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?

[dieharder]

PA has done very well by me. 4 days at Jolly Roger in the Keys followed by 4 days at the Encore resort in Ormond Beach saved me more than the 3 year membership right there.

A little bit of research goes a very long way.

[philandterri]

We used PA this past spring in about 20 campgrounds and found only one to be substandard, it was only for 1 night so it didn't matter as we didn't use the campground facilities just a safe place to park. I t would have cost more to stay a Walmart(shopping) or Cracker Barrel(eating)than any PA park.

[hypoxia]

I broke even this year. It takes quite a bit of time just figuring out the restrictions which are many. Lots of "NO" & not so many "Yes" answers; NO weekends, NO Mondays, NO Fridays, NO May through September, NO reservations etc.

NO Renewal!

[dahkota]

For some rv parks, PA is a loss leader (selling something at or below market value in hopes the customer will buy more). How many people here have tried an RV park the first time because it was in PA and have liked it enough to extend their stay or return?

Many parks offer PA rates only on certain days or only for a limited number of days (sometimes only one). This is to get people in the door in the hope they will stay and/or return. It isn't because they cannot do better; they are using PA as an advertising vehicle, much like grocery stores use their B1G1F sales.

[colliehauler]

PPA is a tool for campgrounds to sell there unused sites to generate some income. During peak times there is no need to discount the price. Motels do the same thing, it's better to get some income rather then none.

[Gale_Hawkins]

Us out West wrote:

wbwood wrote:
You plan on being there, but they only accept drive up, no reservations. Also from what I have heard that they have a set amount of sites. Also, they do not allow the use of PA during certain time of the year and week. There's a reason why. They are trying to fill in sites to fill the voids for when they don't possibly fill their sites.

No matter what park it is, only this that have trouble filling sites will accept discounts. Especially half off.

And that's a lot of asphalt it's sitting on. 😉

Well aware of all that but have never had a problem whenever we've used PA and don't expect one now but will call ahead as usual.

50% off works for us.

I have to say you have staying power when wbwood is right on on all points. 🙂

Any of us that sell our goods and services at a 50% discount do it because we can NOT do better at the time. A parking spot at WM, campground, RV park that goes unfilled is worth NOTHING the next morning. WM can discount their asphalt by 100% because it is a sunk cost and will generate some income new/additional if RV's parks there.

[Us_out_West]

wbwood wrote:
You plan on being there, but they only accept drive up, no reservations. Also from what I have heard that they have a set amount of sites. Also, they do not allow the use of PA during certain time of the year and week. There's a reason why. They are trying to fill in sites to fill the voids for when they don't possibly fill their sites.

No matter what park it is, only this that have trouble filling sites will accept discounts. Especially half off.

And that's a lot of asphalt it's sitting on. 😉

Well aware of all that but have never had a problem whenever we've used PA and don't expect one now but will call ahead as usual.

50% off works for us.

[wbwood]

You plan on being there, but they only accept drive up, no reservations. Also from what I have heard that they have a set amount of sites. Also, they do not allow the use of PA during certain time of the year and week. There's a reason why. They are trying to fill in sites to fill the voids for when they don't possibly fill their sites.

No matter what park it is, only this that have trouble filling sites will accept discounts. Especially half off.

And that's a lot of asphalt it's sitting on. 😉

[Us_out_West]

wbwood wrote:
And there are many resorts that are c2c. But why? To help fill their spots. If none of them didn't need the help to fill spots at a lower price, the. They would belong to half price clubs. And it really doesn't matter if you are considered a resort or not, if you are willing to accept half of what you normally charge, there's a reason.

And then again, don't parks usually only have a set number of sites available for PA?

My oh my...why such a Debbie Downer?

Here is an example, you really need to do some research, on a place we plan on being at this Xmas.

http://www.passportamerica.com/campgrounds/ca/missionbayrvpark447

[wbwood]

And there are many resorts that are c2c. But why? To help fill their spots. If none of them didn't need the help to fill spots at a lower price, the. They would belong to half price clubs. And it really doesn't matter if you are considered a resort or not, if you are willing to accept half of what you normally charge, there's a reason.

And then again, don't parks usually only have a set number of sites available for PA?

[Us_out_West]

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.

Ahhhh....don't think so.

There are many 'resorts' that are PA.

Do the research!!!!

[John_Joey]

What I found was the PA parks that were almost OK were far enough off the beaten path that the gas it took there and back ate up any savings. The ones that were right on the route were often very run down.

Sleeping in parking lots tend to end up being a very restless sleep with cars passing by thru out the night. Our best stays are at casino's.

[wbwood]

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.

[Us_out_West]

PA paid for itself in our first trip out....we did research though ahead of time using RVParksReviews.

Never disappointed and in some cases pleasantly surprised and in fact extended our stay at some.

Bottom line...do the research and use PA accordingly.

[liberty2010]

We use PA when we travel. We have found some visually lacking some are fine and some have been outstanding. We are pleased enough that we just accepted their offer to go lifetime. The site and APP are easy to use. Just found out that one of our favorite spots in NM has left the program which is more of a deal to us than the not so pretty ones being there.