resort memberships

[msconlon]

Retirement is near and becoming a full timer in my 1975 Chinook Concourse is just months away. I must have clicked on the wrong website and I am now being bombarded with offers from every RV resort membership company out there.

I even spoke to one that shall remain nameless on the phone and followed up with an appointment. The phone call promised to waive the $2000 initiation fee and all i would need to pay was the approx $300 annual dues and I would have access to their local parks and have access to hundreds of parks nationally for $10-$15 a night and in many cases free. Of course at the appointment the bait and switch was in full force, lol. But they would subtract the $2000 form the $8000 and the $6000 packages. I have been in sales for years and was naturally skeptical and not really surprised at what happened.

But the real reason for this post is to get real life advice from this great resource as what are your recommendations as far as some of these RV resort memberships are concerned. I have no hesitation spending weeks if not longer at a single site while touring the USA in hopes of hitting all 48 States. On the surface these clubs appear to offer great savings. But I am hoping to get educated by this great group.

If it makes a difference I am in Washington State, at least for a little while longer.

Thank you in advance for your advice

[Manitou]

I don’t have a lot of advice, but share your desire to know more. I did “good Sam” for some piece of mind about towing, but over all wasn’t impressed (or particularly let down.. just neutral about them). It did come with a little discount on fuel and a little discount on some camp grounds (though I suspect many place would discount regardless).
I have considered actually buying an Rv spot somewhere to stay 6 months and travel the other 6... it those spots are difficult to find as well.
If you can find your way into an elks lodge membership or if you are ex military.. you get some really great locations for cheap with those organizations.

[Blue~Go]

Hmm, was that Thousand Trails? I am completely not the membership type, but I did spend a bunch of one summer at the TT parks in Washington, because I was traveling with a buddy who had one of the top-of-the-line memberships (meaning they allowed guests, you could go park to park with no gap, you could extend weeks a certain number of times, etc.). The parks I went to in Washington were in very nice locations and had some nice sites. But then I also heard those were the best ones in their system so I don't know about the rest. They weren't snooty: There were big expensive rigs and then also sad sack Class A's from the early 80's; retired folks and also kids running around.

The feeling I got was kinda "time share" as you said. And they had some dated systems (like if you wanted a more desirable site you had to stand outside the office at a specific time and line up with others to choose and change, which made it impossible to go and do anything that morning - come on why can't this be done some other way!) But I think if I wanted one of their memberships I'd study up on the ins and outs and try to buy one used. That's how my buddy had done it as he wanted one of the deluxe ones they don't offer anymore (or maybe they did but crazy expensive). I'm sure there are scams to watch out for.

This was a number of years ago so things might have changed.

Passport America is often touted as useful for a night or two here and there (not longer stays).

[chin_k]

... I would have access to their local parks and have access to hundreds of parks nationally for $10-$15 a night and in many cases free.

What is the normal price for these parks and camp sites? I would approach it from financial point of view. If it save you $30 a night (assume the normal price is $40 or $45), then it will take you ten nights to get your $300 annual due back, and if you considering doing this for next ten years, you need to do another 20 nights ($6000/10, not considering interest) to make it even. So if you do this full time, then it can be a good deal, assuming that you are going to the parks at the time that you want anyway. If they have some restrictions, or additional hassle to make it difficult to enjoy your stay, then the formula is not going to be straight forward. Read the fine prints.

I got constant invites for time shares, and even got suckered into going to one with my wife to get a free gift and wasted 2 hours of my time. We were naive back then, and I do not see any that is worth our time unless we have nothing better to spend our evening. I would enjoy trying to get some money working with a Nigerian gentleman who happened to have access to a few millions but have some difficulty in getting the money out of Indonesia.