CG Prices

[kfp673]

Preaching to the choir, beating a dead horse, etc etc I know but I still have to vent.

I've been camping my whole life and have had travel trailers for the past 18 years and never thought I would see site prices even come close to approaching what I have been seeing lately. Thankfully state parks (which we love and prefer) have kept prices somewhat flat, but we can rarely get a site at state parks. We are not year in advance planners outside of 1 trip each year so we rarely get in. We do it all from boondocking to "luxury RV resorts". The mid tier to "luxury" range has always been from $65-$150 that we have seen, and places like Fort wilderness up around $200. While looking for a site over memorial day weekend, we found a few near Ocean City MD, NJ, and elsewhere that we have used in the past (but not for the last 5 years) that ranged $200-$350 per night! Are they crazy?!?! It's a darn camp site not an all inclusive resort!! It's no wonder the few we found in that price point were not sold out over the holiday weekend. And, KOA's and others we looked at similar to KOA's are all over $100 now. We ended up boondocking and had a great time but we are finding our boondocks sites are far busier now likely because of it. I just can't believe anyone would pay even $150+ let alone $300+ per night at any RV resort / campground. For that price it should include food delivered to my camper, unlimited cocktails, and someone should come make my bed and clean my camper each day. I really hope people continue refusing the Sun RV and others like it so prices start dipping again. This is not inflation. This is "because we can" greed and its ruining camping for those of us without deep bank accounts.

Sorry for the rant 😉

[mdcamping]

mdcamping wrote:

kfp673 wrote:
Preaching to the choir, beating a dead horse, etc etc I know but I still have to vent.

I've been camping my whole life and have had travel trailers for the past 18 years and never thought I would see site prices even come close to approaching what I have been seeing lately. Thankfully state parks (which we love and prefer) have kept prices somewhat flat, but we can rarely get a site at state parks. We are not year in advance planners outside of 1 trip each year so we rarely get in. We do it all from boondocking to "luxury RV resorts". The mid tier to "luxury" range has always been from $65-$150 that we have seen, and places like Fort wilderness up around $200. While looking for a site over memorial day weekend, we found a few near Ocean City MD, NJ, and elsewhere that we have used in the past (but not for the last 5 years) that ranged $200-$350 per night! Are they crazy?!?! It's a darn camp site not an all inclusive resort!! It's no wonder the few we found in that price point were not sold out over the holiday weekend. And, KOA's and others we looked at similar to KOA's are all over $100 now. We ended up boondocking and had a great time but we are finding our boondocks sites are far busier now likely because of it. I just can't believe anyone would pay even $150+ let alone $300+ per night at any RV resort / campground. For that price it should include food delivered to my camper, unlimited cocktails, and someone should come make my bed and clean my camper each day. I really hope people continue refusing the Sun RV and others like it so prices start dipping again. This is not inflation. This is "because we can" greed and its ruining camping for those of us without deep bank accounts.

Sorry for the rant 😉

If your talking about Frontiertown by Ocean City MD? Last year I recommended the resort campground to a friend who had a young family. They absolutely had a blast and are returning again this year. The placed is a true resort with a water park and loads of other amenities. I remember him commenting on how expensive the place was but I don't think it was in the $200 range but I could be wrong. also he didn't go on the Big 3 holidays so maybe he got a better deal.

This year were going to Sun Outdoors Association Island, NY I think I'm paying just over $110 per night, waterfront on Lake Ontario. :C Next year I was told prices go up because of the resort expanding.

Mike

I just re-booked Sun Outdoors Association Island for 2023, same time. Rates are staying the same for 2023, $110 per night including site lock fee.

I just looked at the reviews for Frontiertown on RV life, Ouch! you were right some of the reviews had posted rates of $175 and $200.

20 years ago we did a bunch of similar type parks. Lots of young Rvers only get a few weeks vacation to spend with family so thats when you need to make it count.

Mike

[valhalla360]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Scottiemom wrote:
When traveling back and forth from WA to SoCal I don't waste my money at a RV Resort. I stay at Rest Areas when I get tired for a few hours. I also stay at "Animal Clubs" CampGround at a minimal expense.

What are "Animal Clubs" Campgrounds?

I believe he's trying to be cute about staying at Elks Lodges. Many have a campsite or two set up for out of town members.

[valhalla360]

Michelle.S wrote:
The OP must frequent fancier places than we do. We just completed our annual trek from Central Florida to Western New York and paid between $25 to $45 per nite with Full Hook-Up 50 amp for our 4 stop overs.

Yeah, there are a few prime locations at prime times that can get pricey but $25-45/n is pretty much what we plan on.

Of course, last minute holiday site, they got you by the short hairs. Either pay up or don't go.

[wapiticountry]

kfp673 wrote:

Lantley wrote:
Sun recently purchased frontier towne in OC.
I feared for the worst. However it has not been as bad as expected.
They added a new fully paved full hook up section that is very nice.
I agree rates increased substantially, but I'm sure adding 50 full hook up sites was a few million dollar project.
As mentioned Frontier towne is in a resort town and will never be an economy destination.
There are budget friendly destinations but they are generally not located in prime tourist areas
You cannot realistically compare resort town CG prices to other non resort CG's.
You need to consider what hotels and condo's go for in resort areas to get a better feel for pricing.

Not comparing resort to non resort. Just saying that those 2 in particular you mentioned had a range of prices over Memorial Day of $200-350 per night. That’s insane and as mentioned in my first post, I’m sure was the reason they did not sell out. They are both decent places but I have stayed at far far better for a small fraction of the price. You could never touch a site at one of those two resorts over Memorial Day if you did not book far in advance. Now that they are owned by the corporations who jacked the prices to more than double with the private owners used to charge they are not Selling out. Again $350!!! Now I know that is not their regular price on a non-holiday weekend but Just poking around I have noticed even their regular weekend rates have gone up substantially as have every other park purchased by corporations that I pay attention to.

I appreciate all of the comments on this thread. It’s great to hear all the different perspectives from all of the different areas of the country. At the same time it’s just a shame to see the costs continue to rise with very little improvement. It’s also a shame to see two or three large corporations buying up so many of our favorite private resorts and essentially ruining them with decreased service and increased pricing.

Selling out is not the goal of a business, maximizing profitability is. It is much more profitable for a park to be 75% full at $250 or $300 a night than it is to be sold out at $100 a night. Like hotels, airlines, and many other businesses RV parks are adopting dynamic pricing. Peak demand dates will have peak pricing. Thank computers for making it easy to implement. You are going to see it more and more.

[kfp673]

Lantley wrote:
Sun recently purchased frontier towne in OC.
I feared for the worst. However it has not been as bad as expected.
They added a new fully paved full hook up section that is very nice.
I agree rates increased substantially, but I'm sure adding 50 full hook up sites was a few million dollar project.
As mentioned Frontier towne is in a resort town and will never be an economy destination.
There are budget friendly destinations but they are generally not located in prime tourist areas
You cannot realistically compare resort town CG prices to other non resort CG's.
You need to consider what hotels and condo's go for in resort areas to get a better feel for pricing.

Not comparing resort to non resort. Just saying that those 2 in particular you mentioned had a range of prices over Memorial Day of $200-350 per night. That’s insane and as mentioned in my first post, I’m sure was the reason they did not sell out. They are both decent places but I have stayed at far far better for a small fraction of the price. You could never touch a site at one of those two resorts over Memorial Day if you did not book far in advance. Now that they are owned by the corporations who jacked the prices to more than double with the private owners used to charge they are not Selling out. Again $350!!! Now I know that is not their regular price on a non-holiday weekend but Just poking around I have noticed even their regular weekend rates have gone up substantially as have every other park purchased by corporations that I pay attention to.

I appreciate all of the comments on this thread. It’s great to hear all the different perspectives from all of the different areas of the country. At the same time it’s just a shame to see the costs continue to rise with very little improvement. It’s also a shame to see two or three large corporations buying up so many of our favorite private resorts and essentially ruining them with decreased service and increased pricing.

[TechWriter]

kfp673 wrote:

I've been camping my whole life and have had travel trailers for the past 18 years and never thought I would see site prices even come close to approaching what I have been seeing lately.

When we started full timing in 2013, I kept track of the costs for the campgrounds we stayed in that year (about 40).

In 2023 we're going back to some of those campgrounds and here's a cost-per-day comparison for some of them:

kfp673 wrote:

Thankfully state parks (which we love and prefer) have kept prices somewhat flat, but we can rarely get a site at state parks. We are not year in advance planners outside of 1 trip each year so we rarely get in.

When we started RVing in 2004, we always planned ahead. We had to in order to get prime spots in state campgrounds.

Now, things are even worse, for both public and private campground reservations. So we reserve as far as possible in advance and try to get a site at the exact time when the registration "window" opens up.

[C_Schomer]

Our group has been camping so long, we’re getting burnt out on SPs. We make our plans in Jan and Feb for the SPs and we have also found nice private CGs in the low 60s.
We’re all retired so we camp on the weekdays. I miss all the boondocking places in the Az. Mtns. That was, by far, the greatest! Camping isn’t the cheapest hobby but it’s sure fun with a good group… potlucks, day trips etc. Craig

[Lantley]

Sun recently purchased frontier towne in OC.
I feared for the worst. However it has not been as bad as expected.
They added a new fully paved full hook up section that is very nice.
I agree rates increased substantially, but I'm sure adding 50 full hook up sites was a few million dollar project.
As mentioned Frontier towne is in a resort town and will never be an economy destination.
There are budget friendly destinations but they are generally not located in prime tourist areas
You cannot realistically compare resort town CG prices to other non resort CG's.
You need to consider what hotels and condo's go for in resort areas to get a better feel for pricing.

[Cummins12V98]

Scottiemom wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
When traveling back and forth from WA to SoCal I don't waste my money at a RV Resort. I stay at Rest Areas when I get tired for a few hours. I also stay at "Animal Clubs" CampGround at a minimal expense.

What are "Animal Clubs" Campgrounds?

You will have to think about that one as I don't want to give out the best kept secret for cheap places to stay. 😉

[Grit_dog]

wapiticountry wrote:
When we sold our parks, and I can assure you many other owners will agree, a primary motivation was the fact dealing with the public is exhausting both physically and mentally. We got a good price, but likely wouldn’t have sold had our experiences been better. A couple of decades of people whining and complaining is strong motivation to get the heck out. Unlike private owners, corporations can churn through managers and employees. I don’t blame them a bit for trying to squeeze every dime from every customer. I sometimes wish we had done the same.

Bingo! You hit the nail on the head! The service industry s ucks! We all love a nice mom n pop (name the business). But the general public is generally insufferable and a constant battle to please, keep up with, or deal with insolence and other behavioral issues.

We have had the, I’ll say the same unfortunate experience, dealing with tenants.
Have rented out 4 different homes of ours. Each one for a different reason. And my experience, growing up, my grandmother and then parents had 2 apartments and a house that we rented out. I remember the many trips to fix stuff at 10:00 at night and Dad grumbling about that. And 1 renter who generally never could quite come up with rent on time, but despite their lack of personal financial management, were good folks, turned into family friends actually and in the end didn’t leave us hanging.
My experience, starting some 15 years later was a direct departure from that experience my parents had.
I thought, renting out a nice large custom home (they were all ex - residences that we hung on to for different reasons, Some to make money, some to not lose money by selling at the wrong time, would generally provide at least a somewhat acceptable tenant. 4 houses and 8 tenants later, I can say with a great deal of confidence, I will never (unless absolutely necessary) own another rental! 2 good tenants, 1 decent and 5 that wouldn’t pay, destroyed the house, etc. Even had one that went from great to the 3rd worst!
Just like a campground owner, I needed the money, so I let ‘em in. And then at the end of the day, several of them cost us far more than they paid us!

[Grit_dog]

ferndaleflyer wrote:
When investment groups get involved 2 things you can count on, higher prices and diminished services. All they do is take everything they can then dump whats left.

And then the life cycle begins again.
Do you blame the investment companies, or those that sell out to them?

Asking for a friend…

[wapiticountry]

When we sold our parks, and I can assure you many other owners will agree, a primary motivation was the fact dealing with the public is exhausting both physically and mentally. We got a good price, but likely wouldn’t have sold had our experiences been better. A couple of decades of people whining and complaining is strong motivation to get the heck out. Unlike private owners, corporations can churn through managers and employees. I don’t blame them a bit for trying to squeeze every dime from every customer. I sometimes wish we had done the same.

[ferndaleflyer]

When investment groups get involved 2 things you can count on, higher prices and diminished services. All they do is take everything they can then dump whats left.

[kfp673]

Good thoughts all! I should clarify that my point is not a 100% blanket statement. Certainly plenty of lower cost CG's, especially in lower demand areas, but my findings have been those are either very difficult to get in without booking far in advance, or they are just bad / dumpy places. I should also clarify that while prices have been climbing as we all know, I am specifically referring to this year / right now. And I totally understand that a private CG with lots of "things to do" is going to be much higher than state parks or others, but there's a limit. Seems like the majority of major hikes (some have doubled or nearly doubled over the past 2 years) are the corporate campgrounds. We used to actively avoid Sun, Trails, etc. We did not mind KOA so much as they still tend to feel like personally owned. problem is, Sun and Trails are buying everything, doing nothing at all to improve them (or maybe very minor tweaks) and hiking prices. Again, I can't speak for all locations but in my experience so far this year. Up and down the east coast I am seeing these privates sell to the corporate names and it's really a shame. Can't blame the owners as I'm sure it's a win for them but prices go up immediately in my experience.

Anyway, not much we can do I guess other than keep looking elsewhere and increase my boondock trips

[Scottiemom]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
When traveling back and forth from WA to SoCal I don't waste my money at a RV Resort. I stay at Rest Areas when I get tired for a few hours. I also stay at "Animal Clubs" CampGround at a minimal expense.

What are "Animal Clubs" Campgrounds?