Am I missing something or am I reading it wrong? I read several responses to many different campgrounds from several members. I can look at one certain campground and someone would rate it a 10. Then talk about how it good it was and how the sites were level and the workers were great. Then on the same camground I find several negative remarks about it. People would rate it very low and say, "We will never return...." The sites were unlevel. How is it people can go to the SAME campground stay at the SAME sites and most likely with with SAME workers and get so many different responses? IS it because we all are looking and expecting difeerent things. What is good for one may not be good for another family. I may say something is blue but someone else may look at the same thing and say it is black. Why?Will someone explain to me why we see the same thing but get different responses? Thanks
I am always suspicious of a "10" rating after some very low ratings. Many times it seems to be either the owners of the campground or friends posting to counter the low ratings. Also check dates -- sometimes a change in ownership of a campground will result in a bunch of high or low ratings. And of course it also depends on the camper... some people just aren't satisfied, and others are very easy going. By reading the descriptions, both good and bad, I can usually get a decent idea of what to expect at a campground. Honestly, I also get a guilty pleasure reading the "1" ratings....
I do not think the odd way people rating campgrounds will every change. I looked at a review couple days ago from a great resort in TX. Person said the park was a 9 due to poor Verizon cell phone service and her cell phone did not work, (resorts problem). I use this same resort every time we are on I-10. The cell tower is 1/4 mile from resort, you can see tower from any site. Our cell phones are on Verizon and each time we see 5 bars on meter. Did she have a Verizon phone? How can this resort fix her problem? :lol:
Hi, Most folks enjoy Cherry pie. I would almost starve before I ate it. That's just how the human race is "wired".
As a park owner, I can tell you of one other very common reason for vastly differing ratings. Whenever a park finds it necessary to isssue warnings or evictions to visitors for egregious or obnoxious behavior or violations of park rules or policies, that is often followed by a blistering review by the offending party. These reviews will state that our employees were rude, the same employees that others find so friendly and helpful. They will often state that they will never return to the park, but neglect to mention the fact that they are forever barred from the park. I find that irritating but inevitable. I refuse to tolerate disruptive behavior which is disturbing to other campers for fear of a negative review that may follow what I consider necessary actions on part of the park. Doug
QUOTE(Parkview @ May 12 2011, 04:58 PM) [snapback]26076[/snapback] As a park owner, I can tell you of one other very common reason for vastly differing ratings. Whenever a park finds it necessary to isssue warnings or evictions to visitors for egregious or obnoxious behavior or violations of park rules or policies, that is often followed by a blistering review by the offending party. These reviews will state that our employees were rude, the same employees that others find so friendly and helpful. They will often state that they will never return to the park, but neglect to mention the fact that they are forever barred from the park. I find that irritating but inevitable. I refuse to tolerate disruptive behavior which is disturbing to other campers for fear of a negative review that may follow what I consider necessary actions on part of the park. Doug Doug, you sound like run a place where I would enjoy staying. I appreciate owners taking care of other campers who are trying to enjoy their time with their family. Keep up the good work!
Doug, I agree with you. I have had to toss out some folks that thought the rules applied to everyone but them. When they found out I expected them to follow them also they got angry, moved out and, one of them, wrote a review that was obviously written to be malicious. We keep rules here to make life easier for everyone so that all campers can feel wanted. If people can't treat others with respect then we don't want them here.
Different people do look for different things. There are parks where some sites are pool table level and others look like they were planning to put in a roller coaster so both reviews could be correct.. I am not very picky, if everything works and I can push the leveling button and get level I am pretty much happy. Others will have problems if the restroom uses a different brand of toilet paper than they are used to. Got to read all the reviews to get the clearest picture.
QUOTE(Parkview @ May 13 2011, 07:58 AM) [snapback]26076[/snapback] As a park owner, I can tell you of one other very common reason for vastly differing ratings. quote snipped I run a free RV review website in Australia, and Doug is correct. I am vary wary of "one-off" reviewers who rate any park badly. In fact, I do not accept bad reports at all from "one off" reviewers. (I think this website only accepts reports after five reviews have first been received?). I state this two times on my website before the person gets to the report form, and then I say it again at the top of the form, but I still get gripe sessions sent to me. Invariably, if I contact the park manager I get the other side of the story and as Doug has said I usually get sent the review because they were evicted from the park. Mostly when I reject the report, of course informing the person, I don't hear back from them. Occasionally I get a blistering "mouth full" of abuse. A few months back one person went "ballistic" at me and accused me of causing the world's problems (I think they were off their medication). Can you imagine what the poor park manager must have had to put up with. I simply email back to the "abuser" that his attitude has just confirmed the very reason I don't accept "one off" reports ... and then I block their email address. Kcmoedoe is also correct; different strokes for different folks. There is a very similar topic to this to which I have also responded. Have fun.
I just read a review that was posted today for a campground that I have seen before. The poster had 2 other okay reviews that were okay though, in my opinion, a bit nitpicky. The one I read today sounded so much like an owner/friend of owner writing an advertisement that my husband and I both laughed our way through it. I think the poster wrote it and then poured syrup all over it to make it even sweeter and so over the top it was unbelievable to us. I agree that it is a nice campground but this definitely sounded like a paid write up.
We are all different and have different needs and expectations. I try and read several reviews, both the high and the low when deciding whether or not to visit a park. It is helpful that the review shows the type of rig that the reviewer has. I find that someone with a travel trailer might rate a park a 10, while someone with a high end motor home will rate the same park with a 6 or 7. It is always interesting to see the ratings of a nice park, 8,9, 10---then suddenly a 1 or 2 because it rained or something else happened that was beyond the control of management. Or, somebody mad because they did not get a refund when the rules clearly state "no refund". Always a grump to be found---I just try to ignore them. I hope everybody is looking forward to a great summer of travels! Be safe, y'all!!!
When I read a negative review amongst mostly positive reviews, I often look at other posts that person has made, just to see if they are normally "nit picky" or consistently annoyed because they were made to follow the rules, if so, I pretty quickly disregard this person's review. Vice versa would be true as well.....if there are lots of bad reviews and then a glowing review, it makes me wonder. I've not often been to a bad campground after making my decision based on RVparkreviews.
There's no substitute for reading the reviews. Some people sign up just to give a negative review. Some reviews are obviously from campground operators who are either pumping their own or trashing a competitors operation. People will use an RV park because it is convenient to an interstate then mark their rating down due to road noise. My own experience is that this site is a heck of a resource and I have never had a bad experience when I have read the comments for that RV park.
QUOTE(dalsgal @ May 13 2011, 03:19 PM) [snapback]26079[/snapback] Doug, I agree with you. I have had to toss out some folks that thought the rules applied to everyone but them. When they found out I expected them to follow them also they got angry, moved out and, one of them, wrote a review that was obviously written to be malicious. We keep rules here to make life easier for everyone so that all campers can feel wanted. If people can't treat others with respect then we don't want them here. I agree with you, most of the time it is a wind camper that create problems, however, and on the same token, there are lousy campgrounds too and it is very difficult to evaluate what's good or bad according to the report submitted. I personally, I believe the description by the RVer (i.e. is each space well kept, large enough, service as electricity, sewage and water good, cleanliness etc...) should be limited to these items and then, if I am interested in that place, I would send a message here to the forum asking the Rivers opinions. This would stimulate a reply from different people and not been initiated by themselves, the comment should be more objective. One other thing should be considered when looking for a campground, are you looking for a quite place to relax and enjoying your time, well look for 55+ and if you are looking for swinging places, well, look for camps very closed to cities, night club etc.. I am now quite satisfied with my camp in Florida, however, before becoming a snow bird there, I spent one season by going from one camp to an other and see what was like there and at the end I found the one most suitable for my needs. Goo Luck
Just because a campground doesn't get the best review doesn' t mean it is not worth going to. I know when we read a review we look at what is the main complait of the person writing the review. If they complain about things that I don't care about like WIFI then I ignor the review. Now if 5 people complain that the staff is rude and the park has old trailers that don't look road worthy all over than I'm gonna stay away.Same with a good review. If someone says its the best park because of the golf corse or becuase they are 55+ I'm not going there either. After working at these campgrounds I think a customere has every right to write a bad review if the staff is rude to them, especially the front office. My favorite manager like to tell his workers that staying in his park should be like staying at the Hyatt and you don't get rude with people to get them to do what you want them to do.
I look at all the reviews and then divide everything into three categories: things I can't live without, things I CAN live without and things that are "deal breakers". Also, I take the time of year into consideration.....the fact that a park doesn't have a pool is OK if it's October and I'm in Wyoming.....it's definitely NOT OK if it's July and I'm in Arizona. I use my own shower 90% of the time, but sometimes I long for a nice, hot, long shower in a roomy stall instead of the usual luke-warm drizzle in a upright coffin I get the rest of the time. I like to know if the showers are clean. If the rest of the park is fine and the showers are not, I can live with my own shower. It's nice to sit out by a fire on a cold night, but only if there's lots and lots of room between the sites (I saw the results of what happens when party #1 builds a roaring fire in their fire pit that is 6 feet from party #2's RV....luckily I was neither party), but most of the time it's just fine with me if no fires are allowed. I do not want to stay in a park where the "permanents" have loud drunken parties that last til 2 a.m. and the park owners don't do anything about it (personal experience.....and I don't like to confront those type of people). I want to know about that in advance so I can pass it by. I like the park to have a clean, reasonably-priced laundry...but I can hold off til the next park or go to a commercial laundry if I have to. I've seen people give a park that I really liked an unreasonably low rating because it didn't have a dog park or their dog got burrs in its coat. I don't have a dog.....I don't care a whoop about the lack of a dog park. I do like friendly and helpful park personnel but I can live with unfriendly but efficient ones. I can even live with rude but efficient ones. I have thick skin. They're not my in-laws .....I don't have to have them over for Thanksgiving. I've yet to be terribly disappointed with any park. There are some I probably wouldn't go back to...there are ones I long to go back to.
QUOTE(MCRANE @ Jun 23 2011, 09:42 PM) [snapback]26600[/snapback] My favorite manager like to tell his workers that staying in his park should be like staying at the Hyatt and you don't get rude with people to get them to do what you want them to do. Funny thing is, when I traveled extensively for business, I always avoided Hyatts like the plague. Always thought they over-promised and under-delivered. They were never better than average, charged for everything, (wifi, extra charges for room service, overpriced vending), and there usually was an elitist attitude about the place. One time, I was in San Antonio on the Riverwalk in August. The air conditioner didn't work in my room. They acted like it was my fault and no big deal. Wouldn't move me to another room, even though I called the reservation desk and asked if they had rooms available that night and the reply was "yes". They had a repairman in my room till 1 AM and he was able to get it to blow luke warm air. In the morning, no apologies, no consideration on the bill, nothing. When I called the corporate offices to complain, the attitude was, "You must be making up a story to get a discount or refund." Thank you, but I am fine without the Hyatt treatment.
QUOTE(kcmoedoe @ Jun 24 2011, 10:51 AM) [snapback]26603[/snapback] Funny thing is, when I traveled extensively for business, I always avoided Hyatts like the plague. Always thought they over-promised and under-delivered. They were never better than average, charged for everything, (wifi, extra charges for room service, overpriced vending), and there usually was an elitist attitude about the place. One time, I was in San Antonio on the Riverwalk in August. The air conditioner didn't work in my room. They acted like it was my fault and no big deal. Wouldn't move me to another room, even though I called the reservation desk and asked if they had rooms available that night and the reply was "yes". They had a repairman in my room till 1 AM and he was able to get it to blow luke warm air. In the morning, no apologies, no consideration on the bill, nothing. When I called the corporate offices to complain, the attitude was, "You must be making up a story to get a discount or refund." Thank you, but I am fine without the Hyatt treatment. COME ON, you know what I'm saying. It all came up when a few workers thaught thy had the right to yell at our guest. In other words you treat people like they are guest and they are paying to be there, not like they have to be there.
I appreciate owners like Parkview (Doug) who actually enforces park rules. He runs one of the nicest parks on the Frio. So many times you are presented with a long list of rules at check in only to discover later, you are the only one in the park following them.
QUOTE(MCRANE @ Jun 23 2011, 08:42 PM) [snapback]26600[/snapback] Just because a campground doesn't get the best review doesn' t mean it is not worth going to. I know when we read a review we look at what is the main complait of the person writing the review. If they complain about things that I don't care about like WIFI then I ignor the review. Now if 5 people complain that the staff is rude and the park has old trailers that don't look road worthy all over than I'm gonna stay away.Same with a good review. If someone says its the best park because of the golf corse or becuase they are 55+ I'm not going there either. After working at these campgrounds I think a customere has every right to write a bad review if the staff is rude to them, especially the front office. My favorite manager like to tell his workers that staying in his park should be like staying at the Hyatt and you don't get rude with people to get them to do what you want them to do. Very good way to look t it
