Is there value in memberships?

Old-Biscuit wrote:
And the 14 night stay........can only be done at affiliate cgs that are deluxe/premiere. If cg is a 'classic' you can only stay 7 nights not 14.

Cripes! I did not realize that and I don't recall having seen it on the web site.

That really reduces the number of parks where a 14-night stay is allowed.

Thanks for the heads up.

In your experience have you seen much difference between the parks rated "classic" and the ones considered "deluxe/premiere"?

GMandJM wrote:
Wow! Thanks, Biscuit. That clears up alot!

One last question: For example, the listing you mentioned is straight up C2C - deluxe level (which would allow for 14 night stays in C2C parks). That couldn't be expanded to include RPI? Or could it?

If someone wants C2C plus RPI at level that allows for a 14 night stay they need to look for listings offering exactly that?

YES.....one should be able to 'add' the RPI membership.

But we found it not useful enough to keep.....not enough affiliate cgs that also were not C2C.

And the 14 night stay........can only be done at affiliate cgs that are deluxe/premiere. If cg is a 'classic' you can only stay 7 nights not 14.

We bought a KM RV Resort membership in the early 2000's and have used it often over the years to camp at most of the KM Resorts in Washington State. This spring KM offered an addendum to our KM contract which made us an RPI Preferred Gold member with greatly enhanced domestic camping and also the ability to book domestic and overseas condominiums. This upgrade was not cheap, but based upon what we would have paid for similar condominium opportunities worldwide through an entity like Wyndham we feel that we did well here. Not only looking forward to camping away from the NW but also staying in nice accommodations around the world.

Anyone with equally helpful information referece Thousand Trails and/or NACO?

Wow! Thanks, Biscuit. That clears up alot!

One last question: For example, the listing you mentioned is straight up C2C - deluxe level (which would allow for 14 night stays in C2C parks). That couldn't be expanded to include RPI? Or could it?

If someone wants C2C plus RPI at level that allows for a 14 night stay they need to look for listings offering exactly that?

GMandJM wrote:


Wow - you're exactly who I'm looking for! I have been looking at resales and they are really all over the place price-wise. Maybe you (or someone) can explain a few of the terms and stuff?

1) First off, it seems that some people want cash in addition to the transfer fee. I was thinking these were more of a "take over my payments sort of deal" so please clear that up if you can?4

Different terms..depends on the 'resale'
Some can be take over payments.....avoid as they will be higher priced
Some can be transfer fee plus cash....OK but depends on actual Cash and costs of transfer(s)
All in one price...transfer fee/home park initiation fee/1st year dues...this is best value cause all costs are identified and paid up front

2) Is there any advantage to one home park over another? Does it actually need to be near your home/physical address? You mentioned that your one has "frozen" yearly dues which I presume is a good thing? Are home parks allowed to make "special assessments" that you are obligated to pay since the dues are frozen?
'Home Park' is required in order to purchase 'affiliate' memberships (C2C, RPI, AOR etc) can't get those without a home park membership.

'Home Park' can be one close by or 1000's of miles away..depends on whether going to it (or not) is an issue.
We chose our home park due to lower fee and frozen yearly dues. Can't raise our due structure until we give up home park membership....no 'special assessments'
We also chose this home park due to it being a 'deluxe/premiere' cg. IF your home park of choice is just a 'classic' then you can only get basic C2C, RPI, AOR etc affiliate memberships

Deluxe/Premiere allows you to stay up to 14 nights per visit vs only 7 nights. It has our benefits such as how far in advance you can make reservations, cruise ship deals, condo time share deals etc. But we were more interested in the 14 nights aspect.

3) What is deluxe/premiere for "affiliates mean"? Sounds important, does it mean anything other than being able to stay for 14 nights instead of just 7?

4) You said that your $950 initial investment included memberships (plural) in C2C, RPI and AOR. Could you have purchased those individually to begin with? (You mentioned a bit of overlap in member cg's so I will pay more attention to that when researching.)
The $950 buy in/purchase cost included our 'home park' membership joining fee and 1st year dues, our 1st year membership dues for C2C, RPI and AOR (deluxe/premiere) and the transfer fees

It was a package deal---all inclusive.
Our packages were available for resale that had home park, C2C (or RPI etc.)
We took the all package cause it was cheaper than to add our affiliates later on.


5) Do you have to keep paying for it until you sell it?
NOPE..........

Other than the yearly dues no other payments after initial buy in of $950
Yearly dues were $59/home park
$129/RPI, $139/C2C and $99/AOR

After 1st year we dropped RPI & AOR.
Overlapping with C2C
AOR had to be done via phone (that may have changed...but it was via phone when we had it)

C2C website very user friendly, easy to check/make reservations, ongoing accounting of 'points' (1000 points equals $10)
Buy XX number of points gets bonus points
Confirmation of reservations so no "We don't have that res"

Thanks in advance to Dear Biscuit (I dislike using the word "old") or anyone else who can share their knowledge.

Memberships are not for everyone.
BUT they can be beneficial if Full Timers, buy RESALE (CHEAP) and use them as park of overall cost savings means for nightly cg fees

Check out this one
OLD Biscuit

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Memberships .........


We purchased a 'home park' with 2 week stays at affiliate CGs using C2C, PRI and AOR via Resale. Total cost for memberships & transfer fees for 1st year was $950.
Then yearly dues were $59/home park (frozen) and $129/$139 for affiliates (Deluxe/Premiere). But after 1st year we didn't renew with RPI or AOR. Lots of overlapping with C2C and C2C website was much easier to use.
So 2nd thru 7th year costs us $198/yr. in membership dues.

With that we could saty at any C2C CG for $10/night and 'other' types of CGs for $15/night. Some CG would add an addition $5/night for 50A.

Wow - you're exactly who I'm looking for! I have been looking at resales and they are really all over the place price-wise. Maybe you (or someone) can explain a few of the terms and stuff?

1) First off, it seems that some people want cash in addition to the transfer fee. I was thinking these were more of a "take over my payments sort of deal" so please clear that up if you can?

2) Is there any advantage to one home park over another? Does it actually need to be near your home/physical address? You mentioned that your one has "frozen" yearly dues which I presume is a good thing? Are home parks allowed to make "special assessments" that you are obligated to pay since the dues are frozen?

3) What is deluxe/premiere for "affiliates mean"? Sounds important, does it mean anything other than being able to stay for 14 nights instead of just 7?

4) You said that your $950 initial investment included memberships (plural) in C2C, RPI and AOR. Could you have purchased those individually to begin with? (You mentioned a bit of overlap in member cg's so I will pay more attention to that when researching.)

5) Do you have to keep paying for it until you sell it?

Thanks in advance to Dear Biscuit (I dislike using the word "old") or anyone else who can share their knowledge.

Passport America is the only one that we have every found that we could possibly get our money back on.

If you just camp in a certain part of the country and really like a few of the membership parts then you could possibly be ahead of the game by joining one, it just didn't work for us as full timers.

To me most of them we have read about was like buying time share deals, a huge waste of money IMHO.

DutchmenSport wrote:
For the cost of membership and annual fees, plus the cost of actually camping at their campgrounds, and then all the limitations, restrictions, and rules about when and when NOT you can and can NOT ... well... all that money can be used camping in a lot of State, National, and Private parks that offer a wider variety, location, and less "guilt!" Yea, guilt! If you don't use the membership for whatever reason (say you get sick and are unable to go camping for a few months) ... it's money wasted. When you free-lance camp, the most you'll looses is a portion of your payment.

The idea of being restricted to a specific set of campgrounds is just nauseating to me. There are way too many other locations to visit!

If you REALLY want to stay in one of those campgrounds, I suppose they make allowances (of course a price too) to visit there. Still, there's no obligation then to fork over annual dues and such! Too restrictive in my book.

This is pretty much our position. The membership schemes of many (not all) are to keep the campgrounds funded even when the spaces are empty, akin to time-shares. I've met a couple of developers of campground resorts over the years. They like to go in, buy up land or a cg already in place, do a few changes, then promote the idea that somehow they're exclusive and upscale when they're not. It's a sales pitch that the customer pays for.

My perception over the years is that Good Sam and KOA are not about this. Their tact is to provide more consistent service and standards in facilities. (Please, no arguing about either one here, this is my personal experience of their programs.) These memberships bring other discounts and perks and so we have them as we travel quite a bit.

If you're a full-timer who would stay in those exclusive cgs, it might be worth it. We prefer state parks, national parks etc for destinations, and when visiting relatives we often stay in a KOA or Good Sam's near the city.

Only use NP's, NF's or COE and once in a while the State Parks. And as a last resort when traveling, Wally-Mart. Never felt a need for a membership program,