Daily Visitor fees

Think I would check out campground policies when planning my trip.

JM2¢ ~~ YMMV

I have seen cases where a local would rent a spot for the weekend then invite 20 or more friends out to party. The pool was totally filled as was the game room, etc. That campground instituted a guest fee and put limits on the number of guests the following season.

I, personally have no problems with daily fees for visitors. If I was expecting a visitor(s) I would let the office know and then I would pay the fee for my visitor. Most of us would not have a gang of 5 or 10 and use the pool, but then there are those who do. If this would be an issue with me,
I would first check out the campground rules before making a reservation.

I fully understand the reasons why campground owners charge a fee. I wouldn't want a flood of partyers at the site next to me either! It just bothers me that the actions by a few cost the rest of us extra money because a policy is put in place when a simple call to the local authorities to have those types removed solves that issue.

I personally have no problem with it, if it's reasonable. The campground has no way of knowing whether visitors use campground facilities or not. One can say they are only visiting me at my site, but how does campground owner/manager verify that?

Mike

I understand why some cgs do this, but it really is annoying if one or two people are just stopping by for lunch. A couple of years ago, we were camping in Lancaster and my parents stopped by to have some cake for my mothers 80th birthday. The cg charged me $12 and reminded me guests need to leave by 9, and it was already after 8.

I think the visitor fee should be something on the order $25.00 per head per hour.

I've though it rather interesting that some campgrounds don't charge extra for several campers at a site vs one (up to a point, at least) but will charge a visitor fee for day visitors to people who are under the "free" occupancy limit even though they would not be charged extra if they were campers. I'm not complaining about that--it's their campground and their rules, and I'm free to camp elsewhere if I don't like the rules--it just has struck me as a bit odd.

A visitor even for a short time uses facilities, needs parking, increases liability risk. In my park we insist by law all visitors must register, not necessarily pay, dependent on length of stay and intent wheather to use camp facilities.
Our state requires all persons that visit register so that they can be contacted and counted in the event of a natural or contaminating event. Think terrorism, flood, vandalism or contamination of our drinking water. Overload to washrooms and facilities increased. Where do visitors park? On the site on our grass or in overflow parking. They dont want to park where we designate, they want to park at the paid guests site. Do we have paved or gravel parking for more than 1 vehicles per site? No. Its planned that way to keep traffic and congestion down.

Under federal and state law unauthorized visitors to public or private property is a tresspasser. Unregistered visitors do so at their own risk

When public or private property is held out to the public for fee, even visitors are responsible to comply.

private campgrounds can charge a fee for visitors if they want. I can see some of the reasons, mostly to avoid a large number of "visitors".

Even public campgrounds often have a fee for additional vehicles or more than a certain number of campers. And many public campgrounds limit the number of people/campsite, common limit here is 8 people/site max, one vehicle + trailer. Most allow one additional vehicle at a fee and often they must park in an "overflow" parking area. And no parking off the pad.