Still confused - affiliates?

[prstlk]

My thanks to all of those who have answered my other post about membership and purchasing one on the secondary market.

One poster suggested I read pages relating to this on the BarbaraOK website, which I have now done. This website has a lot of great information, but as usual with me, it brings up more questions.

Please remember that I am a newbie here and while this question may seem like one of those dumb questions I am hoping that someone will take pity on me and help…

BarbaraOK states:

One of the best ways we have of keeping costs down for overnight stays is the use of Membership Campgrounds. We belong to Western Horizon Resorts (WHR) as our ‘homepark’ system and have Resorts of Distinction (ROD), Adventures Outdoor Resorts (AOR), and Coast-to-Coast (C2C) as our affiliated park systems. The costs range from $6/night in WHR parks, $0/night in ROD parks, to $10/night in AOR and C2C parks. A couple of years ago we added the Thousand Trails Zone Pass for the West Coast where we spend a great deal of time.

My questions are:

Please define homepark for me – does this mean which state you sign up in or?

Do you pay the full price of membership in each of these or are the “affiliate” parks discounted or do you pay anything at all? i.e. Home park costs $1000.00 and you get a certain discount at the others for belonging to said homepark. Are the discounts more than 10% of do they have set prices? The reason I ask this is I have heard that TT advertises its affiliate Encore but it is my understanding that you only receive a 10% discount at the Encore sites. Well that’s not anything more than my Good Sam will get me.

I’m sorry to be so dense on this issue but I want to make sure that our money gets invested the best way that will, in the long run, save us money.

Thanks to all who take the time to answer.

[prstlk]

BarbaraOK wrote:
Home park can be just an individual park or it can be a system like Thousand Trails, K-M, WHR, SUNRISE, etc. You purchase the home park (or system) either new or used (used is usually the best bet) and then add on the affiliates. It is important though to make sure you understand what the affiliates will cost you. It is important though to make sure you understand what the affiliates will cost you. Some home parks (or systems) will charge you are large price to add affiliates if you have purchased a used membership, others the charge is minimal.

Barb,

Thank you for your response.

Can you give me a little more time and tell me how to go at finding out from the home park systems how much they will charge me to add affiliates?

Do I call the system and trust that the info I get will be the same after I have paid for the home park to the current owner?

I see and like the looks of the Sunrise system but if they are going to charge double what Thousand Trails might charge then maybe it isn't worth it.

Thank you for your patience with me!

[BarbaraOK]

An affiliate is a system that you can join AFTER you have a home park. Coast-2-Coast, AOR, ROD, and RPI are all examples of affiliate systems. You can't belong to them until you have a home park.

Home park can be just an individual park or it can be a system like Thousand Trails, K-M, WHR, SUNRISE, etc. You purchase the home park (or system) either new or used (used is usually the best bet) and then add on the affiliates. It is important though to make sure you understand what the affiliates will cost you. Some home parks (or systems) will charge you are large price to add affiliates if you have purchased a used membership, others the charge is minimal.

As to why to have them - they make it so that not only can you stay at your home park/system, but add HUNDREDS of other parks. We love ROD because it is $0 night for us. But we also use C2C and AOR. In fact we are currently in an ROD affiliated park, we will then go for a wee to a C2C park, then a park under AOR, then back to another ROD park, then a Thousand Trails park, which gets us past Labor Day. Cost for 6 weeks will be $170 or about $4/night.

We average over 100 nights a year in membership parks and have saved thousands of dollars by aggressively using them to our advantage. Sometimes we end up driving a few more miles to visit family/friends, but when the difference is 2 weeks at $0/night versus $40/night, well driving a little is certainly doable!

Barb

[Old-Biscuit]

Simple explanation......

"Home park'-that is where you have your campground membership with. Home Park determines which affiliate Classic, Deluxe, Preferred, Premium, Elite.
'Affiliates'---that is an additional program that allows you to stay at other campgrounds for $10/$15 night and for up to 7 days or 14 days at a time (nightly cost/length of stay dependent on type of affiliate program).

Home park..you buy into and pay yearly dues
Affiliate...you ay yearly dues to retain

BUY RESALE ONLY.

We purchased a 'Home Park' that was 'deluxe affiliate' so we got C2C Deluxe/RPI Preferred programs. Total Cost for buy in and ALL yearly dues was $950.
After that home park yearly dues are $59/frozen and C2C Deluxe was $149. We dropped RPI due to overlapping of parks with C2C.

We Ftd for 7 yrs. Used 'home park' when we were in that area, C2C when convenient as we traveled. No charge at home park. $10/night at C2C affiliate campgrounds. $15/night at Encore affiliate parks. Good Neighbor Parks.....pricing varied based on location ($15-$30/night)

We also used PassPort American, COE (Corp of Engineers), fairgrounds, city parks, public parks and boondocked (never Wally Mart...YUK!)

[bdpreece]

Affiliate systems are just that, systems that are not owned by any one park system but allow members of several parks systems that are affiliated with that particular system to share parks. Usually these systems are open to members on a limited basis such as no holidays, stays of only 7 days, stay only two or three times a year, etc. Probably our favorite affiliate system is ROD since staying in ROD parks is free after your initial yearly dues. Next is Coast to Coast which charges $10 a night. Since most membership systems have parks in one area like the West for example, belonging to an affiliate system allows you to be able to camp in membership parks other than your own system all over the United States. The main thing to look for when purchasing a home park system is that you want to make sure they are members of the affiliate system you want to use also. A few years ago Thousand Trails dropped out of ROD and there were a lot of unhappy campers since if they wanted to camp under ROD they had to find another home park system to join that included ROD. Presently we belong to ROD, Coast to Coast, RPI, and AOR and use them a lot so we feel it is worthwhile. Just like the home park system if you are not going to use them then it is money down the drain.

[prstlk]

bdpreece wrote:
Home park is normally the park you purchase your membership at. Membership resort systems who have multiple parks us this designation. If you are considering purchasing a membership in Western Horizon Resorts I only have one piece of advice for you; RUN!!!!!!!!!!!! When we purchased from them they had 23 parks. At last count, I think they are down to 4 or 5 that they actually own and these are for sale.

Thanks for your advise but I am trying to figure out the affiliate system thing as well.

The parks for sale seems to be pretty much the same thing for all of them - having read several threads about them all.

Any other feedback - good and bad - from readers would be appreciated.

[bdpreece]

Home park is normally the park you purchase your membership at. Membership resort systems who have multiple parks us this designation. If you are considering purchasing a membership in Western Horizon Resorts I only have one piece of advice for you; RUN!!!!!!!!!!!! When we purchased from them they had 23 parks. At last count, I think they are down to 4 or 5 that they actually own and these are for sale.