I'd like to hear from past or present members of RV Resorts and get some pros & cons as members. I'd like to get some idea of the cost to join, availability of sites especially during hoildays and in general are they that much better then the average state parks? I have a 29' TT. Appreciate your thoughts & opinions.
We had a membership for many years. The campground and coast to coast dues and fees went up to the point it was no longer worthwhile. Many of the campgrounds were in out of the way places. There are many posts on this you may find something bh doing a searcn.
It all depends on how much you use it. I purchased a 2nd hand membership for travel resorts which is 45 minutes from home. We use it a lot. it has nicer amenities(things to keep the kid entertained) than the state parks do.
We bought in to Indian Cove Resort in Va Beach 10 years ago and have truly enjoyed the place, our Staff and fellow owners. It is about 40 miles from the house and we spend about 75 nights a year on-site. I can take my MH down and leave it on site (hooked up) for a max of 28 days. After 28 (or less) days, I have to leave ICR for 7 days. I usually bring the MH to the house and park it on her pad. We also are members of two camping clubs and with their monthly rallies and all the grandkid's stuff...we are on the go.
My initial investment was taking over a couple membership deeds, one was paid up and the other had annual maintenance dues owing. The annual dues have gone from $352 per membership in 1998 to $572 per membership for 2008/09. We had a $300 assessment per membership a couple years ago so that our water and sewer plants could be rebuilt, and we are now working on getting about 250ft of bulkheading done to keep the bank from falling into Hell's Point Creek.
I can reserve one site per membership 60 days in advance, and with 400 sites, you can usually get a site for the big summer holidays up to a couple weeks out. The Manager even keeps a couple sites empty during these big week-ends, just to cover an owner who's plans might have changed, or someone that has a problem at their site.
ICR is a C2C park, so if I wanted, I could join C2C and camp at other parks for the current going points rate, but I usually get a good discount with my RV clubs, and we really do not camp much outside ICR and where my two RV clubs go.
All in all a good experience.
Andy, Lee & Ruby - the neurotic 9 yr old Cocker Spaniel
'05 Fleetwood Bounder 33R, F53 w/6.8L V10, Cool Ice...towing a
'07 Chevy HHR LT2 w/2.4L EcoTec, Silverstone Metallic
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We have a Campground Membership, have owned it for over 10 years.. Cost me $800 to join my home park, annual dues are $240..
With my Home Park, the annual dues cover the first 35/days use, than pay $10.50/day after that..
We have used it enough to recoop our annual dues, and considering the average park fees, we have more than recooped our cost to join our Park..
Membership Parks are worth it to those that use them... We like visiting our home park so it is worth it to us.. We have had NO problems getting into our home park, but there are a couple months each year we need to make reservations in advance..
If you consider buying a Membership, look for a RESALE and read/understand the contract before signing..
We were also members of Coast to Coast, and was well worth it to us, especially when we fulltimed..
Some are in out of the way places, like, along the coast of Oregon, Washington.. Along the Colorado River from Bullhead city to Yuma... In the lower Rio Grande Valley, Rockport, Tx. and many other places we went to.. Best place to check out the place where the parks are located is at their website to see if they will suit your needs..
We have two memberships. One with Sunrise resorts- Bullhead City AZ and also one with Hacienda Adventure which is at the Oasis Las Vegas. We do love them both but as it was said earlier if you use it, it is worth it. We also have C2C and Passport America, but we are full-time and use them all the time.
First off, I would not buy a membership at full price. Go to memberships for sale and you can usually get a good price. Yearly dues on ours run approx $350.00 per membership but we are in Las Vegas or Bullhead City (by Laughlin) usually all winter so it works for us.
We have never been turned away even during the holidays, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen.
I guess it is all up to each individual of what they want and how often they will use it. Consider how much you will use it and check out the prices on the used memberships and make sure you ask how much the yearly dues are.
At both of our parks we are allowed to stay two weeks free and either out for one week or pay for your out week (we always just pay instead of moving all the time).
For both of our parks we found someone who just wanted to stop the yearly dues so we only had to pay for the transfer fee. Membership did not cost us anything, just the transfer fee and yearly dues.
Also ask how much the transfer fee is. Las Vegas was $500.
Good Luck...Janet
Full-time and loving our life. Hubby and me and Buttons make three (our baby,poodle)
Monaco Diplomat 40' 4 slides
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We bought into one -- $6000 IIRC. It came with memberships to C2C, 1000 Trails and another one I think. We dropped 1000 Trails after the free year, and this year we quit paying the dues to C2C. (We were told we could start paying dues again any time we wanted to.) We use the home resort an average of once each year and used C2C a couple times in 8 years. Obviously, somebody made a mistake in buying this thing!
But if you use it, it's people like us who make it a bargain you. It all depends on how much you use it. As others have suggested, look for resale memberships. If we were to sell ours, I think the going rate is about $1000.
Is it worth it for the average person...no! However, if you make the effort to go out of way to seek out the parks, you can make it work for you.
I full time and belong to a couple of different memeberships.
I have found in my travels, that if you do a little research, you can find many places to park for free, (ie: walmart, cabelas, flying J, etc.), and there are many places, (city parks, BLM, COE, etc,) where you can park for minimal fees that many times are less then the fees that membership parks require.
Some of the membership parks/resorts are very nice, some are like camping in a ghetto. I got my membership via the RV dealership where I purchased my motorhome, and got the membership for a significant discount(less then $500.00). I pay an annual home park dues, and a small fee for the resort fee. We full time and can make it work. Paying $1000.00's of dollars for any membership....you better take a good look at the situation. Buying a lot someplace for $1000.00's....same deal. I personally don't like tying myself down to something like this.
Don't get caught up in the "there won't be any place for you to park your RV hype".
We bought a membership and had it for quite a few years. However, we noticed that we were only staying at the five membership parks and not enjoying any of the hundreds of other parks in the same areas. Further, with what it cost us in membership and yearly maintenance fees, we were paying on average about $45 per night to stay, whereas we could stay at other, nicer campgrounds for much less. We finally sold it and are enjoying our trips a lot more now, because we aren't always seeing the same places and faces.
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