How to buy a Thousand Trails resell?

[beemerphile1]

As I near retirement we are considering purchasing a Thousand Trails resell membership. What is the best way to go about this? I see them regularly on eBay.

I have never contacted TT or attended a sales presentation.

Could some knowledgeable members give tips on what is important? What questions should I ask? What are the best memberships?

Over the years TT has sold a variety of memberships with different benefits. I would like to find a nationwide membership that has year round use with minimal restrictions for a reasonable price.

I have searched and read a lot of old threads that went back 7 - 8 years ago. Hopefully there is current information available.

I found these resale websites but haven't done much looking yet;

http://www.campgroundmembershipoutlet.com/

http://www.rvparkstore.com/rv-park-and-campground-memberships

http://www.rvonline.com/campgrounds/camplocate.html

[D_E_Bishop]

We went to the C2C in DeSmet NE. What a dump and supposedly full, charged ne full price to park on a hillside with no hookups. The empty spots we still empty the next day and some of the long term rigs had grass so thick growing through the artificial turf you couldn't see much turf.

At least we had a place to sleep for the night and the DW and DGKs got to see the local Bonnet head's presentation of The Long Winter at the homestead. To the DW the KOA membership is better, cost a little more but better.

[myredracer]

sdca2va wrote:
Anyone here have a Thousand Trails membership? Do you like it?

We tried them out this year and also bought a northwest zone pass. Have been to 10 or 11 of them in Wa. & Or. Most of them are very nice if you like more on the rustic/nature side. (No concrete pads or manicured grass.) They don't trim trees or fell overgrown ones and some parks are like the Amazon jungle (Florence Or. and La Conner Wa., eg.) and are hard to get around, esp. with a big rig. Many sites are also not deep enough, very sloped or too narrow.

Many of their parks are old and tired and not up to date compared to other parks. Voltage can be really low. Had one park where the pedestals only had 106 volts before turning anything on and our EMS shut us down once plugged in. Moved to two more sites before we found decent voltage and then on the way out one morning, the entire park had no water due to a broken faucet somwhere. NOT a pleasant experience there. Another we were at they handed us a notice at sign-in not to use AC units due to power problems and it was 100F out. Water pressure can be dismal and be barely adequate. Many of the parks hardly have any sewer hookups (have water and power tho.) and it's impossible to find a FHU site in the camping season. Also, because the parks are old, there are very few 50 amp pedestals because the NEC didn't require many decades ago, and if old enough, none. Some do not have cell phone service and wifi can be pretty baaad.

Were at one of their parks and when I went to use the dump station, it backed up all over the place. The maintenance guy came over and said it happens once in a while. Apparently head office spends almost nothing on maintenance or upgrades on their parks according to staff I've talked to.

Many of the TT parks have permanent sites which is a bit of a turn-off.

Some parks are very nice tho., like Seaside, Or. and Ocean Shores, Wa. Not many trees and Seaside has FHU throughout. Funny thing with the heavily treed parks is that it is easy to get lost and dis-oriented plus if you like to chat with fellow campers you won't see or bump into them as often.

Great staff and activities, good clubhouse buildings. Sites are usually spaced well apart and have decent privacy.

Go online and read user reviews like on rvparkreviews.com. If some say the voltage or water pressure is bad, it is. Expectations can vary a lot between users too like MH-ers vs TT people. Stayed in one TT and the reviews said it was noisy on one side due to being next to the interstate. So we picked a site on the opposite side but it turned out that was right next to a race car track (a few hundred feet away) and it was flippin' loud and could not talk outside. Could not see the track due to being heavily treed... Read the reviews carefully and in between the lines too!!

If you want to travel around the US, about 1/2 of the US (in the center) does not have any TT parks and you'll need RPI or another one. Bugs me that if you live on the west coast if you want to camp in Ca. and Or., you need to buy 2 zone passes. I'd look online to get an older pre-owned membership that has NLA perks and privileges. Watch the number of days you're allowed to stay at one park or in the system. They have sales on the zone passes sometimes.

I have no idea about the east side of the US but believe it is similar. We're planning to get rid of our KM resort membership in Wa. and will likely get a full TT membership. If you plan to do a lot of camping, it is a pretty good deal. We did almost 60 night this season and that would equate to under $10 a night compared to $40-50 or more for reg. pricing.

[rollexx]

sdca2va wrote:
Anyone here have a Thousand Trails membership? Do you like it?

We purchased a Northwest Zone pass this year and for us it was a very good deal.
We have stayed at all their parks on the Oregon Coast and several in Washington
State. We have had no issues at any of them. Friendly staff.
You just need to divide cost of membership by how many times you think you will use it to see if it's a good deal for you. For us it was a no brainier.

[sdca2va]

Anyone here have a Thousand Trails membership? Do you like it?

[beemerphile1]

Thanks all for your tips. The RVLife blog post was particularly helpful in explaining the process.

[timmac]

Save your money and be a free bird and camp where ever you want, Walmart campgrounds have the lowest price..

:B

[dblr]

As said at least once so far, get the membership # and call member services so they can explain EXACTLY what that membership includes as there are so many different contracts out there, we like ours but did receive it thru family so cost basically the yearly dues to us. Good luck in your search.

[myredracer]

This guy has a blog with an excellent article on buying T/T memberships and that ins and outs of the different types of memberships. RVlife

Use Yahoo for a search and plug in "Thousand Trails Craigslist" and you will find listings from all across the US. It will give you a good idea what's out there and benefits in older memberships. Now should be a good time to buy at the end of the season. We're going to sell our KM membership in Wa. and go with an upgraded T/T one. No way would we buy from ebay either. Better to be able to talk to the current owner and get all the details first and confirm with T/T.

There's a lot of detail on T/T memberships that is worth learning about as well as their rules (length of stay, in/out times in system, etc.). Some membership types are NLA and have good features. We're thinking about upgrading our basic T/T membership ($550 annual dues) to something deluxe and that will get us into all the CGs across the country.

I think in every case, you still have to pay a transfer fee so make sure to take it into account.

One major downside to T/T is that there are no CGs in about the middle/50% of the US and you'll need another network like RPI if you want to travel around a lot.

If you only want to camp in your local T/T zone, it may not be worthwhile to buy a permanent membership unless you want the right to have longer stays and other benefits. T/T often has sales on their basic annual membership or a 2 for 1 zone special.

I don't know about the eastern US, but on the west coast, their CGs are often old, tired and poorly maintained. Electrical systems can be bad, hardly any sewer hookups and water pressure can be dismal. I don't recall many, if any CATV hookups and often there is no OTA signal. Cell phones and mifi will not work at some CGs. Wifi, if available, is awful. They don't trim trees and overgrowth either and it can be very hard to get around a CG and in/out of sites. Many sites are small or tiny and also on a very inclined site. They can be in noisy locations too, like next to a racetrack or interstate. Some are outstanding like the one near Seaside in Or. and the one at Pacific Shores in Wa. Reading internet reviews can be extremely misleading we've found. Each category of RV-er, full-timers to weekenders and MHs to small TTs all have vastly different expectations.

We don't like the permanent sites in their CGs either. Takes away from all us ordinary RV-ers. We like having other folks around to wave to or chat to. Can be rather lonely in some sections amongst all the permanent sites. Expect to see more and more of this because Equity Lifestyle Properties gets more revenue from permanent sites. Same thing with rental cabins. I particularly don't like most cabin renters as they aren't RV people and can be really obnoxious and have no sense of etiquette in a CG.

[Us_out_West]

We looked at business' like Thousand Trails some years back. They are basically Timeshares for RVers.

After doing research including talking to some that have Memberships we said no....instead travel to places/locations that we want to go to and not just go to places that have Membership CG' s, to justify the high cost to be a Member, that could have not so good reviews.

The savings in $ by not being tied down to a RV Timeshare is worth it to us to be 'free' to stay where and when we want to go and how long we want to stay in one place for extended times.

Good luck to the OP in making a good decision for...you.

[Sunset_Gypsies]

We purchased our TT membership through Campground Membership Outlet. First link you listed. They will fax you a copy of any contracts you are interested in.

Be sure to check: one zone, several zones, or all zones, 50 days free or unlimited, if not unlimited what is the cost for days after the free days, how many days you can stay in a preserve 7, 14, or 21, can you go from one preserve to another or do you have to stay out of the system a week, how many days ahead can you make a reservation 60, 90, 120?

Did it all over the phone and email. Very pleased with the process and price.

Be aware that some campgrounds are old and have many small sites. Also TT does not have many campgrounds in the Midwest. Since we are full timers TT is a good value for us. If you are not full timing, Divide your purchase price by estimated number of years you expect to use the membership. Add yearly dues (usually about $550) and divide by number of days you expect to use the membership in a year. This will give you a daily cost of your campsite. This works for the unlimited plans. Some plans have a limit of 50 days free and then you pay $3 or $5 a night for any use over 50 days.

[gafidler]

recommend you attend a thousand trail seminar or call Angela at 407-393-7189 find out about the present memberships and then contract a reseller about a resale compare the differences and prices. Then you cam make a informed decision

[ol_Bombero-JC]

.

Lots of discussion of the various plans (such as TT) on the Escapees forums due to the numbers of full-timers there.

~

[A_hitch_and_hop]

You will find that if you attend a TT presentation, you might be restricted from buying a membership from some one else. I have a membership in Rushmore Shadows ( Midwest Resorts) that allows me to stay three weeks at a time at any of their three resorts. I then have to leave for a week and then return for another three weeks. I then have a membership in Coast to Coast that allows me to stay at C2C campgrounds free for up to three weeks. If I stay in many other resorts, I pay up to $15 a night. I was out last year for 95 nights and averaged $3 a night camping.

[Big_Katuna]

There are usually some in the back classifieds of RV Magazines and FMCA magazine.