Passport America, worth it or not?

[Buckeye_Chuck]

Thinking about joining Passport America. Does anyone have any input? What are the good and the bad opinions?

[Gene_Ginny]

Buckeye Chuck wrote:
Thinking about joining Passport America. Does anyone have any input? What are the good and the bad opinions?

I think this was the question at hand. Perhaps there are a few more that have experiences that address the question.

No disrespect intended to those that want to argue IF a park should be a Passport America park but I don't think that addesses the question.

To expand a little on my earlier post about joining PA. The park we stayed at did charge a "resort fee" and charged extra for cable TV and internet. While I did have to pay the resort fee my antenna worked ok for TV and my hotspot took care of Internet. Part of the resort fee was for the pool and clubhouse which were both closed in October. The site was comfortable and the water, electric, and sewer worked as they should. Bottom line, I saved some money being a PA member.

YMMV.

[Bumpyroad]

westernrvparkowner wrote:

Bumpyroad wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:
The fact is the park isn't interested in serving your market segment.

I apologize for being "trash".
bumpy

Here's a few other businesses that apparently think you are trash:
Four Seasons Hotels- No $29 rooms there
Disney - Over $100 a person to ride a roller coaster
Nordstroms - Never seen a $5.00 pair of Jeans there
Mercedes Benz- The entry level cars are over $20K
Ruth's Chris Steakhouses - No Dollar Value Menu there
Viking Appliances - Not a single one of their stoves are $299.00
Prevost, Foretravel and Newell Motorcoaches - None for less than $50k

Fact is, there are millions of businesses not at all interested in earning your business. I doubt they all think of you as trash. They just realize you are not interested in what they have for sale.

speaking of Foretravel, when I was interested in them I stayed in a Passport America park about 1/2 mile North of the plant for half of their normal price of $8.00. just a field with FHU, no office/showers/etc. when they found out I was going down to foretravel they said they had a bunch of people who owned them that stayed and had nothing good to say about them. I don't know where you found one for $50K cause they were a whole lot higher when I was interested in them.
bumpy

[westernrvparkow]

Bumpyroad wrote:

westernrvparkowner wrote:
The fact is the park isn't interested in serving your market segment.

I apologize for being "trash".
bumpy

Here's a few other businesses that apparently think you are trash:
Four Seasons Hotels- No $29 rooms there
Disney - Over $100 a person to ride a roller coaster
Nordstroms - Never seen a $5.00 pair of Jeans there
Mercedes Benz- The entry level cars are over $20K
Ruth's Chris Steakhouses - No Dollar Value Menu there
Viking Appliances - Not a single one of their stoves are $299.00
Prevost, Foretravel and Newell Motorcoaches - None for less than $50k

Fact is, there are millions of businesses not at all interested in earning your business. I doubt they all think of you as trash. They just realize you are not interested in what they have for sale.

[Dutch_12078]

westernrvparkowner wrote:
It's fine that you only want a place to stop for the night and don't want any amenities. But many parks provide amenities and market to those RVers that want them. Offering those low prices to attract customers like you often means the customer that would pay the high price for the available amenities will, instead, pay that low price and still use everything. It is no different than the fact that high end restaurants with elegant furniture, fixtures and exceptional service don't offer a ninety nine cent value menu. It isn't about missing out on your $12.00. The fact is the park isn't interested in serving your market segment.

If a park doesn't want to serve that market then I expect they won't sign on with PA. No one is twisting their arm, so obviously those that do sign on see enough value in it to continue accepting it. There is some PA "churn" with parks regularly joining in and others dropping out, so presumably their needs have changed. A new park might sign on to attract new guests for instance, and then a few years later after establishing a regular repeat clientele drop out, and that's fine, PA served their purpose. Other parks have enough of a slow period where PA might attract enough business to help cover the fixed overhead. I suspect most park owners are astute enough business people, or at least have astute accountants, to know whether PA works for them or not. Obviously PA wouldn't work for your parks and that's fine...

[2gypsies1]

I just randomly picked out this park in Arizona... it has amenities. Those without Passport America will be paying full price. How can you lose? Stay 2 nights and the membership is paid for.

http://www.passportamerica.com/campgrounds/az/goldcanyonrvandgolfresort3439

[Bumpyroad]

westernrvparkowner wrote:
The fact is the park isn't interested in serving your market segment.

I apologize for being "trash".
bumpy

[westernrvparkow]

doxiemom11 wrote:
I think some of the park owners that are commenting are missing the point that most of us who use PA are traveling and just want a place to stop for the night, cook dinner, maybe do a little laundry and sleep. We are not using the park as a destination park. That is not worth high dollar site fees. When we are sleeping the majority of the time while at your facility, we are not adding to your expenses.

We have stayed for an entire winter for $12 day w/ electric, high speed wifi, pool , bathhouse/showers etc. They must be making money at this campground to offer PA year round with no restrictions. On the gulf coast, so a desirable location for winter.

It's fine that you only want a place to stop for the night and don't want any amenities. But many parks provide amenities and market to those RVers that want them. Offering those low prices to attract customers like you often means the customer that would pay the high price for the available amenities will, instead, pay that low price and still use everything. It is no different than the fact that high end restaurants with elegant furniture, fixtures and exceptional service don't offer a ninety nine cent value menu. It isn't about missing out on your $12.00. The fact is the park isn't interested in serving your market segment.

[doxiemom11]

I think some of the park owners that are commenting are missing the point that most of us who use PA are traveling and just want a place to stop for the night, cook dinner, maybe do a little laundry and sleep. We are not using the park as a destination park. That is not worth high dollar site fees. When we are sleeping the majority of the time while at your facility, we are not adding to your expenses.

We have stayed for an entire winter for $12 day w/ electric, high speed wifi, pool , bathhouse/showers etc. They must be making money at this campground to offer PA year round with no restrictions. On the gulf coast, so a desirable location for winter.

[#10]

Hi Everyone!

As a Good Sam Club member you can join Passport America today at CampingWorld.com/passport or any Camping World SuperCenter for only $39.95, a $5 savings off the regular 1 YR rate. Plus, through February 26 you will receive an additional 6 months FREE when you join through Camping World.

[Dutch_12078]

Are there add-ons at some PA parks? Yes... Are those add-ons exclusive to PA members? None that I've seen...

[The_Painting_Te]

If you travel with frequent one-night stops and all you're looking for is a safe place to sleep with hookups, YES! I would rate almost every one we've used a 2 1/2 star facility, but the price is 5 star.

[Jbrowland]

It's a pretty darn good deal if you can use it. For us, and we may be in the minority here, it just didn't work well. In our case, there aren't many parks close by or close to where we frequently travel. Additionally, most of the parks that participate have their own set of rules for booking and those can be hard to find for each place, change frequently, are different than stated on the PA web page, or are dependent on some strange factor that doesn't present itself unless you dig for it. Too much hassle for weekend warriors.

As was stated, if you travel during the week or spend a lot of time on the road, it's a no brainer for sure.

[wbwood]

2gypsies wrote:
We never had add-ons on the PA parks we used.

doesn't mean they aren't there? trust me, we were given a PA membership for a couple of years from them and I researched places to go and never could find anything at a time we wanted to go that would of made it worth it. Either it was during their black out times or the ones we came across were not where we wanted to stay. During that research, I came across many with the add-ons. Which is good in a way. That way a couple is not charged for the same price as a family of 4 or 5. Or if you don't need certain amenities, then you don't pay for them....All I am saying is do your research to check make sure it's for you or not. AS I stated earlier, the more you use it, the better it's value.

[wbwood]

Bumpyroad wrote:

wbwood wrote:
PA is generally better for those that can travel during the week. From our experience, most of the campgrounds listed usually have blackout times. Weekends are often those times. Also pay attention to other things. While a park that is normally $40/night normally would be listed at $20. But you may find additional fees added on that. The $20 price may be for only 2 adults. You may be charged per extra person/per night. You may have other fees such as cable, wifi, pets, AC usage, etc....You will be surprised at what you may come across. A $20/night can easily turn into a $30-40 night easily.

The more you can use it, the better it is for you.

those add ons probably are gone on full rate campers also.
bumpy

Perhaps some are...but I've seen some that aren't....