, more complete, more fair not only to parks like yours but all the others and with a rating system that actually informs instead of advertises. As I have said before GSE has a good thing here just poorly executed in some significant ways. However since there is virtually no competition they have little incentive to make the changes.

You seem to cherish the staus quo. I look for ways to progress.