Another negative recommendation of an RV Park

[Medico]

This is the first time I have ever left a negative comment about a park, but I felt I had to about this park. I am refering to Ramblin Pines in Woodbine, Md. This is our second week long stay at this park. The park itself is basically OK, although pricey in my opinion for what it is. They do not offer discounts for weekly stays either. I had my daughter, 2 year old granddaughter and sister-in-law and brother-in-law visit from 3 PM to 7 PM yesterday. The park charged them $5 PER PERSON for a 4 hour visit. When I complained about it there response is that is the policy. (The policy states $5 for visitors. It DOES NOT specify $5 EACH). I then stated I was a bi-annual weekly camper and would not be back. Their response "Oh well!"

I cannot recommend this park. On my next visit I will be looking elsewhere. When I said I was going to post my negative comments to the various forums I am a member of their response was again "Oh well!"

The guest service demonstrated by the staff at this park and by the rules of this park was sorely lacking. I worked in guest services for several years and indeed taught our companies guest service program to ALL employees. This was an example of the exact opposite of what we taught and is an example of very poor guest service.

[Drbolasky]

kcmoedoe wrote:
And when enough people try to take advantage of that perceived loophole, they will close it by just charging $10.00 per extra person.

Exactly correct. We encountered a CG in Wisconsin that charged a fee of $10 for any guest staying longer than 20 minutes. $5 visitor fee is not out of line. See Jim Shoe's post - this is why I'd never want to own or operate a CG.

[Jim_Shoe]

By that logic:
I'm a single RVer. I expect to pay 12.5% of the nightly rate for 8 people. And I don't use the swimming pool. Discount please. Or the swing set. Discount please. And no pets with me. Discount please. I'm leaving early in the morning. Discount please. I use my own bathroom facilities. Discount please. Since I'm only there one night, I won't be hooking up the stinky slinky or the water. Discount please. If I can think of a couple more, you'll have to pay me to stay there. Of course, You'll have to charge me for the security guards you'll have to hire to keep me from lying.
Right now, I'm heading out to Walmart to buy a new toaster. But I only eat one slice each morning. I wonder....

[Crowe]

I understand why a campground does this to control numbers of guests. I don't see your complaint as valid.

Many people don't seem to understand that extra people means more use of resources such as water, more wear and tear on items such as playground equipment, and increases the chance of noisy partying. While I understand that a grandma and grandpa aren't likely to use the playground, it would be very difficult for a cg to use a tiered fee structure, while not out of the question. I don't have grandkids yet but if it cost me an extra few bucks to visit to me it would be well worth the visit. If you don't want to pay extra fees then find a place outside the campground to meet. A business trying to stay in business isn't a reason to boycott.

[Veebyes]

The extra charge for a few visitors resulted in a 6 year boycott of KOA from us.

The park in question allowed 8 per campsite in their nightly rate. We were having 4 over for dinner. That makes 6 on the site by my math. They were not using any CG facilities. Not even the restrooms.

CG charged them $5 each anyway. Spoke to the GM. No movement on extra charge. The result is that we have driven right past that CG ever since, staying at a nearby Walmart a couple times & have only recently started to use KOAs, usually only a last resort before Walmart.

[colliehauler]

You could have met at a restaurant. I understand why a campground does this to control numbers of guests. I don't see your complaint as valid.

[D___M]

I picked a couple of websites and looked at their rules.

Frontier Town, Ocean City, MD

GUESTS
Guests (additional campers) are not permitted entry after midnight. Fees are $12 per person June 12 - Labor Day, and $6 per person at all other times.

VISITORS
Visits of less than 1 hour are FREE; over 1 hour is $6 per person. Visitors are not given free admission or discounts to the Water Park or Western Theme Park.

Camp Hatteras Resort, Salvo, NC

Visitors must check in at registration office before entering campground and pay fee.

Bethpage Camp Resort, Urbana, VA

The visitor fees are $6.00 per person (4 years and older) per day off-season and $12.00 per person (4 years and older) per day in-season.

Ramblin Pines, Woodbine, MD

Visitors: Campers are responsible for their visitors registering at the office with a daily fee charged, parking where designated and leaving by 11:00PM. No Visitors entering the campground after 9:00PM.


Charging for visitors isn't a rare thing. And it looks like the OP got off cheap.

[kcmoedoe]

Johno02 wrote:
If you want to stay there, and have a few others to enjoy the facilities, the campsite only charges $5 per extra person staying. Just have them register with you, and sleep on a pallet. As visitors, the charge is $10 overnight, but a registered person is only $5.

And when enough people try to take advantage of that perceived loophole, they will close it by just charging $10.00 per extra person. Then we will have yet another example of where a few people force a business to adopt policies and rules that penalize everyone. The park is trying to have a policy that favors the people staying in the park and making guests pay their own freight. It is people that make suggestions like this, just lie and cheat you way around the rules, that cause the parks to have the "oh well, guess you will be staying elsewhere" attitude. And I can't blame them one bit.

[BB_TX]

Any time you see a charge for visitors you can safely assume it is per visitor.

[magnusfide]

Medico, I hear you. We looked at Rambling Pines and chose Capitol KOA instead because of that visitor policy. Please post a review at the Trip Advisor page for them.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g41445-d2317884-Reviews-Ramblin_Pines_Campground-Woodbine_Ma...

Medico wrote:
This is the first time I have ever left a negative comment about a park, but I felt I had to about this park. I am refering to Ramblin Pines in Woodbine, Md. This is our second week long stay at this park. The park itself is basically OK, although pricey in my opinion for what it is. They do not offer discounts for weekly stays either. I had my daughter, 2 year old granddaughter and sister-in-law and brother-in-law visit from 3 PM to 7 PM yesterday. The park charged them $5 PER PERSON for a 4 hour visit. When I complained about it there response is that is the policy. (The policy states $5 for visitors. It DOES NOT specify $5 EACH). I then stated I was a bi-annual weekly camper and would not be back. Their response "Oh well!"

I cannot recommend this park. On my next visit I will be looking elsewhere. When I said I was going to post my negative comments to the various forums I am a member of their response was again "Oh well!"

The guest service demonstrated by the staff at this park and by the rules of this park was sorely lacking. I worked in guest services for several years and indeed taught our companies guest service program to ALL employees. This was an example of the exact opposite of what we taught and is an example of very poor guest service.

[Johno02]

If you want to stay there, and have a few others to enjoy the facilities, the campsite only charges $5 per extra person staying. Just have them register with you, and sleep on a pallet. As visitors, the charge is $10 overnight, but a registered person is only $5.

[Johno02]

Although I have not encountered this problem, as we very seldom have visitors, I have seen a number of occasions that $5 per person could be justified. Cases where a lot of visitors come to party with a camper, make lots of noise, use all the facilities, and otherwise make it difficult for other campers to enjoy the park. The park management may have good reason for the additional per person charge.

[NCWriter]

I've never seen $5 per car-load, but often see $5 per person in various CG rules for day visitors.

Actually, I don't think the policy enforcement is a black mark for the campground. It's very clear on their website that it is per person. The place shows a pool and other amenities your visitors could have used if they had chosen to. You could have met them somewhere outside the RV park if you didn't want to pay the $20 - but then again - you couldn't hang out in a restaurant for free, and most state parks charge fees for day visitors, too.

If I were an RV park owner, I would not want to create an environment allowing big groups of people arriving to use my property and facility for free, partying while visiting one camping friend, crowding out the campers at the pool etc., and I definitely wouldn't want to be the camper in the next site. (I'm sure your relatives were well-behaved.) So I would set such a rule, too. It obviously would have to apply to all day visitors.

But it sounds like "working to solve the complaint" you had hoped for meant you wanted them to waive the fee because you complained.

[Medico]

The average I have seen at other parks is $5 per car. $5 per person for a 4 hour visit where NO SERVICES were used is excessive IMO. I can see why this park only is getting a 3.4 rating. IMO guest service includes explaining why a policy is in place and working to solve a reported complaint, not "Oh well!" We always taught people to attempt to work with a guest to solve complaints not just to have an "Oh well" attitude. The attitude was even worse than the policy.

[bgum]

Right there on their web page it states per person visitor $5 day and $10 per night.
Just don't go back but your lack of recommendation will not help me decide if we want to stay there.

[WyoTraveler]

Has this rv park had problems with RVs coming in with 2 people then 20 guests arrive using services? Many RV parks charge for additional people.