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Old 04-14-2007, 01:29 PM   #1
Capindad
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Memberships

Campclub USA, Coast to coast, and American Campgrounds. Do You use any/or all? Good or Bad? I know that A.C. wants you to have a Home campground, but the cost !!!!!!!!
We are just looking for different places to go, with out the high cost.
Thanks
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Old 04-14-2007, 01:47 PM   #2
azstar
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Hi Capindad,

Welcome,

We have had Coast to Coast for about 6 years now and use it about 50/60 Days a year. $8 Bucks a night.

For info. go to www.coastresorts.com

If this is something you want to do call Campground Membership Outlet at 800-272-0401. There's also a Web site, www.membershipresale.com

If you use them you'll save big bucks.
Make sure you get a Home Park with fixed dues for life.

We also use www.passportamerica.com

If I can help with more info. send me a PM or e-mail

Happy Camping

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Old 04-14-2007, 06:12 PM   #3
ols1932
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The most important membership we got first was with the Escapees RV Club (www.escapees.com). Then we purchased memberships with Thousand Trails, Coast-to-Coast, RPI (which we dropped), Enjoy America (which we dropped), Passport America (which we dropped), and an RV Resort membership with Catalina Spa RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs, CA. Now, these are/were ours and will not fit others. They are just what works for us. I don't advocate everyone should have any of these.

Orv
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Old 04-15-2007, 04:18 AM   #4
ken
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Like everyone is telling you, not all memberships fits all. For us, Outdoor World and Thousand Trails, Passport America, RPI works for us. We travel to Florida for the winter months and use all four memberships moving from campground to campground. Usually we stay in one spot for two weeks than move to one of the others. Now saying that, a lot of people don't like to pickup and move everyother week. WE have no problems with it. You meet a lot of nice campers that way. Both Outdoor World and
Thousand Trails has extended stays, but you pay extra for that. We try to use RPI when we travel as much as possible. If you consider a membership type campground, look around at resales. It is much cheaper to buy into one that way. Here is an address if your interested, Dan Monaghan, 1-877-284-3944, kamp19@aol.com. He has helped a lot of friends to including ourselves in purchasing memberships. He is located in Clermont FL. What ever you do, ask a lot of questions. Thousand Trails has a lot of different programs. Some are national and some are regional so be carefull on what you purchase.
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Old 04-15-2007, 04:36 AM   #5
Glenn and Lorraine
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I personally do not belong to any of the Higher priced clubs such as Thousand Trails, RPI, Outdoor World, C2C, etc. They maybe good investments but I see way to many RVers trying to sell their memberships and usually at a loss. There are reasons for folks bailing out but I'm not going to comment further.

I would strongly suggest joining Passport America. Passport America member parks will give a 50% discount on their nightly rates. Each park has it's own conditions/restrictions as to when and for how long the discount applies. These conditions can be found on either the Passport America website or in the Book you will get as a member. The cost to join is $44 per year but you can make that up the first week you are out camping. The second campground we stayed at after joining charged $40 per night, we stayed 4 nights at $20 per night. You do the math. Last spring we spent 6 nights at Elite Resorts near Ocala, Florida. The parks rate was $32.00 a night, we paid $16.00 dollars a night. That was a savings of $96.00.
If you do decide to join please reference the following number as it will get me a discount off of next years dues. # CW335639
Email me or send a Private Message if you would care for additional info.


The Good Sam Club is another good club. Good Sam members get a 10% discount at participating camps and Good Sam has other worth while programs you can join.

Escapees RV Club is another one worth looking into.
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Old 04-15-2007, 06:05 AM   #6
Chuck and Carol
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We rarely use Good Sam. AARP or AAA gives 10% off. We have Thousand Trails but bought into it years ago when it was much cheaper. We upgraded our membership last year so we didn't lay out a lot of money all at once. We also have ROD - Resorts of Distinction and Passport America.

There are just too many to join them all. Most are same campgrounds anyway.

Carol
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Old 04-15-2007, 10:20 AM   #7
sreigle
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My problem is we want to go where we want to go and not base our destination on where our "club" has parks. This is just us. For others obviously that is fine.

So, we use the memberships where many parks give the discount and they don't actually own any parks. Well, Escapees does own a few, I guess. We use Passport America (50% off, with restrictions) and recoup our annual dues in the first month to two months, depending on how much moving around we do. We also have Escapees, which is a 15% savings. And Good Sam (10% off). Most of these apply only to the daily rate and not every day is discounted in all parks. But, we still recoup our annual dues within two months, max.

My first paragraph is not meant to belittle those who choose to go from membership park to membership park. It's just not our preference.
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Old 04-15-2007, 11:30 AM   #8
Chuck and Carol
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If we were to look into buying a membership to TT today, no way could or would we do it. They are priced for the "elite" campers. They offer condos, get a way cabins etc. We just wanted camping. Have no desire to go to an oceanside condo. We probably won't upgrade again. If we go over our "days" we then pay $3.00 a night. That's not bad.

We use Passport America more than any of the others. Thanks Glenn for recommending it. We were in Escapees but never used it. So we dropped it and our "junk" mail dropped considerably. Now if Good Sam would only cut back on that type of mail.

We've gone to other "free" weekends offered by other membership outfits, but the sales pitch was too pressured. Hate being pressured.

Carol
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Old 04-15-2007, 12:09 PM   #9
ols1932
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Here we go again. Some people like the membership parks. We do; and we do not consider ourselves "elite." We live on a small AF pension along with Social Security. We manage our money carefully and travel all over the U.S. at our leisure. The membership parks, for us, allow us to stay any time we want to for only a small yearly maintenance fee. If they don't fit your travel plans then by all means I wouldn't recommend them. But for those for whom the membership parks work, go for it. We've met thousands of people who will tell you that they really enjoy their memberships.

Orv
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Old 04-15-2007, 12:13 PM   #10
ols1932
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Chuck and Carol

We were in Escapees but never used it. So we dropped it and our "junk" mail dropped considerably. Now if Good Sam would only cut back on that type of mail.

Carol
Carol, we've been using Escapees Mail Service for over six years and have not received any junk mail due to the service. The only junk mail we receive is from groups like Good Sam, Camping World, Golf Discount Warehouses (I purchase from them) and my credit card holders. Camping World and Good Sam will not stop sending me mail even though I've written them and called them. I wouldn't blame Escapees for the junk mail.

Orv
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Old 04-15-2007, 12:23 PM   #11
Chuck and Carol
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Last year we were told by a TT member that the "new" memberships are over $10,000. That to me is "elite". You probably joined years ago like we did and got a much much better price.
I think one of the reasons we don't use some of the "clubs" is the dry camping. That's not our thing. We do it once a year at a particular campground --- well not really dry, just no sewer --- for a few days because it's close to some of the friends Chuck had in high school. Other that that, we want full service.
We really like TT. The one we go to at least 3 times a year is at Hershey. It's only 5 hours from home and we love the area. Very well kept park.
Still want to try to get to Florida and stay at one down there.

Carol
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Old 04-15-2007, 12:54 PM   #12
simonsrf
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Last year we spent $3800 for lifetime memberships into Sunrise Resorts, ROD, RPI, Coast-to-Coast, Enjoy America, and others. ($140/yr dues).

We are fulltimers, so, when I see people dish out $38 for a one-night stay, I sorta think to myself that in 100 days, I'll have broken even.....well, I know it isn't perfect logic but you can get the drift.

We use the memberships as a buffer for our boondocking lifestyle. It is the perfect combination of freedom. Rarely, do we look in the books to see where we're going next, we head that way and then look in the books.

I keep hearing the $10k figure, not sure where it came from, and have no desire to put out that type of money. We are very satisfied with our decison to purchase these memberships.
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Old 04-15-2007, 02:38 PM   #13
ols1932
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by simonsrf

Last year we spent $3800 for lifetime memberships into Sunrise Resorts, ROD, RPI, Coast-to-Coast, Enjoy America, and others. ($140/yr dues).

We are fulltimers, so, when I see people dish out $38 for a one-night stay, I sorta think to myself that in 100 days, I'll have broken even.....well, I know it isn't perfect logic but you can get the drift.

We use the memberships as a buffer for our boondocking lifestyle. It is the perfect combination of freedom. Rarely, do we look in the books to see where we're going next, we head that way and then look in the books.

I keep hearing the $10k figure, not sure where it came from, and have no desire to put out that type of money. We are very satisfied with our decison to purchase these memberships.
Couldn't have said it any better!

Orv
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Old 04-15-2007, 06:13 PM   #14
hookman
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Membership Camping:

Why choose membership camping over just using pay-as-you-go campgrounds?

In 1996 we bought a 1976 Prowler 19ft travel trailer and set out on our first camping trip to a KOA in the USA on the BC day weekend. It cost $33 + taxes per night.

Two weeks later we went on a two-night free camping at a membership campground. We were given a spot and told that one of their sales reps would be around to see us about a tour. A couple of hours after we arrived, the rep came around and arranged to take us on a tour on the following day. We were picked up at our trailer and shown the features and the layout of the park and then had a meeting in the sales office. They explained the membership camping system and how the reciprocal systems worked. Then came the “deal” like any other time-share.

Were we going to get four weeks a year only at the times they said? They told us it didn’t work like that. You could go every weekend or you could only stay to the maximum number of days that your membership was for; but four days to max were the same and then you had to leave for so many days so other members could use the system.

Dues were $350 a year. Membership fees were in the $2,900 to $5,900 range depending on the type of membership. Well that’s a lot of money upfront (remember the $33 + taxes per night at the KOA). We were told we could think about it, and that the quoted prices were good for a month and a half.

Two weeks later, we were back to the KOA and $33 + taxes a night for the Labour Day weekend. Now we had spent approximately $200 for six nights camping. Remember, dues for the year were only $350. We figured we should think a little more about the membership program and how much we could afford to camp. There are four long weekends a year, times approximately $35 x 12 or $420 for camping. Cost of the membership camping is $350 per year dues, or ten nights! Top membership would require 169 nights of camping, approximately 34 nights each year for five years to camp it off.

The first year we camped 29 nights, second year was 39 nights, and the third year was 59 nights. After the third year, I quit counting the nights. We found we were camping enough to make it pay for itself in about five to five and a half years.

Using the reciprocals also lets us travel more because of reduced nightly fees. An eight-day trip to the Oregon Coast cost $49 US, and a seven-day trip to Mt. St. Helens cost $42 US.

We now are RVing in a 1998 Nash 25ft travel trailer, which gives us more room and an oh-so-much-better bed. We use the system winter and summer. The majority of our camping is in this system but we do camp at other places too.

There are different types of membership systems: some you pay for a predetermined number of days, some have only one campground, others are multiple campgrounds and when a new one is added you pay to add that campground. The one we joined was a multiple campground and you don’t pay for the new campgrounds, which are added.

Is the membership camping affordable? Yes. Is financing available? Yes. Is it for everyone? No.

We recommend it whole-heartedly. Please note we are not salespeople. simply advocates for membership camping.

Don and Mary Ann Ross

donaross@telus.net


This is a letter we wrote to the RV Times about how figured out whether it was worth while. RV Times is a free rv magazine in BC and Alberta. On line at www.rvtimes.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Browse Our Mail
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Old 04-16-2007, 03:01 AM   #15
ols1932
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by hookman

Membership Camping:

Why choose membership camping over just using pay-as-you-go campgrounds?
You said it well. It's too bad you had to wait so long to see the benefits. Since we were full time, we saw the benefits right away. We've never been sorry and we've more than paid for all the memberships we have. I keep track of everything on my computer and use $25/night as an average that we might have to spend if we didn't have the memberships.

There are those who will tell you that the memberships are too pricey, but I'm a big believer in "you get what you pay for" except when you go to KOA.

Orv
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Old 04-16-2007, 03:21 AM   #16
Chuck and Carol
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We bought into our membership at the right time. Our dues are frozen at last year's price. They even made our "home" park not the one we go to all the time so we aren't locked out. We don't have to go out, stay out X number of days, before we can return to our favorite park.
We figure we are saving quite a bit of money and have the security you don't get at other campgrounds. We have had to call the guard shack several times because of one emergency or other and they responded quickly. Great to know there is someone there 24/7. I recommend to people at least find out the different membership programs they have. There are so many. We found that out when we upgraded.
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Old 04-16-2007, 03:23 AM   #17
Chuck and Carol
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Quote:
quote:Originally posted by Chuck and Carol

We bought into our membership at the right time. Our dues are frozen at last year's price. They even made our "home" park not the one we go to all the time so we aren't locked out. We don't have to go out, stay out X number of days, before we can return to our favorite park.
We figure we are saving quite a bit of money and have the security you don't get at other campgrounds. We have had to call the guard shack several times because of one emergency or other and they responded quickly. Great to know there is someone there 24/7. I recommend to people at least find out the different membership programs they have. There are so many. We found that out when we upgraded.
How do you get "life" memberships?
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Old 04-16-2007, 05:01 PM   #18
hookman
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Every once in awhile the owner wants to expand he sells limited number of dues for life instead of taking loans and we feel his company is very stable.
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