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Old 07-15-2019, 07:05 PM   #21
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We use Passport America, Good Sam’s, Harvest Host, and of course our America The Beautiful pass at all Federal Parks
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Old 07-15-2019, 07:07 PM   #22
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Unhappy KOA

We had a membership to KOA but now avoid them whenever possible. They will not work with you if you need help if it doesn't exactly meet their rules. Could not stay 5 minutes past checkout even in family emergency. We don't pull a car so when we leave for the day our site looks empty. They have come by several times while we were gone for the day and took our hoses and chairs that we left at the site for easy hookup when we returned. They made us stand in the hot sun outside their office waiting for our ride after we complained about it.
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Old 07-15-2019, 07:42 PM   #23
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Rubaby,

I am surprised at your treatment at KOA. I am member of KOA and GS, I have had very good experience staying at KOA's. I have never had an issue, you should have tried to find out how to contact owner and bypass desk personnel. good luck if you try a KOA again.
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Old 07-15-2019, 07:54 PM   #24
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Also do a little research on which memberships you chose, such as Thousand Trails, RPI, Coast to Coast etc. Some are like time shares and can be a real pain to get out of. Read the fine print.
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Old 07-15-2019, 08:14 PM   #25
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“Preowned Memberships”

Take a look here:
https://youtu.be/4EQQd8GuZxc

for some info on memberships and pretty comprehensive where thousand trails is concerned.

Also here:

https://youtu.be/In_gwRVgrTA

And here:

https://youtu.be/r8shRZzLylg

These folks are full time RVers and thousand trails is highly beneficial and money saving for them. As they say, your mileage may vary.
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Old 07-15-2019, 08:44 PM   #26
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We do a lot of KOAs and have rarely been disappointed. They are higher priced but you usually know what you are getting and their reward system is nice. We also use Good Sam and AAA. We are on the move to see the country so we don't stay anywhere to long which make a difference also on the way you travel.
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Old 07-15-2019, 10:35 PM   #27
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Good Sam and Passport America have both worked great for us. We had the Thousand Trails zone pass for several years and it worked fine when camping off season (places like Florida in June). I was never able to book at a popular location in season. I wrote TT and complained. Their only response was sales calls. One salesperson told me we would have a longer reservation period if i bought the ultra expensive membership. I said we're retired, our careers had us scheduling sometimes 6 or 12 months ahead. I said we don't plan more than a few months in advance now. He told me we needed to plan better. I canceled my zone membersip.
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Old 07-16-2019, 09:13 AM   #28
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We keep Good Sam because it’s ubiquitous and at least covers the tax. PPA is so restrictive and if you stay 7 nights, they give you the same cost break as not having it. We don’t find KOAs reliable at all, some are great, some are the worst.

The America the Beautiful Pass is great. My husband was overjoyed with our $10 a night fee at our lovely Glacier Park site and the other parks we have been able to access. But our national parks are going broke, I wish they would charge more and not privatize them.

We look for a park in the location we want to visit, the memberships aren’t always convenient. My husband really wants reservations, so we don’t use DNR, COE, and all as much as I think we could.
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Old 07-16-2019, 10:15 AM   #29
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I've thought of looking into Thousand Trails, as the campground we stay at when visiting our daughter in FL, is a member. Even though they are a Good Sam park also, I don't get a discount because of the type of site that I chose (50amp/full HU).
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Old 07-16-2019, 11:17 AM   #30
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Originally Posted by Rich5117 View Post
Also do a little research on which memberships you chose, such as Thousand Trails, RPI, Coast to Coast etc. Some are like time shares and can be a real pain to get out of. Read the fine print.
We bought into Coast to Coast long time ago and was great way back traveling US...Membership at Colorado River Adventure...in AZ etc. Over years started adding other fees, then sold some of sights in Yuma to full timers or those with money so we had to call way in advance to get in for winter months, their bus season. Then could stay two weeks and had to leave a week..pain in neck..Trying to get out of contract finally had to go through attorney to get out of contract when we wanted out...REad fine print ...and ask lot of questions
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Old 07-16-2019, 12:30 PM   #31
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1000 Trails members

My wife and I are retired and have been full timers for 4 years, we primary stay at 1000 trails it seems to fit our lifestyle, we bought our membership second hand from a friend, we can book online 120 days in advance and stay 3 weeks and can go from park to park with no days out of the park, last summer planned a trip to California and Yosemite and had no problems booking parks, some states you have to pay $3 a day for 50 amp and besides our yearly fee which is about $560 a year that all we pay, we have been very satisfied with them, most of there parks on on east and west coast and Texas where we are from.
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Old 07-18-2019, 08:57 PM   #32
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We bought a membership in Thousand Trails when it was new. Stayed at alot of the parks. All were 5 star. When they closed the only park that was near us after i retired we resigned. I wasn’t going to pay dues for nothing. We are both retired now and had coast to coast but never seemed to find any campgrounds on our route. So now we just camp whereever we find full hooks. My wife and i are handicapped so we like our ammenities. Safe travels.
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Old 11-19-2019, 09:46 AM   #33
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PA

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Originally Posted by bikendan View Post
We're retired and we use Passport America a lot. It fits our camping style.
Do you just make a camping reservation like you normally would or do you have to take what is left at the campgrounds? Do you get treated like you paid full price for the site? Any hidden rules or regs that one should know about? Would like to join but just seems to good to be true???????
Thanks, Mike
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Old 11-19-2019, 09:54 AM   #34
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KOA

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Originally Posted by wnewman53 View Post
Rubaby,

I am surprised at your treatment at KOA. I am member of KOA and GS, I have had very good experience staying at KOA's. I have never had an issue, you should have tried to find out how to contact owner and bypass desk personnel. good luck if you try a KOA again.
I have good luck with KOA except 2 weeks ago at the Va. Beach KOA. To much to go into but was not a "happy camper."
Mike
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Old 11-19-2019, 10:25 AM   #35
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Mike223 -

Passport America campgrounds may have a couple of restrictions that you can find out ahead of time by reviewing participating campgrounds on the PA website or in their printed directory.

(1) The PA discount may be limited to certain days. We encountered a campground this summer that only offers a discount for Monday through Thursday.

(2) There may be a limit on the number of consecutive days a campground will give you the PA discount. The one we found limited the discount to 3 consecutive days.

At both campgrounds, we were treated very well and never felt that using PA affected our experience...just our wallet! I do suggest that you make your reservations as you normally would and then, just prior to the giving the credit card info, let them know you'll be asking for the PA discount.
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Old 11-19-2019, 10:50 AM   #36
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With Passport America, you have to look at each campground's rules. They vary widely. We have run into one PA campground that did have specific spots set aside for PA. They were normal spots. But if they had "run out", we would have been SOL. Because of all the varying rules, we have not renewed our PA membership.
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Old 11-19-2019, 10:56 AM   #37
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A membership is only good if you actually use it. Thousand Trails membership benefits are mostly available at their parks/preserves (Thousand Trails/Encore) which they actually own. Good Sam, Passport America, Happy Camper and FMCA provide advertising and other services to their associated parks in return for the parks giving discounts to the organization's members.

As has been mentioned, Passport America and the other 50% discount groups allow their participating parks to have blackout dates which may be weekends, holidays and sometimes month(s).

Escapees is a hybrid. They own some parks and also have affiliated parks that give discounts of 10-50%. KOAs are mostly franchises. The franchise fees are likely one reason they are at the top of the price point in most areas.

Some of the campground discount organizations (Good Sam, FMCA, KOA, Escapees) offer other services or discounts from partner businesses. Discounts on insurance, emergency road service, internet, tires, etc., may cover the cost of membership. A Good Sam membership provides discounts at Camping World, Gander Mountain and Overtons if you happen to shop at those stores. I received help resolving two warranty issues from the Good Sam Help Line that saved me over $1000.00 in repair costs. Checkout out all the membership benefits of each organization not just the camping discounts.
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Old 11-19-2019, 12:03 PM   #38
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1000 Trails

Hey Mike 223 we have had very good experiences with 1000 trails, you just go to there Web site and book your dates and locations and you get a verification # , we can book 120 days in advance and stay up to 21 days, yes we try to book in advance and enter the park during the week and it's first come first served and you go in and pick your site, now there are annuals that live in the parks but there are plenty on great sites, and yes your are treated like you were paying cash, we have never tried to book a site and was turned down, even stayed at 1000 trails Yosemite lakes park for 21 days which is 5 miles outside the west gate of Yosemite at 4th of July week.
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