KOA Membership

[2edgesword]

My wife and I are doing some retirement planning (18 months) and hope to spend a good portion of our time traveling. While exploring trip planning it seems KOA has a pretty good network of campgrounds. Does anyone have a KOA membership? How useful has it been to you? Would you give the KOA campgrounds you have stayed at four out of five stars or have you found some of their campgrounds places you would want to avoid?

Any information would be helpful.

[Shot-N-Az]

I purchased a membership last year because we were going to be spending a period of weeks at a KOA during the winter. It turned out their rates for the stay were better than what I got with the membership. That's the only KOA we stay in, so it was a wasted membership for us.

[Edd505]

KOA if you have kids they cater to them. They will be more expensive but they entertain the kids. Being retired I don't use them any more.

[RAS43]

sgfrye wrote:
everything has pretty much be said but from our experience we have a membership and it always pays for itself. we stay at koa's , private campgrounds, and state parks. depends on our travel location as to which we choose. never had bad experience with any koa we have been to.

This has been our experience also. Last September we spent 3 weeks traveling thru Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Utah using all types of campgrounds. The KOA's we stayed in were all nice and maybe a couple of $$ more but we were not disappointed in any of them or the staff. The campgrounds that offered a Good Sam discount were maybe a bit cheaper but not as nice overall and one in Green River WY was a disappointment -noisy residents outside the park and unfinished facilities and indifferent staff.

[1jeep]

for years we talked bad about KOA, wife an i avoided them like the plague! Then we bought our current rv and got a free membership so we tried them. So far we have been happy and mostly notice they are convenient. The book is a good resource when planning a distant trip that requires a overnight stop as we have many times found a place to plug in for the night right off a highway.
Loved the KOA in Cape Hatteras, yes its an open field but a great spot. KOA in Niagara and Quebec City, great locations with tourist stuff such as tour bus pickup.
This year we are heading to hilton head from Ma, stopping overnight at a KOA in north Carolina. on the return we are stopping for a few nights at a different KOA in VA.
if you use the membership it will pay for itself, but i dont limit my campground searches to just KOA.

[dedmiston]

I've been thinking about all the KOAs we've stayed at over the past five years or so, we've spent at least a week a year at KOAs and only one of them was a dump. It was bad.

Then I thought about it more and realized that even the dumpy KOA was nicer than the other parks in that area. So maybe that's their business model: be better than the other dumps in the area.

Every KOA we have stayed at has been nicer than the park down the street.

[sgfrye]

everything has pretty much be said but from our experience we have a membership and it always pays for itself. we stay at koa's , private campgrounds, and state parks. depends on our travel location as to which we choose. never had bad experience with any koa we have been to.

[hotpepperkid]

Dont ever stay in the KOA in Kent/Tacoma WA

[jarata1]

pictures look like any other campground

[docsouce]

We have KOA, Passport America and Good Sam. We use whichever one applies for the direction we are going. I find the Passport America gives the best deal however there are a lot of restriction on use. By far we use our KOA membership more than the others. We just like what they have to offer. Their bonus points build up too. Right now we have 2 free nights. Most of the other private campgrounds offer discounts with the Good Sam card so that's a good deal. We would like to stay in the State, and various government parks, but we plan our stops 4 or 5 days out and change our routes often so they usually are full. One thing about the KOA though once we mention we are members they always seem to fine a spot for us.

[2edgesword]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and the photographs. It seems the general consensus is most KOA's are decent places to stay, usually have good amenities but typically don't have the more open and outdoorsy feel you get at national and state campgrounds.

[mgirardo]

BB_TX wrote:
I still don’t know where this comes from. As many times as we have stayed at a KOA I have never paid more than the price quoted when making reservations on line, or pulling in and getting a site in person.

The only Add-On I've seen at KOAs are for kids/guests. I've seen a lot of KOAs where the base price is for 2 Adults and kids/guests are extra per night.

We've been to non-KOAs with similar pricing for more than just 2 adults. We've been to a campground that required we pay extra just because our RV had an A/C. The forecast didn't call for temps high enough to use it, but we certainly did since we paid extra for it.

-Michael

[jplante4]

I do have one issue with KOA - don't hit one right after they bought an older campground. We did Chincoteague KOA right after they bought Maddox Family Campground and it was a zoo. The sewer taps were roughed in and about a foot higher than my dump valve. One couple was trying to find their sewer tap which had been buried. I asked for a lighthouse view sight, but when they re-ran the utilities they reversed the pull direction in so I got a view of the new Kabins. It was the first time I asked to move.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

🙂 Hi, We were KOA and Good Sam members. KOA's were great decades ago; Then at one time about 12 years ago, KOA's were mostly run down dumps that were sold to people who couldn't afford to fix them up. I liked Good Sam parks better. For example, on our cross country trip we stayed where is was convenient for us no matter who's name was on it. The little discount wasn't worth it unless you only stayed at the camp ground that you had a membership to.

Now many camp grounds give me the same discount for being a AAA member, a senior citizen, or a Veteran. So we have not renewed any of the club memberships for many years.

[Rustycamperpant]

Our KOA membership always pays for itself although we do not always stay at a KOA. I have never been to a KOA I would not return to. Depending on what we are doing on a certain trip we may not need all the stuff KOA offers and we can stay somewhere else cheaper. I think of a KOA like a McDonalds, they are consistant and all have the same basic ammenities.