American Campground/RPI??? - Montana Owners Club

dsprik · 05-04-2006, 03:40 AM

Anybody have any experience with these membership CGs? Cheryl sent away for American Campground info. Got a 1" thick packet of info back. Looking for input. They are a part of Resort Parks International (RPI).

VanMan · 05-04-2006, 04:46 AM

There is info in the RV Related Links that Glenn added to the new (and improved) MOC homepage. Look under "Discount Camping Clubs".

I'm amazed at all the links !!!! Thanks Glenn !!

When we first started RVin' about 15 years ago, we joined Coast to Coast. At that time overnight stays were $1 (plus an annual "maintenance fee"). Of course they have since gone up + each campground could declare a "prime season" when it was even higher. We could use the "home" campground anytime we wanted up to a week (I think)for no charge (that's what our maintenance fee included) then had to vacate or go somewhere else. What we used ours for was the overnight stays at the other camgrounds to get to our final destinations (Disney World in particular). Each campground sets aside so many sites (some with only bare essentials and very small - while others were very spacious) for members of other "home" camprounds. You did have all the amenities of the park, though. Some were GREAT - some not so great. Overall we were VERY happy with what we got (until they started changing the rules and going up). If we could have travelled more often (or been full timing)we'd probably still be memebers.

8.1al · 05-04-2006, 04:59 AM

Dave,
There are many pros and cons regarding membership campgrounds and Coast to Coast and RPI. Some people love em and some hate em. As with so many things you'll have to try to decide whether this will fill your needs. We bought a membership in a now bankrupt campground 9 years ago. The campground wasn't much and was nowhere we wanted to be but the price was quite cheap and it got us into CtoC and RPI. Our first trip saved us enough to pay for it. Then we went out west for one winter and after being treated like stepchildren all winter we decided there had to be something better. In the peak season many parks would not give us a reservation (drive-up only)or if they did it would only be for 3 days. We ended buying a membership with Western Horizon Resorts. They have 20 parks of their own(which we stay in free) plus are affiliated with AOR,Sunbelt,CtoC and RPI. They have a park in Mich,New York,Indiana. Your can check them out at www.whresorts.com
If you are interested in any resort membership check Trailer Life and online for memership resales it'll save you a lot of money

VanMan · 05-04-2006, 05:07 AM

Some of these offer 3 day/ 2 night stays free (give you gas money too sometimes) for taking their tour. We went to a couple for Thousand Trails - very nice, no pressure (hard to believe, huh?). You used to be able to go to Thousand Trails website and make a "free" stay reservation. RV shows are also a good place to get "free" weekend offers (or on mailing lists).

on edit: I just went to the TT site and they are offering the "getaway weekend" or a "day tour". It says, "Bring your family out for the day to enjoy one of our member-exclusive preserves. We'll treat you to dinner and a $50 Wal-Mart gift certificate just for taking a tour!" and has an Olive Garden and Red Lobster logo !!

http://www.1000trails.com/

c5racer · 05-04-2006, 05:43 AM

We have RPI and it costs $8.00 a night. You can only stay for 1 week at a time and then you can go to another park. They only let you make reservation 60 days in advance. We also have Resorts of Distinctions Plus (ROD) where we can stay for 2 weeks at a time and the cost is zero. Some parks we can make reservations 90 days in advance, some are only 60 days. The yearly fees for these are $80.00 each a year after you join a home park. We joined KM resorts of Washington to get access to these associations as they didn't charge to join KM and the dues are frozen for life at $325.00 a year. http://www.kmresorts.com/index.shtml They have 8 parks we can stay at for free.
We haven't had any problems getting reservations as long as you make them as far in advance as possibly in their busy season. When we lived in Washington, we would go south for the winter and only pay around $150.00 for 6 months of camping. Now we go North in the summer for about 3 months and South in the winter for about 3 months.
Didn't see a link to ROD on the links page, so try this. http://www.resortsofdistinction.com/

Mac · 05-04-2006, 08:24 AM

My mom had a horrible problem with Coast to Coast. About 21 years ago her and my dad purchased a membership for their retirement and shortly thereafter my dad died of a stroke, five days after his 60th birthday. I was trying to help her through some of the overwhelming issues and Coast to Coast had no compasion at all. She had not used it once and couldn't even drive the motorhome herself, not to mention she wasn't going to go camping by herself. In any case they simply said 'too bad" and she was stuck with it.

mac

Lstierw · 05-04-2006, 08:44 AM

It would be hard for us to do without the memberships since we full time. We presently have KM,ROD,AOR,RPI,and Passport. We rarely pay for parks. When we travel to Arizona from our home state Washington we try and use passport and pay half. Once we get to Arizona, we roam between 8 different parks and don't pay anything. If ROD revs are full, then we can usually get in through AOR or RPI and pay 6-8 bucks a night. It really does depend on how much time you spend in your RV............Les

dsprik · 05-04-2006, 03:17 PM

Sounds like this might be something to explore as we will be FTing as of June 3rd. We plan on spending most of our summers somewhere in NW Mich (Lower) and then NC/FL/Las Vegas/AZ area in the winter months. As we plan on spending 6-8 months in NW Mich, I'm not sure of benefiting from a club.

I have heard of people buying memberships (resale) on eBay also.

Thanks for the links, guys. I will check them out and the ones on Glenn's MOC page.

melnjoy · 05-05-2006, 06:23 AM

We signed up with Sunrise Resorts in WA state in 04'. We bought, I believe, the Platinum membership with the upgraded RPI preferred. We use it all the time. It has already saved us more than what we paid for in the initial cost. Whatever you end up doing, make sure you research their campground locations to be sure you really will use them. Some sound great, but if you never really go there, there is no savings for you at all. Also check into upgraded memberships, some are worth it and some are not, but it doesn't hurt to ask. We have paid as little as $1.00 a night at our Sunrise campgrounds and anywhere from $7.00 to only 1/2 off on others, it all depends on the campground and location and when you get it. For what it's worth, we are very happy with ours.
Joy

sreigle · 05-08-2006, 04:43 AM

I think a lot of it depends on your travel plans. If you can plan your travels to go from one membership park to another then it makes some sense to join, assuming the costs are reasonable.

For us, it just doesn't work. We plan our travels based on where we want to go. Then I look for what parks are in the area. I have to balance park cost with distance from our intended sightseeing areas, etc. But that's just our way of doing it.

While we do not belong to any of the membership parks, we do participate with several of the reasonably inexpensive discount programs including Escapees, Passport America, Good Sam and AARP. Our savings ranges from 10% to 50% depending on the program. That is not as much savings as the membership parks but it fits our lifestyle better and our annual outlay for memberships is $40 for Passport America, $14 (I think) for Good Sam, about $10 or 15 for AARP, and around $80 for Escapees. We easily save far more than those amounts during the year.

Bottom line is membership parks in my opinion can be a good deal or a bad deal depending on how often your particular lifestyle allows you to take advantage of them.

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