Best RV Resort in the Sunshine state Coast to Coast

[ct78barnes]

Looking for people that have stayed at Coast to Coast parks. We have stayed at some and calling them resorts when they are not even close is what we have found. Then even if the park is close to empty they still have special spots for Coast to Coast The one we stayed at we drove around for over a hr to find a site and the park was empty but they would not budge and tried to put us buy the trash dumpsters. Did we find a bad park or are all the parks this way.

[Coast_Admin]

Thank you for the suggestion, it is a good one. We’ll take a look at doing that. We also follow-up on all the feedback about resorts and parks that we get from members, and deal with these on a “case by case” basis. Hopefully by doing this, we can stop any unwarranted practices before they affect any more members. Many times we find it is not a deliberate attempt to circumvent our rules but rather a training issue at the resort, someone new who wasn’t aware of the rules regarding Coast members. Quite a number of members have relayed to me personally that they’ve used the system for years and have never had a problem. However we know that problems do occur, and when they do, we investigate and fix the problem.

Bruce Hoster

[OhhWell]

Coast_Admin wrote:
Thank you for your feedback on Coast to Coast. I’d like to provide some answers to the issues you raise.

Coast to Coast does not own nor operate any of the resorts in our system. However we do inspect and rate all the resorts in our system every year. To do this, we use the same Good Sam Directory rating teams and rating system that are used to rate Good Sam Parks. Coast is the only reciprocal use membership network that rates our resorts, and it costs us over $15,000 every year to do this. We do not question the extra expense because we want to know that we’re sending our members to quality parks. We have a simple rule of thumb: If we wouldn’t stay there, or we wouldn’t send our family members to stay there, we won’t send our members to stay there.

During my tenure as head of Coast to Coast, we have removed over 50 resorts due to poor conditions. Some of these were identified through ratings, while some were identified by member feedback. We consider member feedback on our affiliated resorts as one of the most important ways we monitor the conditions and the service at our affiliated resorts. We research every issue we receive from our members, and we reply to the member with our findings and whatever action we decide to take. I can assure you that resorts have been terminated based upon member feedback, particularly when we receive feedback from a second or third member on the same issue.

Unfortunately there have been (and from your feedback sounds like there still are) resorts that do not treat our members properly. Frankly this is unacceptable. True story, we had a resort a few years ago that did this same thing to Coast members, placed our members in the least-desirable sites in the resort which reeked in the summer due to the proximity to their stables. Based upon member feedback, we asked the resort to change their policy or risk termination, they refused, and we terminated them. They came back to us a year later and asked to re-affiliate, promising to provide our members better sites. Today they are back in our system, and we no longer receive complaints from our members who stay there.

The core principle of a reciprocal use network like Coast is that resorts treat visiting members as well as they treat their own members. Resorts are bound to do this by an affiliation agreement they have signed with us. They are also bound by the same agreement to provide facilities and amenities that meet our quality standards. We try to enforce this through rating the resorts annually, but member feedback is really critical to the process. Feedback is important on conditions but particularly important in regards to service. That’s because rating teams can rate resort conditions and facilities, but only our members can rate the service they receive at our affiliated resorts.

Sorry this is long-winded, but I can assure you that everyone who works at Coast to Coast is dedicated to providing a quality membership experience to our members. When that doesn’t happen, we take whatever action is necessary to make it right for the member. If you can email me (bhoster@goodsam.com) the name of the resort and the dates you stayed, I promise you they’ll hear from us today about your stay and their treatment of Coast members. Then we’ll follow-up to let you know the outcome of our discussions with them. And in the future I welcome your continued feedback, either to me directly or to our Coast Member Service Center (1-800-368-5721). Any member feedback to our member service center is forwarded to us immediately as we’re just down the hall.

I can assure you that “we have your back” when you travel our Coast to Coast system.

Bruce Hoster
President, Coast to Coast

Wow, that's great to have responded to a member's concerns on a message board and it doesn't look too canned of a response. If we traveled a lot, I would look at coast to coast.

I have a suggestion. It already seems like private parks are pretty underhanded or even resentful of the reciprocal agreement. Could you send out quarterly emails asking members to rate their experience staying in member parks? It's starting to sound like they don't treat members well and upcharge sometimes....

[ct78barnes]

Thanks Bruce

I will get back to you on the resorts and dates we stayed at . This is a great site and to have the CEO email me back and watch this site it great .

[WHITE_TOP]

We to are new members of coast 2 coast just last year we joined.We were fortunate enough to use it four times now.It surly paid for it self after the first stay at one of the resorts, mainly because we stayed for 12 days at the resort. The other two stays went as they were suppose to.We also encountered a situation at another resort that we were told had no coast 2 coast sites left,but did offer a site for a reduced rate(it was $25 a night)still a fair rate.We arrived and the five days we were there saw most of the resort empty,due to the time of the year.It did seem to be a little suspicious though.My point is some of these parks do seem to try to squeeze a little more money out of you,while others follow their commentment.We are going to join again this year because hopefully are going to have time to make it worth our while.So maybe try anouther resort in the area.Hope this helps.Happy Trails....

[Coast_Admin]

Thank you for your feedback on Coast to Coast. I’d like to provide some answers to the issues you raise.

Coast to Coast does not own nor operate any of the resorts in our system. However we do inspect and rate all the resorts in our system every year. To do this, we use the same Good Sam Directory rating teams and rating system that are used to rate Good Sam Parks. Coast is the only reciprocal use membership network that rates our resorts, and it costs us over $15,000 every year to do this. We do not question the extra expense because we want to know that we’re sending our members to quality parks. We have a simple rule of thumb: If we wouldn’t stay there, or we wouldn’t send our family members to stay there, we won’t send our members to stay there.

During my tenure as head of Coast to Coast, we have removed over 50 resorts due to poor conditions. Some of these were identified through ratings, while some were identified by member feedback. We consider member feedback on our affiliated resorts as one of the most important ways we monitor the conditions and the service at our affiliated resorts. We research every issue we receive from our members, and we reply to the member with our findings and whatever action we decide to take. I can assure you that resorts have been terminated based upon member feedback, particularly when we receive feedback from a second or third member on the same issue.

Unfortunately there have been (and from your feedback sounds like there still are) resorts that do not treat our members properly. Frankly this is unacceptable. True story, we had a resort a few years ago that did this same thing to Coast members, placed our members in the least-desirable sites in the resort which reeked in the summer due to the proximity to their stables. Based upon member feedback, we asked the resort to change their policy or risk termination, they refused, and we terminated them. They came back to us a year later and asked to re-affiliate, promising to provide our members better sites. Today they are back in our system, and we no longer receive complaints from our members who stay there.

The core principle of a reciprocal use network like Coast is that resorts treat visiting members as well as they treat their own members. Resorts are bound to do this by an affiliation agreement they have signed with us. They are also bound by the same agreement to provide facilities and amenities that meet our quality standards. We try to enforce this through rating the resorts annually, but member feedback is really critical to the process. Feedback is important on conditions but particularly important in regards to service. That’s because rating teams can rate resort conditions and facilities, but only our members can rate the service they receive at our affiliated resorts.

Sorry this is long-winded, but I can assure you that everyone who works at Coast to Coast is dedicated to providing a quality membership experience to our members. When that doesn’t happen, we take whatever action is necessary to make it right for the member. If you can email me (bhoster@goodsam.com) the name of the resort and the dates you stayed, I promise you they’ll hear from us today about your stay and their treatment of Coast members. Then we’ll follow-up to let you know the outcome of our discussions with them. And in the future I welcome your continued feedback, either to me directly or to our Coast Member Service Center (1-800-368-5721). Any member feedback to our member service center is forwarded to us immediately as we’re just down the hall.

I can assure you that “we have your back” when you travel our Coast to Coast system.

Bruce Hoster
President, Coast to Coast

[ct78barnes]

Thanks for a great post . I have to decide if I want to go one more year . We have been members since 2007 and bought it off the internet at a good price. It seems that they make you jump through so many hoops and a lot of the parks are way off the main roads.We had one park send us a bill for three dollars for cable we did not use. We just stopped over night got in at 6.00 pm left the next morning at 6.00 am .We have Direct TV and did not use there cable.So after two weeks back home we get this bill I sent them a check for 3.00 dollars. I a really thinking to dump my membership.

[joe_b_]

At one time we were C to C members and had two separate home parks, one in Colona Colorado and one west of Gunnison Colorado. While I never had any problems with the national C to C organization, the local parks around the country did try to play games with us on many occasions, such as you have found.

We found many of the C to C campgrounds worked at discouraging us from staying. Often when we asked for a week, we were told they could only give us one night, but come back in the morning between some hours to check again for the next night. These parks often had numerous sites available for every night we were there. Most/many also tried to sell us a membership in "their" campground, which is apparently where they make much of their money.

We were given the membership in the Blue Mesa C to C by my wife's aunt, which turned out to be the most expensive gift we ever received. LOL It is a nice campground but we didn't stay there enough to justify paying the $450 a year home park fee to them.

After about 3 years of being in C to C, we dropped out with them. Lucky for us, our contract allowed that, if we were paid up with our home park. They have some nice C to C parks, but also many questionable ones, IMHO. Many we stopped at were mainly trailer parks and they might have a half dozen RV sites, somewhere in the park. Many of the parks that tried to sell us a membership in their park, would mention how we could stay in some very nice parks, not their's, for a very low nightly fee, so long as we paid them their home park fee.

For some RVers that use the C to C system enough, if works well and they get their moneys worth, they feel. Others like us, didn't feel it was a workable system with the way we like to travel and overnight at campgrounds. Many were way off the beaten path of where we were headed.