We are currently at Spring Valley Campground in Cambridge, OH. We are having guests tomorrow that will be visiting us for about 2 hours. I spoke to the manager here and asked if the $2./car per day charge applies to guests who are only staying for a couple of hours and are not using any of the campgrounds facilities (bathrooms, pool, or lake). I was told that we still have to pay the $2.00 fee for each vehicle. I find this to be a very greedy policy. We are parked here for 4 days and have paid full price for this site (no discounts). I can see if our guests were going to use the campground's facilities, but they are not. We have been living full-time in our motor home for a little over one year and have parked in many campgrounds around the country and have never had any of them ask for money for our guests. Have any of you run into this type of greed before?
It's their park and they have the right to charge for what ever they want. You have the right to complain on here and not stay there again. When folks stop staying there he will change his policies.
QUOTE(Big Ben @ Jun 15 2007, 04:31 PM) [snapback]7314[/snapback] It's their park and they have the right to charge for what ever they want. You have the right to complain on here and not stay there again. When folks stop staying there he will change his policies. Yes, I understand that. I was just wondering if anybody else has run into this and, if so, which parks? We have stayed in at least 14 parks this past year and it's the first time for this.
Off the top of my head I can't give you names but we have run into it. In some ways you can't blame them for charging. What if your visitors have kids and use the pool and the wash rooms. Then $2.00 is really cheap. I have been charged that much for a dog.
QUOTE(Big Ben @ Jun 15 2007, 06:40 PM) [snapback]7317[/snapback] Off the top of my head I can't give you names but we have run into it. In some ways you can't blame them for charging. What if your visitors have kids and use the pool and the wash rooms. Then $2.00 is really cheap. I have been charged that much for a dog. As I stated in my original post, my guests, even the ones with kids, will not be using any of the facilities at all while they are visiting me. If they were, I agree that the $2.00 fee would be more than reasonable. But they are only going to be here for around 2 hours visiting us for a BBQ. They will be using our bathroom if needed. So I think $2.00 just for visiting me and nothing else is greedy. But I do understand that the Park can change what it wants and I have to accept it even if I feel it is unfair.
Candy Hill Campground in Winchester, Va and I hate it. They will run you down to get the $2.00. Nice campground, poor staff.
To answer your question, yes we have run into this, but I cannot name any specific places. From time to time a review on this site will mention an extra fee charged for children, guests, pets, or extra cars. We do not usually pay attention to extra fees because we do not have kids, extra cars, or even friends for that matter. We do have pets, but I have never chosen to stay at a place that charges extra for them. My personal opinion is that you should not be charged for guests if they are only visiting for a few hours. As you said you are paying for your site, and it seems that you should be allowed to have guests within reason. Hotels do not charge their guests extra for friends who visit, and this is sort of the same thing. However, I can see the CG owner's point of view. He is providing a site and other services for a fee based on a certain number of people. If he didn't charge for guests I am sure there would be some people who would take full advantage of the situation and invite tons of family and friends over just to use the facilities. I'm betting that many CG owners who do charge for guests, etc. have been burned in the past and just want to keep that from happening again. On a good note I can say that many parks are very accommodating. We recently stayed at a park in College Station, Texas, because we had 2 relatives in the hospital there. We anticipated that our motor home might be the place where other relatives might go to to rest or have a meal. When we registered we explained the situation to the office person and asked if it would be a problem for people to visit us. He said not at all and even seemed a little surprised that we even asked. All I can add is that now that you know this type of fee exists you will have to be sure to check in advance with the CG if you are planning to have guests.
QUOTE(Texasrvers @ Jun 15 2007, 09:53 PM) [snapback]7322[/snapback] To answer your question, yes we have run into this, but I cannot name any specific places. From time to time a review on this site will mention an extra fee charged for children, guests, pets, or extra cars. We do not usually pay attention to extra fees because we do not have kids, extra cars, or even friends for that matter. We do have pets, but I have never chosen to stay at a place that charges extra for them. My personal opinion is that you should not be charged for guests if they are only visiting for a few hours. As you said you are paying for your site, and it seems that you should be allowed to have guests within reason. Hotels do not charge their guests extra for friends who visit, and this is sort of the same thing. However, I can see the CG owner's point of view. He is providing a site and other services for a fee based on a certain number of people. If he didn't charge for guests I am sure there would be some people who would take full advantage of the situation and invite tons of family and friends over just to use the facilities. I'm betting that many CG owners who do charge for guests, etc. have been burned in the past and just want to keep that from happening again. On a good note I can say that many parks are very accommodating. We recently stayed at a park in College Station, Texas, because we had 2 relatives in the hospital there. We anticipated that our motor home might be the place where other relatives might go to to rest or have a meal. When we registered we explained the situation to the office person and asked if it would be a problem for people to visit us. He said not at all and even seemed a little surprised that we even asked. All I can add is that now that you know this type of fee exists you will have to be sure to check in advance with the CG if you are planning to have guests. I can understand from a guests standpoint why this policy may be confusing or arbitrary. But please consider the problem from a campground's perspective. We do not own a campground but have workamped at many different places. Some which charge for guests and some which do not. Even if people say they will not be using the facilities there is no way to monitor if they do or do not. Many campers ignore rules and just do as they please. So once you allow someone on the property, they essentially have the right to use all the facilities. Every person that is on the property uses a bit more electricity, water, sewer, parking space, etc. This use is not reimbursed by the origional fee charged to the paying guest. Some people do not abuse guest policies, but many, many campers do. I have seen more abuses than otherwise. They make their campsite the local party place or the large family reunion spot. Just because you may not be doing this, doesn't help the campground owner. He cannot discriminate so he sets his policies so that everybody on the campground can enjoy their visit. One too many guests using the park effects all off the guests, not just you. I do not think greed has anything to do with it, probably just good campground management. Sorry for the long tirade, but I have been on the other side of guests "verbal abuse" from policies that they do not like, too often. Very few have tried to understand the situation. Thanks for listening,
I am not taking the side of the campground because I think it's bad business, but indirectly your guest might be using some of the utilities in your rig and hence the "facilities" of the CG. And, as mentioned in this thread, the CG probably has been taken advantage of at one time or another. Perhaps the manager doesn't have the authority to make exceptions. Someone else's misbehavior ruins it for the rest of us. That's how rules get into place. Make lemonade from the lemon. Paying the fee will allow your guests to use whatever they want in the CG, too include the pool for the kiddos. An even more absurd policy is the state park system in Michigan. A fee is charged for every motorized vehicle entering a park. If you have a motor home with a tow vehicle you get charged for the tow vehicle - even if you don't unhook it. Owner's of travel trailers and 5W don't pay an extra vehicle charge because those aren't 'motorized.' Neither do those who tow in a boat even tho the boat has a motor. Hmmm, I wonder if they check in the back of toy haulers?
Thanks for all of your explanations. It does make more sense now. It was just a shock because with all of the campgrounds we've visited since May 2006, this is our first experience with being charged for guests. Now I know why some places do this. Like anything else, the rude people take advantage and ruin it for the courteous ones that follow the rules. We've been lucky to have picked out the campgrounds this past year that haven't had these problems!
I mostly stay at state parks and they don't charge for visitors, but there have been private campgrounds I have stayed at that will refund the fee for the visitors if they stay less than an hour. I think if a person doesn't use any of the amentities like the pool or the restrooms, they shouldn't be charged at all, but then again, I wouldn't expect the campground owners to have to police visitors to make sure they don't use them. Then again, the visitors are using the grounds "per se" by just visiting....taking up parking, using the roads, etc..so, I'm on the fence with this one.
We have run into a couple of COE campgrounds that have charged extra for guests. I agree with the post that the guests could be indirectly using the services that the campground provides. By charging a guest fee, they will not have to monitor if the guest uses the facilities. By paying the fee, then the guest can use all facilities.
I try to avoid RV parks that tack on extra fees. The RV Park industry would be far better served, and make things a lot simpler for RVer's and themselves, if they followed the practice of the motel industry. Wilth only a few exceptions, the motel industry has flat rate pricing. When you check into a motel there is no extra charge for hot showers, no fees for cable television, no charges for wi-fi, and on and on. And, at most motels, if you have guests come and visit with you, but not stay the night, there are no fees involved. Given the fact that the spread between the cost of staying a night at a hotel and staying a night at some campgrounds is getting thinner and thinner, the industry would be well advised to go to flat rate pricing.
QUOTE the motel industry has flat rate pricing Sort of . . . a motel rate is usually based on 2 adults & now a lot of them in our area (Ohio) as well as the cities of Nashville & Indianapolis make us get 2 rooms since we have 4 kids. The Wifi at the last hotel we stayed was $12/ day!! When we camp, we also have to pay more since those rates do not usually include 4 kids. But it would be unfair for the older couple traveling alone to pay a higher "flat" rate. It would also be unfair to me to have that same older couple have a dozen people for a cookout that came in free because of the "flat" rate. Guests, IMHO, should be charged something simply to discourage abuse or from inundating a campsite (or unsuspecting camper) with unwanted guests.
As an example of campground owners greed, let me express the dealings with an upstate New York campground a few years back. The time was after the summer season, in October, the pool was closed, the planned activities,(entertainment), had expired, short office/store hours, in other words, it's the "off season". The campground is more or less empty, with the exception of maybe a couple of seasonals. A camping group had reserved fourteen sites, and was occupying those sites. One of the group had invited their daughter and two young grandchildren, to dinner on a Saturday evening. After driving an hour to the campground, they proceeded to the site without stopping at the closed office. Soon after arrival, the campground owner proceeded to the rv unit, and requested the fee for the visiting guests. After much discussion, the rv'er paid the fee, but under protest. The rv'er was the wagonmaster of the group, and stated that the cg owner had received close to $ 800.00 for the weekend at a more or less closed "for the season" campground. I'm sorry, but the $ 3.00 per person visitation fee, for less than two hours, surely looks and smells, in my opinion, like "greed". Needless to say, we did not return to this campground as long as they had owned it. We, as a group had used this cg more than once each year for the three years previously. The cg has changed hands twice since, and we told the new owners, last year, the reason for not using their cg. Their answer was that they would not have asked for the fee under the same circumstance. Only time will tell.
Unfortunetly "times are a changin" , I noticed most of the campgrounds around here charge for visitors , either per car , or per visitor. Although I do not agree with it , especially if they only stay for a couple hours. But as some one else said , some people tend to abuse things , and invite everyone form the hometown block. Now I have known some people who have thier visitors call on a cell , when close by, then the campers will meet them at a local store or shopping center and only take the "campers" car back to the c/g. Not that I would ever do that cause that would just be wrong , right? I know of one c/g they hold the visitors drivers liscense until you leave then , if they were only there a couple of hours they don't charge anything and you get your liscense back. Kinda like a deposit dealie. Plain and simple it is greed and most of today is all about "show me the money$$$" and I have noticed alot of c/g's are being bought up by corporations anymore, maybe thats where the greed stems from? Ok enough of my lame cliche's just thought I voice my opinion
Our favorite campground is only 20 minutes from home. We usually get a site on the weekend, which runs around $30.00 per night. We often invite friends up for a BBQ, and have always paid the $5.00 enterance fee for them. Personally, I don't have a problem with this policy. While visiting, their kids usually use the pool, the playground, fish in the pond, etc. The owners of the campground have to pay for the insurance, and maintenance for all of the above, which ALL users should help pay for, not just the registered campers. So, for the small "mom and pops" campgrounds, I don't have a problem with this. However, I don't like paying these fees to the large, corporate campgrounds. Silly perhaps, but I'm not a corporate kind of guy.
The bummer of all this is...the cg owners are probably not greedy people by nature, but some idiot along the way violated the policies, made it a hell of a lot of work for the owners, hence more fees and rules. Hmph.
I wish I could find a campground that was only $2 per car load, try up to $6 for kids, $8 per adult, more for overnight. And unfortunately even if you are not using the pool or anything, they would have to hire someone to watch to see if visitors used things they said they did not, also should campers get a lower rate if they do not swim? Places can get over run if they do not have policies and fees. I take as example my scouting days when at the banquet it cost a family $15 for the meal, as in $3 for kids and $6 for adults with a max of $15 per family. Suddenly we had families of 15 or 20 people showing up to eat with all the cousins, aunts etc coming in. A new rule had to be made to fix it. Still, $2 is cheap and in 18 years of camping I do not recall any place not charging for visitors.
you'll love it in Lots of Virginia Campgrounds, they are charging "Hotel Tax" well im in my hotel---why am i being charged for a hotel---im not in their cabins--im in my Motorhome- definately a unfair tax.... sparky.
