Just curious about "Passport America"

Well said JJ.

PA works well for us.

does anyone here actually believe that any park owner that has no trouble selling out sites because of its location…

or has and depends on a short 3 or 4 month season for a years’ worth of revenue and is full most weekends or holidays during that season…

or even a park that is in a high traffic along the path to these and other destinations…

does anyone really believe or think that any for profit park has any inclination to offer their prime sites for ½ off for the dates and the rates they are already getting ???

What makes Passport work and successful is the park can individually tailor the restrictions to meet their needs as well as offer discounts when it makes sense for them to do so…

I think Thousand Trails parks now honor PPA. We are PPA lifetime members and have already recouped that cost. We have stayed at some really nice parks and some that were just ok. We have never been to a PPA park that we did not want to stay at least overnight. Oh, Ohio State Parks also honor PPA. Yes, there are restrictions.
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We've had it for a few years. Always paid for itself, but each year I debated if I should renew.

Lot's of the parks were only worth 1/2 their price in the first place. Many took more in gas to get to them (then back to the highway) then the savings were worth for a one night stay.

Honestly, I would rather stay in a Wal-mart (which we hardly ever do) or a Casino parking lot then most of the PA parks when we're on the road making miles.

Yes, there are a couple of REALLY nice PA parks, but those don't give out the discount during prime time. Now if you want to camp in AZ during July or MN during October in those REALLY nice parks, then I'm guessing there wouldn't be an issue. An yes there are exceptions to that also, just not very many in my travels.

knshook wrote:
We were charged 49.00 for first time membership.....no GS discount or extra 3 months. Just putting that out there for anyone else reading the posts who isn't familiar with PA.

I ordered it directly from PPA not through CW Thursday on the phone.First time GS member $39.95 and got the extra 3 months free. Did you pay $49 through CW? If you order the complete directory there is an extra $5 charge. I have the PPA ap and GS/PPA app for my smart phone so didn't need the directory.

rockhillmanor wrote:
I passed on passport.

Do a search 'first' on some of the CG's you'd be interested in staying at to get a feel of the availability to receive the discount.

I found most of them have sooo many exceptions it wasn't worth it. Like you can only stay there on the 3rd monday of the 4th month, Or only on a Wednesday, never 2 days is a row, etc. etc. And if it didn't have any restrictions when I called they said they no longer honored it.

I guess for the weekend RV'er that knows where they are "planning" on staying that particular weekend "in advance" it might work. I found for the traveling RV'er the time it took to find one that would honor the discount when I was passing thru a total waste of my time.

I guess asking the question "do you honor Passport America and the stipulations" when you make a reservation, is not worth 1/2 price savings to you. It certainly is to me. I have belonged for 6 yrs. and have saved many more dollars than it cost to join.

Most Passport America parks limit the discount to weekdays and limit the number o days. In addition, they may not allow the discount on holidays or special events. We just work around that. The first time it doesn't pay for itself during a year, we'll cancel it. So far had it for 5 years and still renew it.

We joined this year and have saved over $150 on 2 trips (15 days). Read the rules first. We have been in 5 different CG and 4 were really nice. The other one was ok. It was in a rural area and we were good with it for 1 night.

On our 2-month trip last summer we found many parks to use, and some didn't have restrictions. It paid for itself and then some. So far this summer we've been gone a month and haven't used P.A. once. We have about 5 weeks left on our trip. I'm hoping to be able to use it.

As far as I am concerned it is one of the most cost effective discount savings programs there is and if you don’t save it’s because you didn’t try very hard… I suppose like everything else, it’s not for everyone… if you only stay at state or national parks it just isn’t something to consider… almost anyone that camps can make their money spent on PPA back in the first or second time out…
I never had a problem with the restrictions as they have always been listed and they often waive them and honor the rate for more or the full stay…

If anyone knows of another discount club that’s in high traffic, and destination locations and has no restrictions or blackout dates, or offers better rates during special area events please let us know…

it only make sense that heavily used parks in the highly sought destinations do not need to entice you to come their way by charging ½ price even for a day…

with the use of discounts and memberships, RV camping has been an incredibly cheap form of travel for us…