Ok, can of worms coming up h34r: . Lets put land price and taxes aside. I may expect to much but these parks asking $25 and up with nothing more to offer than E/S/W are out of touch with the time. Here is how I see it: First, general site 15 to 20 dollars; second time of season, if the pool is closed or wifi is down, ect, I should not have to pay extra. What I am saying is the price should go up according to amenities. Tonight I am staying at a park for $34.02 a night. Pool is closed, boats for rent are packed away, no cable, Wifi works, e/s/w, and park is located on a busy interstate :angry: . What I am trying to accomplish here is not to vent but to get people thinking about things when they write their reviews. To give a park an eight through ten, I believe, requires that the price reflect what you get. Further, I praise all who contribute to this sight because I now use my two wonderful camping books(not mentioning any titles) for camp fire starters. Thank you and safe journey .
You are bringing up a topic that I have started a similar subject on another site. At first I got blasted and then had others to jump in agreeing with me. What I'm really asking for is a dollars worth of service/amenities for a dollar paid. I just reviewed 25 parks that we have visited this summer. I gave top numbers to one that only had w/e. No paving, no cable, only one place would the satellite work, no WiFi, but we only paid $15. To me that rates higher than one that we paid $36 for that charged $3.95 for WiFi, no cable, we had to unhook the toad in a pull thru (we're 35' long) but beautiful scenery in a touristy area. Now this one I don't feel we got a $ for a $.
This subject is all over the map. In Las Vegas we paid $50 to 55 per night for Outdoor Resorts of American with everything. In the deep woods will may find prices in state park or Core parks to be $15- 20 with only w/e. Here in FL one Core park has summer rates as low as $10 with 50 amps & water. Some parks in CA are up around $60 plus per night with everything. We do not look at price per night as much as we look at location. If we wish to tour a town or city we look at places to park motorhome close to that place. If we wish to see the hills and mountains we look for a state or Core park. We will not drive 100 miles to tour a city from some park in the woods if we can find a place close by. Cost to much time and gas to drive long ways. We move the house from place to place. We also travel a lot of back roads and stop in small towns and cities as we move from place to place. Some days we may only travel 50 miles or less. RV life is fun, not a job. Some places you pay more and get less, that is life.
I have posted, in the past, on this very subject. I still believe that some form of standards, and or requirements, for campgrounds should be available, to those who may use them. This would eliminate any and all surprises upon arrival. The standards should be classified, and each campground would fall into one class or another. Then the question as to whom will be responsible for making those classifications comes to mind. State department of Tourism comes to mind, but then maybe County department of tourism may also fit the bill. The camping publications are useless as they do not give the complete picture. We also agree that one should have a dollar of value for a dollar spent.
I think when the parks are $35 or more you can find a motel for the same price. After all you are using your facilities. There should be 2 types of parks one for overnight with just electric and water and a dump some where in the park for $10 and another for longer stays for more with more ammenties.
Everyone has a different needs and are willing to pay more or less for them. I like going over to Morro Bay State Park in Ca. It is w/e only w/dump station. The cost is 65.00 for a weekend. This is what I get charged at some parks for 1 night. Now these more expensive parks do have more amenities to them. Now I just wish the Parks would charge like the state parks do one price for 6 people not 40.00 per night (2-people) 3.00 to 5.00 per extra person/dog. It can get a little pricy real quick with 3 kids plus a friend or 2 and the mutts. I am for charging one price for a basic site and move on up from there. I have seen some RV parks/campground packed like sardines were you could not even use your awnings and I would rather pay less and drive for 10 to 20 min and have a more relaxing time.
I agree. The RV Parks don't have a problem increasing their prices because it costs them more to drive to work at the RV Park from their home, but they are sure sloppy on the service. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the office to tell them the TV cable wasn't working. They acted like it had just failed 5 minutes before I arrived. NO REBATE FOR OUR STAY. We were at a place this summer in Washington called Eagles Nest. The TV cable wasn't even on the site, but they still charged for it. Management told me it had broken some time ago and they hadn't gotten around to repair it. No rebate because I wasn't a member of the park, I was a drop-in that paid only $38.00 per night. I only hope the RV Parks are intelligent enough to read these forums to correct their short comings.
