SDcampowneroperator wrote:
Good Sam account representatives visit every Good Sam park every year. They do not 'review', they ' rate' based upon the 10/10/10 point system which is divided into 3 sections, that evaluate camp amenity, facility and sites.
Usually when they arrive in camp its unannounced, except for an email up to a week before that they will come soon. They drive and walk the camp and rate based upon their observations. When this is done they sit down with management, present their rating, proceed to listing and advertising.
In our 19 years, there was no discussion allowed on their rating. It cant be bought or altered.
One year after we had done extensive upgrades to all 3 categories our rating jumped 6 aggregate points. Within a week Ed and Jan Thierfelder, Good Sams Quality Assurance team checked in unannounced rated the camp, to verify our 9.5/10/9.5 .
Reviews about the camp on the GS link are from guests.
Ratings amd Reviews are apples and oranges apart. Opinions about rudeness or some other slight may be construed differently. Some want to be led by the hand, some are offended if help is extended. The customer is not always right, its why businesses have the right to refuse service.
Consider the region. being a extensively well traveled westerner, I would not call the New Yorker rude for being what is percieved for NYC. A New Yorker might be put off by the graciousness in the south, thinking it, intrusive.
This is exactly how the Good Sam ratings are calculated. The actual scoring scorecard is printed inside the Good Sam Campground Guidebook.
One thing to note, the scores are not necessarily indicative of actual quality. For example, there is a point given for having a pool. Doesn't matter if it is a wading pool or a multi-million dollar waterpark. There are other points assigned for things like lighted entry signage, uniformity of landscaping (I fought this one for years because some of our sites are treed, some are not and the reviewer that was assigned to our park decided that should cost us a point in the ratings) and many other things relating to amenities included, not actual quality.
Those ratings, even though they are supposed to not include opinions from the reviewers, sometimes do. Example: perimeter fencing is another item that scores points in the ratings. A park we owned was completely fenced, except for a section that was a hedge. One year a rater dropped us a half point for not being completely fenced, all the other years it has been fine.
Another example was one year a rater who must either be a jerk, or was just having a bad day, docked us a half point for noise. Now the park is 50 miles from an active airport, an interstate highway, or a train track and there are no commercial operations, entertainment venues or anything else anywhere close. When I threw my expected fit, the rater said the noise in question was the sound of the diesel motorhomes entering and exiting the park while checking in and checking out. The guy was kind enough to give me written notes to that effect, which I promptly sent to Good Sam. In the book my rating had that 1/2 point returned and I never saw that reviewer again.
Sorry for the rant (not really, it feels good!) But my point is ALL ratings, no matter what the source or criteria, are somewhat subjective and you shouldn't rely on them as your only means of making a decision.
