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.

[jplante4]

haddy1 wrote:
The campground that you picture in Cape Girardeau, is not a KOA unless it recently changed. I hope not, because I use it frequently.

Sorry, you are correct. It is not a KOA, it's a Good Sam.

[mdcamping]

2edgesword wrote:
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.

At this time in our lives we don't have any memberships. This said we have not been disappointed at any of the KOA campgrounds that we have stayed at. I look at a KOA as no differance than any other campground that we research. If the Reviews are good and if the campground fits our needs we will book it

Mike

[SDcampowneroper]

My camp is a GS park. We have a KOA Holiday right next door. We both do a good business with a different clientele, ours tends to be return guests and those who do more research, theirs the 'one click' reservation with few return guests. They have features we do not, we have features they dont. We cooperate and give each others guests use of our each special features. We have unique waterpark features, they have jumping pillows and cookouts. Its a win- win for both of us and our guests.

We travel extensively and learn from every place we park for a night or up to a month camp be it public, private,boondock, wallydock a driveway at a friends. Nothing is off the table. Price is not our concern, the experience is.

I plan our ave. 3 mo. winter walkabouts with a search of all at my fingertips. For an overnight, any place along the way. Service unimportant just a power plug Or not if we can run the genny if needed. . Access is. For the destination, services suitable for our needs, access to our interests. I verify that with reviews on rvparkreviews.com, tripadvisor and google earth satellite view.
We have had and used all the discount memberships. each has value if you use them, generally they are only valid for short visits or specific days.
You decide how and when you want to travel to what area to experience. Memberships are useful to many. Restrictive to many. Cut loose go anywhere without being on a leash. Then you are free RVer

[haddy1]

jplante4 wrote:
Cape Girardeau KOA - very urban



Flatoods KOA in W. Virginia. Unique because you check into the campground at the Days Inn in front.



Doggie park at Checotah OK KOA - hometown of Carrie Underwood



Cape Hatteras KOA - dunes hide the ocean view.

The campground that you picture in Cape Girardeau, is not a KOA unless it recently changed. I hope not, because I use it frequently.

[trailertraveler]

BB_TX wrote:

haddy1 wrote:
.........
KOA= Keep on Adding.

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.

This slur started decades ago. Before the internet, KOA had a printed directory. The directory usually stated something like rates starting at. The starting rate was usually for a tent site with no utilities. Of course human nature being what it is, many expected to get that starting rate for any site in the campground. KOAs often have more choices in sites with varying amenities than many campgrounds where every site is the same. So, when folks found out that a water and electric site cost more than a no utilities site and a water/electric/sewer site was even more; the Keep On Adding moniker was born and has been repeated ever since.

[CFerguson]

ependydad wrote:
I find KOAs to be generally expensive. Even with the 10% off, I'd rather stay elsewhere at less cost.

As fulltimers, we've stayed at a handful over the years and usually just barely break even when we pay for the membership.

The quality of the parks we've stayed at is usually decent but rarely wows me.

Same experiences here. They seem to be anywhere from 20-60% over the cost of a comparative nearby CG. Theres several large discount 'clubs' out there and you have to do some legwork to see which one(s) work best for You.

[MarkTwain]

ependydad wrote:
I find KOAs to be generally expensive. Even with the 10% off, I'd rather stay elsewhere at less cost.

As fulltimers, we've stayed at a handful over the years and usually just barely break even when we pay for the membership.

The quality of the parks we've stayed at is usually decent but rarely wows me.

X1 KOA's are generally more expensive than other parks. I use them at last resort.

[jplante4]

Cape Girardeau KOA - very urban



Flatoods KOA in W. Virginia. Unique because you check into the campground at the Days Inn in front.



Doggie park at Checotah OK KOA - hometown of Carrie Underwood



Cape Hatteras KOA - dunes hide the ocean view.

[BB_TX]

haddy1 wrote:
.........
KOA= Keep on Adding.

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.

[Roy_Lynne]

Personally, I would hold off buying any membership until you know the kind of camping you like to do. We bought one and used it once, obviously not worth the money and when they refused to give me a refund when we broke down on the road, and wouldn't even let us come the following day, that ended our relationship. BUT as it turned out, we ended up not liking private campgrounds as they feel like expensive parking lots. We camp at National, State and even County and City parks. We love Forest Service camps and even enjoy boondocking in the woods. So my recommendation is wait and see what you enjoy doing before investing.

[DutchmenSport]

Delete

[dedmiston]

I rarely renew it when the notice comes in the mail, but every year we find ourselves spending enough nights in KOA sites that we renew it on the first big trip. It usually pays for itself in five nights, and we always hit that every year.

[2edgesword]

Wow folks, great information.I'll have to sit down with "The Boss" and discuss. We've stayed at two KOA's and she enjoyed both but figured there would be a lot of hands on experience from members of the forum to give us some guidance. Much appreciated.

[rr2254545]

jplante4 wrote:
The benefit of KOA and a membership is consistency. They are all pretty much ok. Some are tighter than others, some are away from it all while others are right downtown. But, at least for us, none have been "we need to leave" terrible. I cannot say the same of non-affiliated private parks.

They have recently started a re-branding of the Kampgrounds. Journey, Holiday and Resort in the name indicates the level of service you can expect. The KOA in Hatteras is considered a Resort; having stayed there I'm not sure I agree. The one in Newburgh NY is a Holiday and that seems right.

So, if you need a decent place with 50 amp, water and sewer every once in a while, the membership is worth it. I'm sure the KOA haters will be along shortly to say otherwise, but just keep in mind that most of them have never stayed at a KOA because it's beneath them.

Stayed in 85 KOA's out of 334 since retirement - very very few that I would not go back to - they tend to charge what others of like quality do in their area - SO no they are not expensive

[delwhjr]

We have been members of KOA for a few years and have been able to recoup our fees each year and more. It is true that many times they are more expensive but they have also been more convenient in some cases. They are just one option to chose while traveling and makes some sense to have the discount available. We were also glad to have it on one trip when we were trying to make a last minute change and found no open sites in an area we wanted to stay. We called the KOA directly and when we told them we were members they found a way to accommodate us.