Campground Descriptions ~ Just Thinking

[Devonm2012]

We live fulltime on the road and so far have visited 22 or 23 states. Having a wonderful time. However, as I was walking the campground this morning, drinking my coffee, I began to wonder "When does the campground description go from stretching the truth to something more like a lie?" I am not going to name the park we are in, as I am not posting a complaint, just thinking aloud.

This campground advertises itself as a "Luxury Resort". Now, I know we have all stayed at luxury resorts. We have stayed at lots of them. We don't necessarily search them out, but if we come across one, we like to stay. Buckhorn outside of San Antonio, Bella Terra in Foley, AL, Crown Villa in Bend, OR, Portal RV Resort in UT, etc. This place has NO paved roads, lots of dust, sites are fairly close, have seen many large rigs with front tires off the ground, you have to pay to use the showers, the Internet is basically non-existent (even close to the office), the pool is not heated, staff not knowledgeable nor very friendly, etc. Again, this is a decent little campground but, in our opinion, not even close to being a resort and most certainly not a "luxury resort".

Just find this very interesting. Please don't slam on me ~ I am just thinking aloud here and we are happy with our site.

[rockhillmanor]

For me... I called back to cancel within a couple of hours of making the reservation and they charged my card and said so sorry but that's how it works.

Sitting in backed up traffic in 105 degree temps in a MH towing, dogs overheating in the MH and then dodging the carnage from the accident.....calling and trying to get the CC company to deny payment was not real high on my list. :B

It was a shock to find out how CG's operate, but a lesson learned and turned out to be a big 'plus' for me because I learned you do not need to make reservations to find a site for the night. I finally got thru the back up and pulled off at the next CG sign I saw very late at night, office closed with note on door ~"pull in, park, and pay in the morning"!! :C

[Popsie]

Sully2 wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:



--- SNIP

Assuming the CG was notified within the proper time allowance...simple REFUSE TO PAY the card company

You can try this, but you will lose 100% of the time if that's the approach you take.

If you disagree with a charge, you have to contact the credit card company and tell them that you wish to dispute the charge and tell them why. Usually, they will TEMPORARILY remove the charge from your account. Then they will investigate your complaint. If they believe that your complaint is valid (fraudulent use of your credit card by an unauthorized person and faulty merchandise are the complaints most likely to be validated) then the charge will be removed permanently. If your account is in good standing, and you charge a lot of money to the card year after year, and the amount in dispute is not a lot, they will probably drop the charge from your account, regardless of its validity. However, note that when you charge something to your account, you are presumed to be responsible for paying that charge, and if the investigation goes against you, you owe the money to the credit card company. To go beyond that you would have pay the credit card company and sue the campground, and provide sufficient evidence to convince a court that your allegations are correct.

[Sully2]

I made advanced reservations for locations between home and my end destination because I want a good place to stay at night during my trip. I have before...and Im sure I shall again...stayed all night in Interstate rest stops...mainly because there wasnt a good CG within hours of my location.

Im a big boy and not afraid of the old booger man that might come and get me in the night!!..:h....but even Flying J doesnt have 50 amp electrical service for me to make a pot of coffee in the early morning so I can pry my peepers open.

[Sully2]

rockhillmanor wrote:



X10!
When I was working and RV'ing on the weekends. I was an anal freak on reservations/schedules. So when I went full time I took that habit with me.

All it took was ONE time reserving and supplying the credit card and then got caught up in a bad car wreck that shut down the interstate and when I called to say I would not make it and they said thank you for calling and promptly charged my credit card. :R

I have a feature on my GPS that alerts me while I am driving down the road when there is a CG within 10 miles of my position! I click on the little tent icon and it tells me where it is, directions, and phone number!! :B
That GPS has showed me some 'real' nice CG's that are not advertised anywhere!

Assuming the CG was notified within the proper time allowance...simple REFUSE TO PAY the card company

[rockhillmanor]

Popsie wrote:
It seems that the upside to reservations is that you feel confident that you have a campground/RV Park committed to providing you with a space and you won't have to scramble at the last minute to find somewhere to stay.

It seems that the downsides to making reservations are that if you get to the place you've reserved and it's unsuitable for some reason, you have to pay for that place (you've given a credit card number to reserve the spot) even though you don't end up using it, and then

pay for the place you do end up staying

. Or, as you drive to the place you've reserved, you pass by a wonderful looking place with vacancies but you end up staying at the less desirable place because you have already committed to and payed for it......

X10!
When I was working and RV'ing on the weekends. I was an anal freak on reservations/schedules. So when I went full time I took that habit with me.

All it took was ONE time reserving and supplying the credit card and then got caught up in a bad car wreck that shut down the interstate and when I called to say I would not make it and they said thank you for calling and promptly charged my credit card. :R

I have a feature on my GPS that alerts me while I am driving down the road when there is a CG within 10 miles of my position! I click on the little tent icon and it tells me where it is, directions, and phone number!! :B
That GPS has showed me some 'real' nice CG's that are not advertised anywhere!

[msmith1199]

I'm not saying I never make reservations because I do. Here in California on a weekend in the summer you pretty much have to have reservations in many places. However, when I'm heading out for longer than a weekend we rarely make reservations simply because I like the freedom to go where I want. A couple of years ago I was having some problems with my back but I wanted to go from California to Oshkosh for the big air show. Told my wife we would just hit the road and if my back got too bad we'd just camp where ever we were, and if we could make it we would. Ended up making it and then came back through Sturgis. Even though we were in Sturgis a couple of days before the official start of bike week, I found an RV space with full hookups and we spent a couple of days there. I just can't plan out a two week trip in advance because I never know where I'm going to have the urge to go that far in advance.

[Devonm2012]

westernrvparkowner wrote:

JoeH wrote:

afrescop wrote:
I use rvparkreviews.com for the most accurate RV park information. After we stay at a park I go to this web site and post my opinion of that park. It is the one place where you can read user posted opinions.

I can't trust RVPARKREVIEWS as the webmaster censors/edits input before it is posted to the site. I had an issue with a RV park that said they were big rig friendly... we got there and they put us in two back to back sites... which was OK and told us we would need to pull thru the site across the road from us to exit , as the road itself was too narrow to make the turn. They told me that they would not rent that site that I needed to pull thru to exit. About an hour later, they did rent the site ( even though the park was maybe 1/3 full with plenty of other options) . I spoke to the staff member about this and explained how I would not be able to leave in the morning unless the other person moved their trailer. She said that I'd have to live with it and wait until the person left. I spoke with the people in the trailer, and they did go back to the office and got a different site. I provided this input to RVPARKREVIEWS along with my assessment of the power/water/restrooms,etc ( all positive by the way) but commented on the rude staff and the fact that they planned to block me in (43 ft MH towing a pickup truck) . The RVPARKREVIEWS webmaster responded that he would not post my review as it might be a one time occurrence.. I think not... the park advertises as big rig friendly and are anything but that. Then RVPARKREVIEWS decides to censor my review --- I will not use that site now that I know they publish what they want , not what contributors provide as accurate experiences and observations.

Sure would be nice if the RVparkreview people would come on and give us the rest of the story, because I seriously doubt this is what occurred. There are one time events posted in the reviews all the time. I have seen things from "road is too narrow and we broke off a branch on a tree", which by definition would be a one time event since that branch is gone, to "there was a snake on the entrance road to the park" , which is a bit out of the park's control. They wouldn't have deleted your post simply because you said you got blocked in. The Paul Harvey fans here are waiting.

I can confirm that we move often and I review every place we stay. I can recall three times that a review was pushed back to me. Two times were because they felt the statements were not worded clear enough, which I corrected, and once because they felt my review may be a "one time issue" that just impacted me. Much like this guy says. However, there was enough other "bad" stuff to document that I simply deleted the line they felt was too specific to just me, added one more general issue, left the rest the same and resubmitted. It was posted without problem. However, I can confirm they do closely review to determine if the review is general or just because the camper got mad about something and is trying to get back at them.

[westernrvparkow]

JoeH wrote:

afrescop wrote:
I use rvparkreviews.com for the most accurate RV park information. After we stay at a park I go to this web site and post my opinion of that park. It is the one place where you can read user posted opinions.

I can't trust RVPARKREVIEWS as the webmaster censors/edits input before it is posted to the site. I had an issue with a RV park that said they were big rig friendly... we got there and they put us in two back to back sites... which was OK and told us we would need to pull thru the site across the road from us to exit , as the road itself was too narrow to make the turn. They told me that they would not rent that site that I needed to pull thru to exit. About an hour later, they did rent the site ( even though the park was maybe 1/3 full with plenty of other options) . I spoke to the staff member about this and explained how I would not be able to leave in the morning unless the other person moved their trailer. She said that I'd have to live with it and wait until the person left. I spoke with the people in the trailer, and they did go back to the office and got a different site. I provided this input to RVPARKREVIEWS along with my assessment of the power/water/restrooms,etc ( all positive by the way) but commented on the rude staff and the fact that they planned to block me in (43 ft MH towing a pickup truck) . The RVPARKREVIEWS webmaster responded that he would not post my review as it might be a one time occurrence.. I think not... the park advertises as big rig friendly and are anything but that. Then RVPARKREVIEWS decides to censor my review --- I will not use that site now that I know they publish what they want , not what contributors provide as accurate experiences and observations.

Sure would be nice if the RVparkreview people would come on and give us the rest of the story, because I seriously doubt this is what occurred. There are one time events posted in the reviews all the time. I have seen things from "road is too narrow and we broke off a branch on a tree", which by definition would be a one time event since that branch is gone, to "there was a snake on the entrance road to the park" , which is a bit out of the park's control. They wouldn't have deleted your post simply because you said you got blocked in. The Paul Harvey fans here are waiting.

[JoeH]

afrescop wrote:
I use rvparkreviews.com for the most accurate RV park information. After we stay at a park I go to this web site and post my opinion of that park. It is the one place where you can read user posted opinions.

I can't trust RVPARKREVIEWS as the webmaster censors/edits input before it is posted to the site. I had an issue with a RV park that said they were big rig friendly... we got there and they put us in two back to back sites... which was OK and told us we would need to pull thru the site across the road from us to exit , as the road itself was too narrow to make the turn. They told me that they would not rent that site that I needed to pull thru to exit. About an hour later, they did rent the site ( even though the park was maybe 1/3 full with plenty of other options) . I spoke to the staff member about this and explained how I would not be able to leave in the morning unless the other person moved their trailer. She said that I'd have to live with it and wait until the person left. I spoke with the people in the trailer, and they did go back to the office and got a different site. I provided this input to RVPARKREVIEWS along with my assessment of the power/water/restrooms,etc ( all positive by the way) but commented on the rude staff and the fact that they planned to block me in (43 ft MH towing a pickup truck) . The RVPARKREVIEWS webmaster responded that he would not post my review as it might be a one time occurrence.. I think not... the park advertises as big rig friendly and are anything but that. Then RVPARKREVIEWS decides to censor my review --- I will not use that site now that I know they publish what they want , not what contributors provide as accurate experiences and observations.

[Sully2]

I dont bother with campground reviews online.....personally have found them to be very inaccurate. I do go thru Trailer Life CG directory book and the ratings THEY give various CG's...and book my stops accordingly. Ive never been caught short using them as a guide.

I really dont trust CG guides until I personally have stopped and stayed at a location.....then it either goes into MY directory or gets pitched out.

[westernrvparkow]

Traveling without reservations works all the time, until it doesn't. Try showing up in the Black Hills around the first of August without reservations. Or Albuquerque during the Balloon Festival, or any number of smaller towns that have a major event one week a year. And there are places that always are close to sold out during vacation season, such as the Disney parks, the major National Parks and other big time tourist destinations. I have seen too many people with their hair on fire because there are no spaces anywhere to be found. It doesn't make them any happier when I find them a spot 100 miles down the road. So much for good customer service always being appreciated.

[doxiemom11]

We have never made reservations either. After working in parks I know that most unless in a high demand tourist area have sites sitting empty all the time. Why pay for the reservation fees and or cancellation fees if I change my mind about which direction we are going. We have never been without a site for the nite in over 2 years of full-time travel.

[Popsie]

It seems that the upside to reservations is that you feel confident that you have a campground/RV Park committed to providing you with a space and you won't have to scramble at the last minute to find somewhere to stay.

It seems that the downsides to making reservations are that if you get to the place you've reserved and it's unsuitable for some reason, you have to pay for that place (you've given a credit card number to reserve the spot) even though you don't end up using it, and then pay for the place you do end up staying. Or, as you drive to the place you've reserved, you pass by a wonderful looking place with vacancies but you end up staying at the less desirable place because you have already committed to and payed for it.

BTW, our personal history - DW used to be a total control freak (don't tell her I said so), and every trip had to be planned and reserved down to the last detail. On one trip, I convinced her to let me be in charge and take us on an unplanned driving trip. It was going well, but we arrived in Stockholm during the week that they were holding an annual Fall Fashion Show. There were no hotel rooms available within 100 miles. DW was in an "I told you so" panic. We parked and I called and made a ferry reservation to Helsinki for that evening and we spent the rest of the day sightseeing. About 7pm, we drove to the ferry dock and boarded our car. We had a nice dinner, watched the sunset, and slept peacefully in our stateroom. In the morning we disembarked and spent a week in Helsinki and environs. Then we took the ferry back to Stockholm (after the fashion show was over), and spent a week in Stockholm. Our original thought was to visit Northern Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, but we were very happy that we added Finland. Anyway, ever since, DW has been very open to taking the route less planned.

[Devonm2012]

msmith1199 wrote:

rockhillmanor wrote:

Devonm2012 wrote:

Popsie wrote:
One tactic that works for us is to leave around 9 am, then drive for four or five hours.

We have possible places in mind, and when we get to the first one, we park and walk around to check the place out. If it doesn't suit us, we move on down the road. We almost always can find a decent place for a reasonable price by the end of the day.

In planning the possible places to stay, we use RVParkReviews, mapping programs and their satellite views, and a number of web sites.

One factor in choosing candidate parks/campgrounds is "why are we going to stop at that place?" We like to drive one day, then stop for a few days or weeks. The places of interest available in the area are usually more important than the parking place amenities.

Oh my......we are booked months in advance. I would have a stroke if we did not have a reservation long in advance! We are big, and tow a car, and just would never want to not know we had a place reserved. Now, we have left after one night, if a must, but can't imagine just hitting the road with no place confirmed. Just doesn't work for us. I am a planner, planner, planner and need to know point A and point B. Just how I am.

You need to lighten up and live a little! :B
4 years on the road full timing and counting and I have NEVER made a reservation. I have a big MH AND towing also and have never had a problem finding a CG to park for the night. Whether it be 3 in the afternoon, 6 or 8 at night when I decided to come off the road. Heck one time I pulled into a CG midnight! :C

I had a friend at work that was just like this. She had a 5th wheel and whenever they left the house she had the entire trip planned out down the minute with reservations for every night. I rented a motorhome back then for 10 days. We live in the middle of California. I literally got to the freeway before deciding if we were heading north or south. Did the same thing each day of the trip. When I told my friend at work about this she thought I was just plain crazy. It upset her to even think that I would do that on vacation. 🙂

That is great! I love hearing stories like that. It is just not me. I am a planner.....have always been a planner......love planning....and see no reason to change. I think we have lots of flexibility and have never worried if we changed a reservation or paid a penalty. We have done it a number of times. For example, we went to a VERY small campground in Vermont. They only had two sites that were 50 amp and would hold us. We were reserved long in advance and both those sites were booked solid all season. At that park, we met two of the most amazing couples that I see us being in touch with for a very long time. Since then we have already met up another time, and plan to meet up again this Thursday. So, to me, being a planner is not bad, as we would have never met them had we not planned that stay out long in advance. 🙂