Passport America parks not so good so far

[Snowman9000]

We joined PA last month, and have overnighted at 4 PA parks in the past 2 weeks. One was just fine, in FL. It was on the budget side, but very well kept, with good clientele. Two in GA were just atrocious, and one in KY was okay, barely. Our standards are not that high for overnights, we are not expecting Fort Wilderness. We have never stayed at a Wal Mart, Cracker Barrel, Bass Pro etc, but those options are looking a LOT better now. I'd rather pay full price at a KOA one night, and free camp in a store lot the next night, if trying to save money, than take a chance on these PA dumps.

I know I made a mistake by not taking a few more minutes each day to look up the PA parks on rvparkreviews. Believe me, I won't make that mistake again. Have we just found some unusually bad places, or is this the way it goes with PA?

[Veebyes]

You roll the dice. Sometimes they roll in your favour. Sometimes no. PAs can be dumps, a few sites left over in rundown trailer parks or they can be very nice resorts usually with lots of competition nearby.

Do the research if available to load the dice in your favour.

[wbwood]

Snowman9000 wrote:
OP here. I would say we've paid for the dues, so I can't complain about that. Just the quality, and as people have advised, from now on we will check the reviews. Having done that for the past couple of nights, we have found more bad parks but no good ones on our route. We didn't use the bad ones this time.
🙂

Maybe you need to change your route. Lol

[Snowman9000]

OP here. I would say we've paid for the dues, so I can't complain about that. Just the quality, and as people have advised, from now on we will check the reviews. Having done that for the past couple of nights, we have found more bad parks but no good ones on our route. We didn't use the bad ones this time.
🙂

[Gale_Hawkins]

PA has to have redeeming qualities or they would not exist long term. If it helps gets one to planning a trip then that is good.

I find getting in the MH and driving to nowhere in particular helps my mind even if it hurts the pocket book. Just the purr of the 454 and seeing over the other cars, bridge railings, etc can make my day. Having a place to plug in on hot nights would bet WM hands sometimes.

[Us_out_West]

doxiemom11 wrote:
WE have been PA members for 3 years and have more than gotten our moneys worth. We have run across a couple of parks that were marginal, but most have been just fine for overnight even though they are not destination parks. Remember also that many PA parks are also Good Sam parks but the discount with PA is 40% more than the GS discount. Use RV park reviews and go to PA website and do a search of parks in the area you want. Read about the parks -- dirt roads, paved roads, cement pads etc. You can usually pick out the nicer parks from reading.

Good reply doxiemom.

This last summer we were on our way to join friends in the Mt. Hood area and after leaving Westport, WA stopped at Silver Lake, WA a PA CG. We were going to only stay 2 nights but decided on a 3rd.

Silver Cove RV Resort



Silver Cove Report

Yes there are the good and the bad for any service but PA has served us well and more than paid for itself. We always look ahead and choose accordingly.

[doxiemom11]

WE have been PA members for 3 years and have more than gotten our moneys worth. We have run across a couple of parks that were marginal, but most have been just fine for overnight even though they are not destination parks. Remember also that many PA parks are also Good Sam parks but the discount with PA is 40% more than the GS discount. Use RV park reviews and go to PA website and do a search of parks in the area you want. Read about the parks -- dirt roads, paved roads, cement pads etc. You can usually pick out the nicer parks from reading.

[dieharder]

down home wrote:
We joined Passport America several years ago. We tried to save money by using them.
Many had dropped from Passport America. Several would not honor it even thought they were still member parks. We heard more than once that it was only for slack times or some such.
Some would not honor it on weekends or holidays. Some did honor it and they were generally not the highest quality. Of course we didn't visit all of them, only a small portion of book.

That's why you need to check the site or PA book to know ahead of time before you check in trying to use your PA membership - each campground sets their own restrictions and the restrictions are listed. Pretty much the only requirement for a campground to join PA is to have a period of time, regardless of how restricted it is, that they do offer the 50% off. Doesn't seem to matter if it's only 2 sites in your entire campground where you check in Wednesdays from 12pm to 1 pm, if you offer it, you can get it. People who look at it and know about it will use it.

If the campground does not honor the discount outside of the restriction listed without explanation, contact PA about it and they will deal with it. Not sure if they will refund you the difference and then go after the campground for it, but they won't just sit there on their hands and say "oh well...". I have heard about them dealing with things like that.

[Vette_Racer]

We have used PA for the last three years, it is a great way to reduce your costs when traveling and want a campground to pull into, in most cases it does not help in the destination areas but when you are traveling to and from it really saves money, some are not that great, some are. You never know what you will find, some of our fondest memories are of the ones we found that really blew our minds, others, not so much. Bottom line, if you want to save some money and you are not too picky it will work. Otherwise you need to find a higher quality "RV Resort".

[down_home]

We joined Passport America several years ago. We tried to save money by using them.
Many had dropped from Passport America. Several would not honor it even thought they were still member parks. We heard more than once that it was only for slack times or some such.
Some would not honor it on weekends or holidays. Some did honor it and they were generally not the highest quality. Of course we didn't visit all of them, only a small portion of book.

[mdamerell]

We don't plan out trips based on the discounts. We plan where we want to be and then try to get whatever discounts we can when we check in. We start with the Good Sam trip planner and go from there. We had a great 2 nights for the price of 1 deal at the Jelly Stone CG in Milton PA with the grandbaby this summer. Pull through with FHU's and cable. That one stop paid half the price of joining Pass Port America. IT's a tool. Depends upon how you use it. Just like the online websites offering discounts on hotel rooms and air travel. They sell the "vacant seats" at a discount to help fill in the bottom line.

[crabbin_cabin]

Passport, per se, does not own any RV parks. Most any Park can "join" PA in order to be advertised in PA directories. PA has very little/no quality control over Parks listed in their directory.

[riven1950]

We just started with TT this year so I am no expert but we easily got our moneys worth out of PA. It is a bit frustrating reading the restrictions on days / times but that makes business sense too. Just read the details and reviews. Example: We stayed at a fairly new CG in the NC mountains for 3 nights @ 13.00 per night full hup. Only good Sunday - Wedn but there was a good part of the membership fee saved. Depends on where you camp and how much you are into research IMHO

[Dutch_12078]

wbwood wrote:
I can not speak for experience whatsoever, but my opinion is that a park would become part of a discount camping club and accept half price because they have a hard time filling spots. With that said, I wouldn't really expect much for paying $15 or so at a fhu campsite.

ALL parks have certain times of the week, month, or year when they don't fill up. Many parks offer "off-season" or "mid-week" rates for that very reason. We've found some very nice parks at PA rates, simply because we were there at the right time.

[ReadyToGo]

Whats not to like about an PA RV park? We pull in usually by 4 pm. If it is warm, we sit outside. If it is cold, we stay inside except to walk around a couple of times that day.
I could care less what the park looks like. There is one exception, a lot of dogs.
I am curious, what are you looking for in an overnight stop? Unless you mean the summer time, which can be different.
Of course, CGs use PA to fill spots that wouldn't be used, especially in the fall and winter months.
So far this month, we save $40 around Branson, 32 south of Branson, 33 in Little Rock. Sure the CG is city owned, and is basically a parking lot but who cares? It is withing walking distance of the trolley that covers downtown, is safe, and half full.
As I have stated before, we travel by COE, PA, and WM.