Number Of Parks Given A "1" Review

I'm surprised to see so many "1" reviews lately. In the last 2-3 weeks, I've seen more "1" reviews than I think I've seen all year (and they seem to come in clumps). Are a lot of parks going downhill fast or are people getting pickier and/or crabbier? We've been in well over 100 parks now and while there are a few on the DO!NOT!GO!BACK! list, I've never rated one below a 4. What would a park be like for you to review it as a "1"?

 

I can't explain why it happens, but for some reason reviews with approximately the same rating do arrive in clumps. Sometimes there is nothing but 9's and 10's and a few days later they are all 1's and 2's.

 

I did defer a review the other day because the text didn't support the "1" rating that was given to the park. I can't recall exactly what the problems were, but I think one was weak wifi;the other issue was even more trivial. I asked the member to reconsider the rating or further justify the "1"

 

A couple times over the years it seems I've been able to track someone's RV trip across the USA by the bad reviews. It sometimes is revealing and interesting to "see other reviews from this person" when I see a "1" review - if the majority of their reviews are 1, then they may simply be a person that is not able to be satisfied with anything less than perfection.

 

Yes and many of the parks I have visited and they are way off base. One reviewer in Gold Beach Oregon rated a park a 1 and said they rated the park based on a so called rude phone call.

RV. Park Review should require a stay to rate a park. Plain wrong to allow this to continue.

 

QUOTE(RVRVRV @ Sep 1 2014, 05:09 PM) [snapback]38101[/snapback]

Yes and many of the parks I have visited and they are way off base. One reviewer in Gold Beach Oregon rated a park a 1 and said they rated the park based on a so called rude phone call.

RV. Park Review should require a stay to rate a park. Plain wrong to allow this to continue.



Our policies require that a reviewer at least has to go to the park but not necessarily stay there. If there are reviews that clearly don't at least involve a visit to a park, please use the Contact Us link to let us know this.

 

Rare that I will give a very low 1. I know one place I stayed at for years erased the wrong reservation. I pulled in could see were it was in the book and the work camper said maybe some did not like you and called to cancel. I said yup probable you who wanted to get your friend in. Did not go well from there on. Left the outer banks that night and headed to Texas instead. I have not been back there since. It is not the campground the people or the amenities but there reservation system that is faulty. So it is a low review. I will spend more money for a nicer site a 1/4 mile up the road. I think they will eventually sell out to developers too. Oh well can't say I would be sorry to see them go.

 

With the amount of research I do for most trips I cannot ever see many 1's. I always figure they are from the same person or small group of people who had a bad trip. Sometimes I look to see what else they have written and the ratings for the other parks. Some people just have a bad trip, others should probably not be camping.

 

QUOTE(Tom @ Sep 1 2014, 02:24 PM) [snapback]38094[/snapback]

A couple times over the years it seems I've been able to track someone's RV trip across the USA by the bad reviews. It sometimes is revealing and interesting to "see other reviews from this person" when I see a "1" review - if the majority of their reviews are 1, then they may simply be a person that is not able to be satisfied with anything less than perfection.



I do the same thing. If I see a bad review on a park where others are more I see how they did the other parks they stayed at.

 

When we do a review we try to give that review based on how we find the park to be regarding the overall park itself and the amenities that we use. We normally don't use the showers, cable, wi-fi, or the pool/ hot tub, etc. So we don't feel it is fair for us to rate something we didn't use. We do however rate how we were greeted and treated upon arrival and how the space we are in suits "our" needs. We have stayed in a park or two that we did give low ratings to simply because we truly felt they deserved a low rating. What amazes us still to this day is how the parks are so very differently run, managed, and kept up. We leave one park where we were compelled to give a low rating to, and then the very next park we use we can't give it a high enough rating because there is no 11. We all learn from our individual experiences from one park to the next. When we do use a park or campground that we have a bad experience in or just flat out didn't like, then we simply make note and drive right on by the next time we are passing thru that area. Overall we have found that there are many more quality and user friendly parks out there than not. And that's our two cents worth on this subject..................

Happy RVing to all, BankShot

 

I think the only time I've given a campground a "1" was to report that it was permanently closed.

 

The new system will allow you to see the rating distribution of the reviewer. So if they have posted 6 reviews and they are all 1s then the reader can interpret that as they please. My take would be the person likes to use the site to bash places and is not providing proper constructive feedback. I think a normal distribution would include some highly rated parks, some low ratings and some in between.

We also plan to have a "Was this review helpful?" with yes/no buttons. Our hope is that members will develop the habit of using that after reading each review. This will provide us data to help identify reviews which are of high quality and those of low quality. With time we can also use it to potentially suggest parks to you based on reviews of people who you felt provided helpful reviews in the past.

 

I just joined and have submitted 8-10 reviews, although I don't think they have been uploaded yet. I have full-timed for 7 years, visited over 250 different camp grounds (I keep a database), and I have been in some fairly bad campgrounds but there are always some good things about the park. The staff might be rude or the camp dirty, but the view is exceptional or the amenities decent or it only has 30 amps. The lowest review I gave was a 3, one that I left early even though I had already paid. On the other side of the coin, I have yet to find a park that hits all the marks for me to give it a 10, I hope I find that park someday. We all have different things that we look for in a park, some like access to fishing, others to a pool or playground, others want the woods, others an open sky to get satellite. A park can't be a 10 for everyone. This is why I like RV Park Reviews. I like the commentary and it lets me read between the lines and make my own decision. It doesn't mean I will agree with the reviews of others, if I have nothing to add to the other reviews, I don't add one of my own so keep the reviews coming.

 

QUOTE(HRambler @ Sep 11 2014, 04:43 PM) [snapback]38291[/snapback]

I just joined and have submitted 8-10 reviews, although I don't think they have been uploaded yet. I have full-timed for 7 years, visited over 250 different camp grounds (I keep a database), and I have been in some fairly bad campgrounds but there are always some good things about the park. The staff might be rude or the camp dirty, but the view is exceptional or the amenities decent or it only has 30 amps. The lowest review I gave was a 3, one that I left early even though I had already paid. On the other side of the coin, I have yet to find a park that hits all the marks for me to give it a 10, I hope I find that park someday. We all have different things that we look for in a park, some like access to fishing, others to a pool or playground, others want the woods, others an open sky to get satellite. A park can't be a 10 for everyone. This is why I like RV Park Reviews. I like the commentary and it lets me read between the lines and make my own decision. It doesn't mean I will agree with the reviews of others, if I have nothing to add to the other reviews, I don't add one of my own so keep the reviews coming.





Ditto. Well said.

 

The only time I have ever given a 1 score is when the owner has told me a bare faced lie to get me to stay. The one I remember was about WiFi. I felt he deserved it. We rarely give 10's, but do tend to rate it against what is is advertised and presented as rather than the ideal RV park. If the park meets or exceeds expectations as presented, they will get a good score even it it a Mom and Pop without all of the amenities. some parks have. Employee attitude and helpfulness goes a long way towards increasing scores. I would much rather have a great view than a water slide. We tend to stay at the smaller, family run places anyway.

 

Bad toilet paper in the public restrooms knocks at least 1 point off my rating scale. Especially if we made pulled porked the night before.

 

QUOTE(BoomerNY @ Sep 19 2014, 12:45 AM) [snapback]38377[/snapback]

Bad toilet paper in the public restrooms knocks at least 1 point off my rating scale. Especially if we made pulled porked the night before.




Hence the name Boomer? :lol:

 

Reviews being subjective; I look at the totality of the reviews posted, in detail, first looking for anything that may cause damage to the RV.

What I have found in the last 38 years of RV'n is that some amenities may be important to some. Not important to others. And, if an amenity is non existent or deficient deserves a 1.

That said, if I don't have any interest in that amenity, it does not detract from my review, because it just isn't important. Although, I may mention it in the body of the review.

I still care about the basics: clean, secure, sufficient site size to provide some degree of comfort and reasonable expectation of some privacy in a community living environment.

I care about level sites, good water, power, sewer. I care if tree branches are cut back to prevent damage to the RV. And, that the park is managed a a reasonable level of professionalism. As John Wayne said:

“Life's hard. It's even harder when you're stupid.â€￾
― John Wayne
well you get the idea.

We don't care about community restrooms, have a dog/pet, and provide our own WiFi (If a park has free WiFi, it's just a bonus).

If it has a pool, OK, but not necessary.

I care if basic rules are enforced, such as dog rules, quiet hours.

We have never complained about issues. Generally, owners/managers know, and may choose to say, yea, uh-huh, OK.

If they are about and seen around the park regularly, most issues aren't. They know what is going on, and if they choose to ignore them, no complaint is going to change it, other than: we got a complaint, and you need to,,,etc., if that even happens.

If the park doesn't meet our basics, we won't stay, especially long-term and won't be back.

We are on our second month at a park, that if I just relied totally on the reviews, we wouldn't be here. The reviews were somewhat non-specific, or related to matters not important to us.

For us, this is a great park, with the WiFi bonus. Managers enforce rules regarding quiet time, dogs barking excessively and on leashes, but are not overly aggressive or unreasonable.

It's nice to find a park where you are comfortable and want to stay awhile, and will return when in the area.

RV Park Reviews have helped us tremendously in sorting out those parks.

RV Park Reviews is our Go To, and first choice in locating information about a park.

I evaluate each review carefully in deciding on the Park. We have not been Disappointed.

Thanks for providing this service RV Park Reviews.

JMHO, it's my story and I'm sticking to it. :blink:

 

Well written and I totally agree. If I don't care about an amenity, its existence or lack thereof has no impact on my reviews. I may happen to notice there's a dog run, or I may not. I'm not likely to ever go into the bathrooms. I focus my reviews primarily on the condition of the roads and sites, the overall attractiveness and size of the sites, the general appearance of the park and the professionalism of the staff. I may note whether or not satellite TV access is possible, but I don't downgrade a treed park because I can't get satellite reception. I do, however, downgrade a park if there is neither good wifi nor cellular reception. I am not likely to return to places at which there is no communications and/or internet access.