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Old 09-26-2010, 09:12 PM   #1
Stubbytails
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Value of Campground Membership

Hey all,
I'm curious what people think of the campground memberships?
Are they worth it?
Should you be a FTer to get your money out of it?
Are the dues the only yearly cost, or are there hidden costs?
I'm considering making a purchase from a private party, there is a transfer fee. Is the membership truly something that can be transferred....or is it limited for 2nd buyer?
Is this a legit industry or are there any horror stories out there?
Opinions on what the better memberships are.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
 
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Old 09-27-2010, 02:33 AM   #2
cdaniels
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We looked into it a few years ago and I think if you look at where the campgrounds are and you like most of the area's it is worth it. It seems as though they are usually pretty far off the beaten path but that may be fine for most. Since we are not full timing and go for a few weeks at a time we like being in more central locations to attractions. Especially with gas prices. If we are traveling down the interstate it is not cost effective or time effective to go 20 miles out of our way for a membership campground. That is just our opinion. It seems there are many in florida and if we spent the summers in florida I would think different. We have joined Passport of America and have used it many times.
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Old 09-27-2010, 04:28 AM   #3
hookman
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We have had a membership for 14 yrs. If we didn't have it we would have only camped about 4 or 5 long weekends a year.
When buying a second hand membership get the membership number and phone the head office and ask them about the membership: is it in arrears, how many times can it be transfered ( some are restricted on the number of times it can be sold), what are the current dues, can it be upgraded, and what reciprocals are available.
We figured out how long to pay it off by dividing the total cost by the daily rate at the KOA we were using at the time which with taxes was $35 a night. It took 3 1/2 yrs to camp the original cost off and 12 nights a year for the dues. We were offered a upgrade 7 yrs ago, if we paid the approx. 8 yrs dues we did not have to pay dues again. We camped that off in 3 yrs. using the same formula. It has paid for us and I don't think we would have upgraded from our 1976 Prowler to a 1998 Nash to our 2008 Montana if we didn't have our membership. We usually camp about 50+ nights a year in our system.
If this is K & M at Elma you are looking at Email SFrett as he is a member there and could give info on that system.
Membership camping is not for everyone but for us it is worth it.
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Old 09-27-2010, 06:03 AM   #4
sfretts
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Hi,

Yes we belong to KM Resorts and our home park is Elma (never stayed there!) I too use the $35.00 figure to keep track of my cost per nights etc.

I just read an article somewhere (I think on the Good Sam site) about checking out membership camping. One thing I forgot about was to make sure the membership can be canceled or stopped. The person (wait, it's coming back to me now) here is the blog http://blog.rv.net/2010/09/membershi...rmed-consumer/ It has some very good info.

As for us, we had a tent trailer we sold which was close in price to the startup costs we negotiated with KM. We felt this was a push as it was camping related and that way I didn't have to worry if we were getting a deal to make it worth joining. The yearly dues is important as you simply divide the dues by 35 and that tells you how many times a year you would have to camp in that system to cover your costs. For me it is 10 nights a years which is a very doable thing for us. We have even been able to build on our startup cost drawdown as we have spent many nights camping at KM parks this year.

Biggest thing to consider is how often you would use it, can you sell the membership, can you cancel the membership and are the parks suited to your likes and are they located in areas you would want to visit. Nothing worse than camping at a park just because you have to and it brings you no enjoyment from being there.
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Old 09-27-2010, 06:07 AM   #5
exav8tr
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The first and most important thing to say about this is that you will get as many opinions as there are people on here. You must define your camping style before looking into these memberships. If you are a weekender and only travel close to home then a local membership would be great. If you are a full timer or long timer, some of the other memberships may be for you. We had Good Sam, Passport America and Escapees when we first started traveling and they served us well. We still carry Good Sam, but we also joined 1000 Trails almost 4 years ago also. 1000 Trails is a little outdated and most are rural and most are 30 amp and most are no sewers. Most have no activities either and many are pretty run down, however, we pay no nightly fee either, just an annual dues. Ours is locked in at $463.00 per year. As an example, this year we will have over 200 nights in 1000 Trails campgrounds. At $35.00 a night that comes to $7000. Subtract our annual dues and we have saved over $6500 this year alone. As I stated this is our fourth year with them and we feel we are pretty close to making our initial investment back. They have many parks in CA, OR, WA, AZ and TX, some on the east coast also and two in Florida. We try and stay in these parks when traveling as much as possible. They are rural and mostly out of the way so additional traveling is usually the case. I could conceivably stay in 1000 trails the rest of my life and not pay another nightly fee. Just have to move every three weeks. I would say these plans are not scams; you just have to understand what you are getting into.

Hopefully, others will be along to give additional information. I hope this helps in some small way. BTW, there are websites on line where you can go and get additional information about transferring a membership……
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Old 09-27-2010, 10:05 AM   #6
Art-n-Marge
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I have pretty much the same plan as Phil with 1000Trails. We don't use it near as much as Phil but we will own it for life and the plan we have can be "inherited" by our kids but I think only once, maybe twice.

Besides camping free at 1000Trails locations we get discount memberships to other camperships or vacation services like RPI, EnjoyAmerica, Interval International (cruises, hotel resorts) and others.

The thing about these is the more you use them the better! Fulltiming is the best for these plan because like Phil says, he stays overnight for free except for the annual dues, and then less than $500 per year is a lot cheaper than paying every night at another RV camp.

There are many plans and memberships that include free overnight camping (more expensive up front costs) or camping discount costs, lower fees, lower camping fees and you need to determine where your lifestyle will fit.

1000Trails.com now allows the public to stay in some (not all) of their campgrounds, but the fees will be around $40-$45 per night. There are about about 60 1000Trails campgrounds in the west, in the east and in Texas, everywhere else in between is very minimal, which is why many 1000Trails owners will have a supplemental membership (CampUSA, Passport America, etc.) to get them across the U.S. at less cost than the public.

Bottom line, if you are gonna RV a lot, they become worthwhile.

If purchasing a transfer there should be contact information from the hosting company to contact them and confirm what you are getting. If a transfer contact is not made available for the transaction and documentation to go along with it, I would be very suspect.
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Old 09-28-2010, 03:53 AM   #7
JimF
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Hummm, this is really a personal choice type thing. We looked at Thousand Trails, Passport American, etc., etc.. The locations of the member parks just don't fit our camping style and locations so we no longer belong to any camping association. We are fulltimers and for the past 4 years have got along just fine without it or them. Verify, to yourself, that there is an end goal payout before jumping in. We did jump in and then back out as it was loose loose for us. Good luck on this.
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Old 09-28-2010, 07:12 AM   #8
simonsrf
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Stubbytails

Hey all,
I'm curious what people think of the campground memberships?
Are they worth it?
Should you be a FTer to get your money out of it?
Are the dues the only yearly cost, or are there hidden costs?
I'm considering making a purchase from a private party, there is a transfer fee. Is the membership truly something that can be transferred....or is it limited for 2nd buyer?
Is this a legit industry or are there any horror stories out there?
Opinions on what the better memberships are.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
We too are from WA state, and are very happy with our membership in Sunrise Resorts. We pay a yearly fee, but most of the parks are where we like to be...Washington in the summer and Arizona in the winter.

If you need more information, please send me a message and maybe we can talk on the phone.
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Old 09-28-2010, 07:37 AM   #9
Art-n-Marge
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Oh yes, If you RV a lot it's also good that the parks are conveniently located. We aren't full-timers but do you these membership locations and there are more than a dozen of them within a (long) day's drive therefore the campership we own if convenient. The number of days we spend there actually pay for the fees compared to paying full price for a campground.

With other family and friends with their also being members of other plans and their RVs with their campership, we can each invite family or friends a couple of times a year, so we can have "friends and family gatherings" at these locations for several rigs for several days. That will earn the money back pretty quick. But this works for us since the CGs are close by.

The frequency you plan to use these is a huge factor to owning a campership. The cheaper you can get one, the better it is! If the member RV parks are not close by that you won't use them, then this will be a detriment to ownership.
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Old 09-30-2010, 05:57 AM   #10
CasaDelSol
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We just retired and are 4 months into a 5 month trip. We have a 1000 trails (Eastern USA) membership and without it we could not have traveled like this. We used them while traveling to Connecticut to see family. We spent 2 months there parked on our sister's property. We did stay outside the 1000 trails system twice and used Passport America at a great rate. We bought our Monty from Lazy Days in Tampa, FL and they paid our initial membership and we only pay the $500 a year dues. We plan to upgrade because we are limited in how long we can stay. Once we are traveling across the country it will be a great savings to us. The areas we have stayed in were a little out of the way, but we always found great places to visit near the campgrounds. We are in Wilmington, Ohio right now and plan on going to the local Renaissance Festival this weekend. Lynchburg, VA was very near Appomatox. Kenisse Lakes, Ohio had 15 or so covered bridges and Lake Erie to visit. There are definately more 1000 trails on the west coast, but we have enjoyed all the east coast parks we have been in. Also, when you join 1000 trails you also get NACO, Mid-Atlantic, Leisure Time, etc campgrounds in your package as well. Good Luck
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