I don't ask for a discount if I am staying just a short time. But if a week or more I always ask if they have a weekly / monthly rate. My grand daddy always said..." Never mind the price, what's the discount?"
QUOTE(tallyo @ Jan 21 2008, 06:08 PM) [snapback]9978[/snapback] I don't ask for a discount if I am staying just a short time. But if a week or more I always ask if they have a weekly / monthly rate. My grand daddy always said..." Never mind the price, what's the discount?" My old man always said..."you never know until you ask"
B) Having worked at both campgrounds and lodges I would like to say they are different. Lodges/Hotels have discounts for late arrivals staying one night only. This is very common Nothing wrong with asking for the best price. Campgrounds thats different. it's ok to ask for a discount , but don't badger the clerk! Remember guests in campgrounds talk to each other and compare prices. That's not as likely in a hotel. I can not say how many times I heard " oh come on darling you can do better than that for me" or " I insist on a better price, I want to see the manager". I've had some guests that I took the reservation for, where I made notes on the reservation saying customer was told about extra price for extra vehicle or person, or special holiday rate. Where I noted customer was not happy and will try to argue at check in. Guess what, I got to check them in. Yes sir, I took your reservation, I remember talking with you, I even made a note on your reservation that we discussed this. They still argue and still try for a better price! Some just want to stay for free and have us pay them for the pleasure of their company. Yes, I do still enjoy being a workamper, these people are few compared to all the ones that are a pleasure to check in.
First; I think it's great this topic has generated so much interest. Second: Campers talk about the rate they got?? So do people on airplanes. What about the person that pays full price at a Passport America Park and finds that their neighbor only paid 1/2 of that? The list could go on and on. People over 62 get most COE & other Federal CG's at 1/2 price. 3 weeks ago a Diesel Pusher paid $8 for the site next to my $16 site. His price was on the stub he had to put on his post. I am over 60, retired and on a fixed income with a $16,000 trailer. Is that fair?? Mississippi just changed their rate structure at some state parks where a premium site with full hookups is the same price for everyone, regardless of age. That's a proper step for the public sector. BUT: Many people want a fair rate at a private park when all they want to do is stop for one night to rest. I travel with a group of up to 11 other RV'ers. When I stop for the night, all I want is a site with electric. I don't use the pool, hot tub, bathhouse or anything else. I just want a place to park and sleep with electric and get up and continue on the next day. I have stayed at Wal-Mart's on occasion in the cooler months. I have run across one RV Park with a $10 for 10 hours rate. And, I see some of the nicer RV parks on Passport America only allow the 1/2 price rate for one night. If more RVPark owners would take a look at a lower rate for one night or 10 hours or similar, it could be a win-win situation for the RV'er and the park owners. Just look at the revenue lost to those that stay at Wal-Mart, truckstops and other places for free. AND: On the other hand, I have never asked for a discount that was not published on any park where I stayed for more than one night. Looking back we do ask for a group rate and have gotten a 20% discount or 7th night free or stay 10 nights for the price of 8. But this is only where we have a block of sites. AND LAST: We never argue over a rate in the park office. Any discounts are pre-arranged by phone and the owner can always just say "NO". John
Well, I've stayed out of this topic until now, but I just can't resist any longer, so I'm jumping in. We offer a number of discounts for qualifying travelers: 1 - We have our regular nightly rate for which we give a 10% discount for TACO, Good Sam, FMCA, AARP, KOA or any other camper club card that you can pull out your wallet. 2 - We also have weekly rates, monthly rates, and seasonal rates which are all less than the daily discount rate. The monthly and seasonal rates are not available during our busy Summer Season. 3 - We have a non-summer on-site storage rate for those who want to leave their rig parked on the site and visit on weekends or less frequently without having to pay for camping when they are not there . 4 - We offer 25% off to Escapees members. 5 - We offer 50% off to Passport America and Happy Camper members. There is no limit as to number of nights on the 50% off, but we do not honor it during our Summer season when we typically turn away 2,000 or more people desiring to pay full rate. We sell Passport America memberships here, and if you decide you want that rate, we will gladly qualify you the moment you purchase the membership. We will even honor it retroactively if you decide to purchase a membership at any time during your stay with us. We will not give any of these discounts to anyone who cannot show a card showing proof of membership. To do so would devalue the memberships. So, I'm on the side of "It doesn't hurt to ask" , but don't get angry at us if you have not bothered to join any of these programs. Everyone have great time camping wherever you go. Doug
--------------------------------------- So, I'm on the side of "It doesn't hurt to ask" , but don't get angry at us if you have not bothered to join any of these programs. Everyone have great time camping wherever you go. Doug --------------------------------------- Parkview...you are a breath of fresh air. Sure can tell you've been on the other side of the RV windshield. Thank you.
QUOTE(gilda @ Sep 15 2007, 06:16 AM) [snapback]8339[/snapback] You are absolutely right. However, That is NOT the way that it is asked. If one asked in that pleasant manner, they may have a chance of getting a deal. But, unfortunately it is asked in a presumptuous manner and tone, something like "Oh come on, you can do better than that" or in a lot of cases, because of the type of person asking, it is many times "c'mon honey, or sweetheart". In my case it is ALWAYS the man asking and asked in a very arogant manner. In hotel/motel situation, you have an entirely different situation. (Similar to airlines , car rental, etc). These people are strangers and in most cases remain strangers, therefore not discusing what they paid for their service. However, in the RV park industry, the guests are outdoors and DO talk of what they paid, and believe me THEY DO TALK. And, come to the office demanding a deal that his neighbor got. It is NOT worth the hastle. Thanks for sharing. Seems to me that your policy is very reasonable. Interesting topic. Obviously opinions vary.
Parkview> I concur with FosterImposters. But, you shouldn't have waited four pages to speak a little common sense.
Thanks RLM, I waited so long to enter this topic is to avoid the appearance that the only reason I participate in this forum is to promote my own park. I enjoy RVing and running an RV park, but I try not to treat this site as an advertising page. I try to add informed commentary to topics that I think I may know something about or have an opinion about. Doug
Hi all, I know it's an old topic, but I'm new today here, and felt like commenting lol I only ask for standard discounts, AAA and the like. (I'm military, so I ask EVERYWHERE not just CG's) I have noticed many places are willing to accomodate discounts if given a good reason. I was at one CG a few years ago, asked if they had military discount, gal at the counter told me "no, sorry" then the owner popped his head around the corner and said "sure, why not?" So it can't hurt to ask. Just be polite about it and not pushy or cheap. Just by being polite, the CG that gave me the military discount also gave me much more than I reserved, because of it. They upgraded me from a basic tent site, to a full site, even against my objections, because we only had a tent lol. They told me they were empty, so why not use it? I laughed and accepted. Again, give a reason for them to give you a discount. They're letting you use their property, they don't owe you anything other than what you pay for.
QUOTE I hate to admit this, but we frequently ask for a lower rate (my wife of course) and frequently get it...We used to be inthelodging business and I know that this used to work on us. I feel pretty bad doing it, but I like the discounts... QUOTE I don't mean to be insulting, but I think your actions are niggardly and cheap. Every merchant in the world has set a price based on what he or thinks is a reasonable profit, and people like you are very frustrating. I would tell you to get packing if you didn't want to pay the rate, and quit wasting my time. I'm glad you didn't _mean_ to be insulting because it sure sounded pretty insulting {grin!}. This is a rather long thread and I admit to not having read it all the way through, so... With regard to the original poster, I'm surprised you got reactions like this. I guess everybody on this site paid the full asking price for the last house they bought (?????). I don't think that was smart but I bet they really feel wealthy. Personally, I think your wife's negotiating skills are commendable and that you are a lucky guy that she doesn't pester you to do the negotiating {grin!}. I mean, really... The worst case scenario is that the campground management is going to say, "n-n-n-oooooo", to her negotiating invitations. I don't fish for _big_ discounts but I generally toss out all my membership cards and ask if I qualify for a 10% discount for any of them. We usually get a 10% discount at commercial campgrounds on that basis and, sometimes !, we even get discounts at non-KOAs for the KOA membership card !!! Don't underestimate the power of 10% rebates ! At the same time, I don't get all bent out of shape if I don't get some discount that I think I might be entitled to (... a lot of people get _way_ bent out of shape on these occasions {shrug}). I can understand why you might feel _embarassed_ by what your wife does but I think that is mostly a cultural issue -- Americans often naively think there is one price for everyone. Another reason you might be feeling embarassed is that being seen to "pinch your pennies" might make you appear to be a failure in life. If it makes you feel any better, though, I sincerely doubt that Donald Trump ever feels like a failure in life when he gets something for nothing (how do you think he got so rich ?!?!). On the other hand, I'm not out to cheat the campground owners. It is an armslength transaction. When the campground management (however stupidly) makes an error in my favor, I always point it out to them. So I would submit that I'm not trying to pull a fast one on them. If I chose to negotiate, the worst thing that can happen is that they decline to play. I don't think for a minute that people get rich by running campgrounds but I do think they are "big kids" that can make their own decisions as to what offers and invitations make economic sense to them. So... Give your wife a kiss from me {grin!}. What _I_ find disagreeable are the campers that join these half-price campground clubs and then blame the campground they are visiting when they don't get the site for half price. It never seems to occur to these people that it might be the 50%-off club that is ripping them off!!! If any of you disagree with me on this point, just let me know because I recently started a national half-price camping club and I will extend you an annual membership good at over 10,000 campgrounds accross the United States for -- half-the-price of the annual $260 membership fee !!!! (Sorry, this offer is only good for memberships paid for by certified check or bullion transfers.)
Hello all, I would like to add a little info into the discussion of half-price camper clubs. We are affiliated with a number of different camper clubs including Good Sam, FMCA, Escapees, Happy Camper and Passport America, for which we offer a variety of discounts. There are other groups that we do not affiliate with, and those are the ones that would impose on us any rules on how we conduct our business or require us to set aside inventory for "their" members. We are affiliated with Passport America because we choose to be, but that does not make us a Passport America RV park. We are independently owned and operated; Passport America has no say so into how we operate our business, when we offer the Passport rates, the limits of stay on the Passport rate or any changes in rates that we might make from time to time. No one from Passport America has ever seen our Park. We set the conditions on when we honor the Passport rate and for how long and whether we will continue to be affiliated with them. The RV Park business is largely supply and demand. During the Summer when we are fully booked a year in advance and turn away several thousand would be customers willing to pay full rate, we obviously do honor the half-price rates, a fact fully disclosed in the Passport America directory. Other parks that often fill up on weekends or holidays may choose not to honor the half-price rate on those days or to limit the length of time that they honor the rate, again disclosed in the directory. These decisions are totally up to the Park. Any Park that does not honor the conditions that they have set forth should not reflect negatively on Passport America, but on the Park itself. As a relatively new Park, we are still in the process of building our Winter business and are usually somewhere between 40 and 70% occupied. As we fill up in the Winter (and we eventually will), we also will begin to limit the time that we honor the Passport rate or discontinue it completely. But until that time, I would rather have a half-price camper than an empty site. Passport has no resposibility as to the quality of the affiliated Parks as they are all independently owned and operated. It is the decision of the Park to affiliate with Passport America, not vice versa, and therefore, the quality of Parks are varialble. You should look to other sources such as this site or the national directories for ratings or reviews of any such Parks that you contemplate visiting. From an owner's standpoint, I have nothing but complements about my dealings with the folks at Passport; very responsive, polite and professional. Thanks again to this site for letting me add my two bits worth. Doug
QUOTE Passport has no resposibility as to the quality of the affiliated Parks as they are all independently owned and operated. Pardon me while I respectfully disagree. While Passport may not own the parks, I believe they do bear some responsibility of letting that park fly their flag. Passport has burnt too many people too many times with their "hands off" philosophy. By selling the services of anyone who comes along they are essentially another pimp in the campground industry. There is zero consistency between Passport parks - and the majority (from what I have experienced) are the parks that are reviewed with "5's" or less on this board. I'm sure your park is nice, I don't mean to insinuate otherwise, but that is simply not the case with the majority of Passport parks - again from what I have experienced.
B) I say again. I am not a Passport America Park, and I do not fly the Passport America flag, nor does any other park. Parks simply choose to honor or not to honor the Passport America discount card. The choice to honor it gets you included in their directory as a park that honors their discount program. They have no say so in how we operate our park. If they tried to influence our operations, I would disaffiliate that day as I think know better how to operate my RV Park than they would. On the other hand, we are a Good Sam Park, and we do fly their flag. Quite a different program. To fly the Good Sam flag and post the Good Sam sign, we must meet a certain set of criteria laid out by the Club. We also undergo yearly inspections by the Good Sam raters to ensure that we continue to meet at least their minimum criteria. Even so, one will still find a great deal of inconsistency among Good Sam Parks because many of us choose to operate at standards that far exceed the minimum standards of the club. As for inconsistency among RV Parks, as an RVer since 1976 I have seen every conceivable level of quality (or lack thereof) in Parks from Florida to Alaska. This inconsistency obviously parallels the quality of the ownership and/or management of the parks, and not of any discount or club affiliations that they may or may not honor. We honor the AARP discount discount card, but I am sure than none of you would hold AARP responsible for the conditions of our Park. Same for the Escapees discount park program, the FMCA program, and the TACO programs, all of which we honor. Just my two more bits worth.
Parkview: Thank you for your enlightening post. You appear to be the kind of campground owner we need more of in this industry and I, for one, will make every effort to stay at your facility next time I am in your area. Keep it up!
Parkview said: QUOTE I say again. I am not a Passport America Park, and I do not fly the Passport America flag, nor does any other park. Parkview said: QUOTE We are affiliated with Passport America because we choose to be, but that does not make us a Passport America RV park Three things: First - By looking at the above statements, I'm not sure if you are a passport park or not. You don't have to be - that was partially my point. The majority of parks that need passport are (painting with a big brush here) generally not where I would consider spending the night. You seem to have a nice park - keep it up. Second - The term "flying the flag" is simply a figure of speech; an alliteration. Of course you do not have to physically "fly a flag" to be a passport park. Third - Although Good Sam has standards, they are very, very scant. Of course, if Good Sam makes them too stringent they would not have as many parks in their system - so they, instead, embrace the axiom "quantity - not quality." Motivated owners will easily exceed anything put out by Good Sam.
denbroncs: Good points, all. When we are planning a trip, we always go to RVParkReviews first and look at the number and quality of reviews, then we go to the Trailer Life website to get additional information such as "things to do" or "hookups." We pay no attention whatsoever to the TL rating system which is, at best, misleading. Then we go to the website of the campground itself and look at photos--we have no interest in pictures of their store, their office, their gate, etc. etc., but do look at photos of sites. If all of the above look decent and if the park is within our drivetime for the day, then we book a reservation. If it has Good Sam, Escapees, Passport, or other discounts, then fine. If not, that, too, is fine. We had far, far rather have a good park with a good site than to get a few bucks off the price. In the few times we have stayed at some of these parks who sell their park only on discounts (primarily Passport, Escapees, etc.), we have been disappointed.
QUOTE(denbroncs @ Mar 11 2008, 11:15 AM) [snapback]10686[/snapback] Pardon me while I respectfully disagree. While Passport may not own the parks, I believe they do bear some responsibility of letting that park fly their flag. Passport has burnt too many people too many times with their "hands off" philosophy.... I'm sorry but I have to agree. I've talked to more than one set of campground managers that said that they didn't really understand what they were getting into or that people arrived and expected the special pricing when a published blackout period was in effect. When the management asked to get out of the system, they could not seem to get de-listed so that people continued to show up months later thinking they were at a participating campground. Maybe the national half-price club picks up the tab but most of the poison ends up between the campground and the public. There is nothing I like better than being in line behind some hothead that is all bent out of shape because he is paying a few dollars more (in the great scheme of things) than he thought he would be. I don't have a problem with the business model, per se, but people have been suckered into to something for nothing since Adam and Eve. Most people have the notion that after they buy an RV, everything is going to be free. Nothing could be farther from the truth. So I feel impatient with people that think they are _entitled_ to a "free lunch"; to dump their waste where ever they feel like it; etc. As a former tenter that used to suffer under the treads of RVers, I have to say that they are one of the most polluting and wasteful segments in America. The party may be about to end...
I don't have a problem with the business model, per se, but people have been suckered into to something for nothing since Adam and Eve. Most people have the notion that after they buy an RV, everything is going to be free. Nothing could be farther from the truth. So I feel impatient with people that think they are _entitled_ to a "free lunch"; to dump their waste where ever they feel like it; etc. As a former tenter that used to suffer under the treads of RVers, I have to say that they are one of the most polluting and wasteful segments in America. The party may be about to end... [/quote] Testudo, I have to disagree with you on this part of your statement. While there are exceptions, as a whole, I have found RV'ers to be responsible people who dump their waste where they are supposed to, and who do not think they are entitled to a "free lunch," but rather only fair treatment. I am sorry you have issues from having to "suffer under the treads of RVers" while you were tenting. Perhaps your issues have blinded you to the truth.
