Ocean Canyon RV Resorts? RV Membership Clubs in General

[BamaBob]

Anyone out there a member?
Anyone out there have a opinion of this RV Resort Chain?

We are staying at The Mountain lakes Resort this weekend as guests of a friend of ours - we got the pitch today and found out something I did not know, the parent company has apparently bought out The Good Sam Club and is in the (very slow) process of turning all The Good Sam Campgrounds into Members Only Campgrounds.

Not sure HOW their prices compare with the other Membership RV camps so I would like to hear from any of ya'll who are members in other RV Camp clubs.

If you are not familiar with this, the basic premise is you pay a "Lifetime" Membership fee, then a annual maintenance fee (sorta like a homeowners association) and get to camp free at any of their properties nationwide.

If you are a full timer, it is a no-brainer - even 1/4 time would probably pay for itself in 5 years.

So, let's discuss RV membership clubs!!

Here is Ocean Canyon's main Page:
Ocean Canyon Properties Membership RV Resorts | RV Camping

And where we are staying:
http://www.mountainlakesrvpark.com

[dcheatwood]

I'm having a hard time understanding how Good Sam parks could become members only parks as Good Sam does not own any parks. They just advertise the privately owned parks and in return, Good Sam members get discounted rates. Sounds more in line with a sales tactic used to get rv-ers to buy into the membership club. Just my opinion.

[BamaBob]

Originally Posted by dcheatwood

I'm having a hard time understanding how Good Sam parks could become members only parks as Good Sam does not own any parks. They just advertise the privately owned parks and in return, Good Sam members get discounted rates. Sounds more in line with a sales tactic used to get rv-ers to buy into the membership club. Just my opinion.

*EXACTLY* David!

I was SO POed with the way that we were treated by the "Salesman" and his "Manager" we felt like we were getting the runaround from some 70's used car dealers!

SO POed in fact that I wrote a nastygram to the senior management. Interestingly enough, we got a call from their corporate this afternoon apologizing and asking us to please re-visit (on their dime) their premier camp on Styx River. We may take em up on this but it will be in October before we can get down there.

Anyhoo, back to the sales pitch...

*Supposedly* they have camps in all 50+Canada--so shows their map but the bottom line is they charge $13,475 for a "multiple lifetime" membership that can be passed to your children and their children (assuming they are in business that long :roll eyes AND you have to pay a $475/year "maintenance" fee.

If we were full timers the math would be simple but when you are NOT, the calculus is a bit different

(BTW 6 Actual SWEARS the salesman was drunk - and our presentation was at 0900...must be learning from TURBS )

Still Still, more talking about ALL RV membership clubs please!!

[Weezer]

This is the park you're so dissatisfied with? wifi sucks, sites muddy when it rains, etc.?

And this park is part of their network?

no thanks

I can't even tolerate HOAs...not my cup of tea. If I want to paint our house trim pink with glow in the dark polka dots....well.

[youroo]

HSV,I don't know if the Salesman was (Drunk) but You would have to be to pay (13,000+$$) to join!! Pass it on too your Kids,yea right? Run Forrest Run! Youroo!!

[BamaBob]

Originally Posted by Weezer

This is the park you're so dissatisfied with? wifi sucks, sites muddy when it rains, etc.?

And this park is part of their network?

It IS...sheesh! Apparently their WIFI is a satellite ISP - supposedly they will be getting fiber "sometime" this year :roll eyes:

And yeah we discovered Andersen's will SINK in mud...thankfully all the rain cleaned our levelers off LOL.

Supposedly they will be going to all concrete pads as well....

Oh well the fishing was good and the pool refreshing

In all fairness, we spoke to some members last night and they said that before Ocean Canyon bought this park it was going downhill fast...OC has apparently done a lot of improvements *shrug*


[QUOTE=Weezer;661607
no thanks
[/QUOTE]

Pretty much how we feel as well

[QUOTE=Weezer;661607
I can't even tolerate HOAs...not my cup of tea. If I want to paint our house trim pink with glow in the dark polka dots....well. [/QUOTE]

You meant KOA I assume? We feel the same way ... we use KOAs as a overnight stops...certainly NOT a destination!

Now the next question is can you get a membership to Coast to Coast WITHOUT buying into Ocean Canyon...

[TreeLady]

This membership clubs for anything make me nervous. All the promised perks and
then what do you really get when you want to use them????
Totally different story.

Karen

[ependydad]

I don't know anything about the membership program that you speak to. As with everything- you have to ask yourself a couple of questions:

1) Are the parks the kind of camping that you like?
2) Are the parks in places that you'd like to go?
3) If you do the math and figure out the per-night cost, can you stay at equivalent places for equal or less?

It's a different program, but I'm a happy Thousand Trails member. I was gifted a membership by my dad + his wife. Theirs is an old national Outdoor World membership.

For my $400-500/year, I get 50-nights of camping per year. After 50-nights, I get charged $3/night. Some parks charge extra for 50-amp service, some don't. If they do, it is $3-$5/night.

Of course, there are some quirks to the rules (2 weeks in, 1 week out unless I upgrade my membership).

These are RV parks vs. camping- but honestly, with the travel that we do - it works for me. Right now, I'm at 55 nights of camping this year and have averaged out to $23/night (my yearly fee + any nights that I've had to pay for at non-TT parks). My current schedule has me slated for 88 nights of camping this year and my goal is close to 100. That should lower my nightly rate down to sub-$20/night.

BUT- it's not for everyone. You have to ask yourself the questions that I listed above.

[BamaBob]

Thanks for the info Ependydad. We are Passport America members (a 50% off club) pretty much pays for itself after 3 stays and takes @ 20ish nights to payback a lifetime membership.

[Mountndream]

at $50 a night, i would have to use thier campgrounds 37 nights each year for the next 10 years to break even.

Don't see that being a wise investment for us. I would rather spend the money on purchasing a new TV myself.

But I would like to hear more about RV clubs since I know practically nothing

[ynott96]

We had the unfortunate chance to stay at the Mill Pond Resort, Ashdown AR...mud sites, no wifi, no cable, no anything..the park needed millions of dollars of improvements to even be called a "RESORT"....and the pitch was like a used car salesman pushing for you to buy the car that the little old lady owned! Absolute nonsense that the park can post such an inviting web page.....nasty...nasty...BEWARE
George

[Timex]

The BOSS forbids me to ever go to another sales pitch presentation. She says I make an ***** of myself. I try to stay calm but as their Bull****(capital B) keeps rolling, I can't control my distaste. They promise the world with a fence around it. I keep asking about the fine print and they try to do an end around on me and I keep trying to pin them down. The more this happens the madder I get. The last 1 we went to, the salesman asked me why I even came to the "meeting". I said I came to get my $100 prize. So they gave me instead a photo copied voucher for 3 days/2 nights in Orlando. I asked where is the accommodation and who is paying to get me there? They wouldn't tell me where I was staying and that transportation costs are my responsibility! I shredded that paper into the tiniest pieces I could make and handed it back to them and told them that they could go in my place!

I'm a Good Sam and Passport America member. Some years I break even or a little better and some years I don't. Just depends on whether I stay at public parks more or private parks.

From what I know(very little) about membership parks, if you work the system and stay at the different parks within their system, you will have to use them anywhere from 250-300 nights a year to make them pay for themselves. I can only camp maybe 20 nights a year now, so a membership would not be financially feasible for me.

I may have it wrong(been wrong once a long time ago) and I can stand to be corrected.

[prof_fate]

We bought into an ROD resort for $5500, 300/yr mtce fee, 10 year deal. We can extend to a lifetime for $3k more..but the $300 will be forever - no way to ever get out of it unless you sell the membership. I don't like that one bit.

Where our resort is most public CGs run $80-100 a night so camping as little as 10 days there pays for it. And everything (except wifi) is free- mini golf, etc. With kids that is a real savings.

I wish we could camp more but my wife and I have this problem..called jobs.