Discounts and such?

[Cut_un]

Moving from a casual RVer to serious RVer... Meaning, from weekends, long weekends to 1+ weeks at a time! Other than dry camping while in the hunting mode, wife and I stay at Private CGs, state parks and KOSs.. Average price is $35-$50 per night. Can hit the pocket book kind of hard as we are camping at least once a month for a week or more ! We are up in age, over 65 and do not belong to and groups or clubs.. Asking if for advice as to what I could do to save a little money while camping?

[ependydad]

Thousand Trails is good for 1-3 week stays most places. The parks are fair to middling. Fairly limited locations (80 parks around the US). Bigger buy-in depending on what membership level you're after.

Passport America is good for overnight stops mid-week (typically). Their parks wildly range in quality. LOTS of locations, though.

Harvest Hosts is an interesting overnight stop. It's "free" but you're expected to make a purchase at each location. Usually scenic. Kind of all over. Usually boondocking/no hookups.

Coast to Coast is good for 1-2 week stays (I think!). The parks are generally nice from what I hear. Weird restrictions around holidays, they take retail reservations over membership reservations or something (just repeating what I sort of heard).

BoondockersWelcome is good for short stops (few days). This is typically individuals who have space on their properties. Generally boondocking/no hookups, though some offer them. Free, I believe.

FreeCampsites.net is good for finding free/lowcost places to boondock. No yearly membership/is free to use.

Spin off of Thousand Trails are things like Encore parks, RPI, Ready Camp Go, and EnjoyAmerica. I don't know much about these except that they offer some kind of discounts to parks. Honestly, I have parts of this and it confuses me more than helps me.

[BandJCarm]

Originally Posted by Cut_un

Moving from a casual RVer to serious RVer... Meaning, from weekends, long weekends to 1+ weeks at a time! Other than dry camping while in the hunting mode, wife and I stay at Private CGs, state parks and KOSs.. Average price is $35-$50 per night. Can hit the pocket book kind of hard as we are camping at least once a month for a week or more ! We are up in age, over 65 and do not belong to and groups or clubs.. Asking if for advice as to what I could do to save a little money while camping?

COE if you have any.

Akso, Passport saved me $35 Today...

[Timex]

There are some members on here that may frown on what I'm about to mention. But we have been Good Sam members since '94 and have saved several hundred $$ over the years. Back in the day, you got the 10% discount if you paid in cash only. Now, they give it for cards!

Some parks will give you a free night if you stay a week.

PA discounts are usually half off the nightly rate but sometimes for only 1-2 nights. Like Doug said, the parks range from fairly nice to hardly nice. There is some idiosyncrasies(how 'bout that word?!) to when you can/can't use the discount. I've let my membership drop with them because where we were (usually) going was not a PA park. But it is a handy membership that will pay for itself in just a few nights.

Since we don't travel very much(yet), we are not interested in any time share type memberships.

[Shanks12]

Just a thought, what about trying to become campground hosts at state parks? See which ones are in need and which weeks and possibly plan that into your trips.

Haven't done it personally, but seems pretty easy

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by Timex

But we have been Good Sam members since '94 and have saved several hundred $$ over the years.

X2!!!

[arpipeliner]

Just to your post as staying in Private CG. Ask about weekly and monthly rates. Once I was paying $500/month with full hookups. The camper beside me stay barely over a week (8-10 days) paid close to $400. If I remember correctly the weekly rate turned out to be $150 to $175.


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[Cut_un]

Thanks for the info! Good to know!

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by arpipeliner

Just to your post as staying in Private CG. Ask about weekly and monthly rates. Once I was paying $500/month with full hookups. The camper beside me stay barely over a week (8-10 days) paid close to $400. If I remember correctly the weekly rate turned out to be $150 to $175.

I'm surprised that a week stay was almost as expensive as monthly.

But generally speaking, if you stay more than 2 weeks- the monthly rate is almost always cheaper.

[mjones12]

We also go a week or more at a time, monthly, year round. We look for parks that offer the seventh night free. There are many.

[arpipeliner]

They were paying by the day instead of asking about the weekly rate. Can't remember why they were there. I would thought the CG would've offer it to them but as I stay in more CGs I see the trend. Understand parks are designed for certain types and have different business plans.


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