Discount Camping Memberships

[obiwancanoli]

Been with Passport America one year... now, renewal notice comes in offering additional 6 months free, as long as I now pay a $5 handling charge - which didn't exist when I signed up, of course...

Trouble is, only used it once in the last year because most RV parks severely limit dates, number of days, and season s during which it can be used, all of which pretty much defeat the purpose of having it. Many limit stays to Mon-Thursdays, many limit the stays to off-season visits, excluding summer, and others limit stays to only 1 night, perhaps 2, and combine this restriction with others noted above.

I don't find this a fair exchange, and am looking at other options, besides the Good Sam membership I have, (10% discount) and intend to keep.

I'm interested in feedback as to what organizations have more accommodating memberships which are a bit more generous with their terms and benefits.

Can you offer any ideas that might work better that PA?

Thank you!

MJ

[westernrvparkow]

Big Katuna wrote:
Can’t parks determine which sites are PA or not?
I have had parks tell me they were out of PA sites. I would be surprised if anybody ever got a PA discount after check in.

I try not to pre judge parks on membership, discount plans accepted or reviews.

A PA park might be newer and trying to increase exposure and occupancy or a seasonal park trying to extend their season (Common in Fl), nothing to do with condition.

Those people in my example would have gotten the PPA discount when they checked in, not after the fact. PPA members often stay in non PPA parks for a variety of reasons, but I doubt they stay in PPA parks and just choose not to take advantage of the discounted price. If a customer knows a park is PPA they are going to demand the discounted price if they meet the published criteria.
As for limiting the number of PPA sites, sure it can be done, but how many of those "additional customers to fill unused sites" promised the park by PPA would materialize if when they drove in they were told "sorry, sold out of PPA sites, but you can pay full price"?
I am sure a park might try using PPA to either publicize itself or extend it's season, but it is a pretty weak publicity tool in my opinion. How many repeat customers do you really gain with the message, "come back next year, the park will be the same but the price is going to double'? Like I previously posted, I think the vast majority of customers only obtained because the park is PPA will never become full price customers.
You say you don't use park discount affiliations or reviews to choose a park. What do you use? Do you choose based on location? Their website? Just drive by and stop? On Price? If you choose on price, wouldn't discounts be a major contributor to final price?

[obiwancanoli]

Not complaining, just trying to work out the economics for myself. CG's can do as they see fit, I have no issues with their policies. It's purely cost vs, benefit for me... but thanks for the tangent...

travelnutz wrote:
bukhrn,

Your PA experience is the same as ours has always been. There are so many PA CG's and are from coast to coast and our northern border to our southern border that there's no excuse for not finding one.

Day limits are for protecting a participating CG from being overrun with only PA members at 50% fee but never found a PA CG yet that wouldn't extend that rule unless they were full or booked full with reservations for the following days or into a blackout period. They have to be able to have space for the reserved incoming RV'ers. Same is true for blackout dates as their CG is almost always full at these dates and with full fee paying RV'ers. Commonsense for CG owners and should be for PA RV'ers also!

Simply put, renting any site at even the 50% rate is much better for their bottom line than getting nothing at all! Some RV owners seem to think they have the right to tell CG owners how to run their CG because they just want CHEAP stays. Doesn't work that way and never will! The CG owners always call the shots and have all the rights and authority to do so. Don't like it? Just stay away and you won't be missed either! Both are winners then!

[Big_Katuna]

Can’t parks determine which sites are PA or not?
I have had parks tell me they were out of PA sites. I would be surprised if anybody ever got a PA discount after check in.

I try not to pre judge parks on membership, discount plans accepted or reviews.

A PA park might be newer and trying to increase exposure and occupancy or a seasonal park trying to extend their season (Common in Fl), nothing to do with condition.

[westernrvparkow]

travelnutz wrote:
bukhrn,



Simply put, renting any site at even the 50% rate is much better for their bottom line than getting nothing at all!

This is the only part of your post I disagree with. On the surface it sounds like a no brainer, however there is more to it than that . Say the park is a one hundred site park and has 70 full fee guests (i.e the park is not full, so it isn't turning away full fee for PPA). Now lets make the full fee $40. Say they now decide to add PPA and they get ten percent more guests. That's 7 additional guests at $20, so they gross $140.00 more. However, it is very likely that several of the full paying guests are also PPA members, so they would have gotten the PPA discount as well. If that number was 10 percent, 7 of the original full price guests would have paid the $20 PPA rate instead of the $40 full rate. Now the park will have the same exact revenues, but will have 10 percent higher utility charges, 10 percent more garbage, etc. If the percentage of those original full paying guests who also have PPA was greater than 10 percent, the park is losing gross revenue. Even if the percentage was less than 10 percent, say only 4 of those full paying guests were also PPA, that would mean the park loses $80 on the original full rate guests converting to PPA while gaining $140 on the additional PPA guests. That means the park only grosses $60 on those 7 guests, or about $8.60 each, not $20, yet they still have 10% more utility costs and added labor. And all these assumptions are led by the assumption that 10 percent more guests will appear due to PPA every night, which is not a given.
The other argument PPA makes is that those PPA customers will return in the future as full paying guests. I have no stats or figures to quote, but my gut reaction is a bargain hunter will always be a bargain hunter. If they paid $20 to stay this year, they are not likely to want to pay $40 to stay next year.
Finally, PPA parks have a reputation as being further off the beaten path, parks will little in the way of amenities and that they are basically bare bones operations (with some exceptions). If a park becomes a PPA park it inherits that reputation. That is something I would gladly give up a small amount of revenue to avoid.

[travelnutz]

bukhrn,

Your PA experience is the same as ours has always been. There are so many PA CG's and are from coast to coast and our northern border to our southern border that there's no excuse for not finding one.

Day limits are for protecting a participating CG from being overrun with only PA members at 50% fee but never found a PA CG yet that wouldn't extend that rule unless they were full or booked full with reservations for the following days or into a blackout period. They have to be able to have space for the reserved incoming RV'ers. Same is true for blackout dates as their CG is almost always full at these dates and with full fee paying RV'ers. Commonsense for CG owners and should be for PA RV'ers also!

Simply put, renting any site at even the 50% rate is much better for their bottom line than getting nothing at all! Some RV owners seem to think they have the right to tell CG owners how to run their CG because they just want CHEAP stays. Doesn't work that way and never will! The CG owners always call the shots and have all the rights and authority to do so. Don't like it? Just stay away and you won't be missed either! Both are winners then!

[bukhrn]

With 2000 +/- CG's, I've never understood how folks have a hard time finding A PA CG, we've used it from one coast to the other & back, never had a problem finding one.
As far as the restrictions, we've stayed in a few that showed a 3 day limit on the web site, but talking to the CG owner, actually got 9 days.
The other discount we use most is the America the Beautiful Senior Pass. Good Sam, Military, & AARP on occasion.

[bikendan]

Since we never camp weekends or holidays and rarely in the summer, PA works great for us.
As far as I know, Good Sam and AARP only gets you 10% off, which my AAA already does. So we don't need them.
There is no other discount club that offers what PA does, in price and number of campgrounds.
There have been a couple of competitors but they have way fewer campgrounds.

[obiwancanoli]

Thanks, everyone, for the input and responses... it would seem it makes good sense to continue the PA membership, for in a year's time (18 months, considering their current offer), I'm sure I could find a way to use it once or twice to pay for it...

Your comments are much appreciated, thank you again!

MJ

[BarabooBob]

We have used PPA for the last 5 years. Like others have said, you only need to use it a few times a year to pay for it. We have gotten a couple of trashy places but we have also stayed at some fantastic parks. The fantastic ones include: Preferred PV Resort in Parump NV which is gated resort complete with a welcome wagon crew, very nice clubhouse, free shuttle to the casinos, several pools and great people.

[docsouce]

We have a Good Sam, KOA, and picked up a Passport America last year. We used the Good Sam and KOA much more because that was what was available along the route we were driving. However, even with all the restrictions, and there are lots of restrictions, we were able to use the Passport America 5 times, which easily paid for the membership. I will be renewing my Passport Membership when the time comes. Nice tool to have.

[travelnutz]

We've been PPA members for more than 20 years now (renew for 3 years each time and it's very cheap that way) and have used it 10 to 18+ times each and every year in the eastern half of the USA. Used it out west in the past also but we don't care to go there anymore. Paid for itself over and over many times each year. Heck, there's around 2,000 participating CG's in PPA. We do not find PPA CG's to have many restriction at all and most have been very decent CG's for a night or two when traveling.

That is all we need as we are not buying the CG or staying in one particular CG for a 3 days or more when traveling to our destination or returning home. Can't remember any PPA CG that didn't have 20 or 30 amp electric and water too included at the site with the 50% discount. However, probably not much over 50% also had sewer hookups too but had dump stations. We don't need 50 amp which is usually and extra couple bucks.

We travel with our Carriage 5th wheel or our Lance truck camper now but used to have a Class A and a TT also until 2005. True that west of the Rockies, everything is a lot more expensive and many additional restrictions are tacked on too whether using PPA or not.

To us there's a huge tangible difference between the 10% discount Good Sam, KOA, and others give and the 50% PPA gives!!! We average 100+ nights a year in our RV's. BTW, we are also Life Good Sam Members and had 2 Coast to Coast memberships home parks and also were RPI International which we have since dropped both. They have real restrictions and high yearly dues and are so far from cheap yearly whether you used it or not. We bought our first C to C membership in 1987 in Clewiston, Florida (Okeechobee Landings) when the cost to members using a CG site was $1 per night and our second home park in NW Michigan in 1988.

NO discount membership is going to be worth the cost at all if you DON'T use it!!!

[ORbiker]

I signed up for the Lifetime membership when it was on sale for almost 1/2 off. They sent me a t shirt and a Yeti 30 oz. cup. Plus a 1 year membership to give away to some lucky person.
I only need to use it 4 or 5 times to pay for itself. We go fulltime in a couple years, so we will have the opportunity somewhere.

[Edd505]

Big Katuna wrote:
PA has limitations but it’s so cheap, it usually pays for itself in 1-2 stays. Staying mid week is a plus, not a minus for us.

AARP and Good SAMS also.

I use PA all the time to get to relatives, travel week days and short stays getting to where I will spend time with family.

[2gypsies1]

Even though there are limitations with Passport we've been able to stay longer for the same discounted price. Depends on the park and most likely done at a more off the beat area. As stated, you really can't go wrong with Passport as a couple nights pays for the membership.

We also like public parks or boondocking the best and rarely use a RV park.