I have been browsing a lot of websites researching CGs to add to my possibles list for an upcoming trip. I have not been impressed with some of them. Does anyone else have an issue with websites that make you spend time searching for the fundamentals that are needed to make a decision to stay at the CG? Small town municipal campground websites are the worst. It appears that they don't have anyone who could recognize an RV much less provide information about their facilities and amenities. Perhaps someone would be kind enough to explain to me why there would not be something as basic as an address and phone number on the Home page of any campground website. And, how hard is it to do a Google Map search of one's GPS coordinates and put that on the website? Don't most of the majority of all RVers use GPS to find a CG? Then there are those CGs that don't have a website. I am wondering if anyone would choose to stay at one of those? Not spending a couple bucks a month on a basic website gives me a first impression that it isn't going to be a highly rated park. I am thinking WalMart parking lots for my trip. At least we all know what to expect from those.
It's the nature of the beast. Most municipalities or cities may use a webpage on their main website for their campgrounds. The trick is to find just where that webpage is. It's not always easy! Now I am sure they are not all like that, but too many are. I have been to a few of these campgrounds and besides the lack of information on them on the internet, a lot of them have the strangest setups. I remember one where I had to cross a ditch to connect to the power from another site and I was thinking that the city engineering department didn't give much thought to that one. It's much the same with the websites. It just takes more time to dig for the information. Hope you find something better than Walmart.
QUOTE(RLM @ Oct 28 2013, 06:44 PM) [snapback]35155[/snapback] Then there are those CGs that don't have a website. I am wondering if anyone would choose to stay at one of those? Not spending a couple bucks a month on a basic website gives me a first impression that it isn't going to be a highly rated park. Speaking of websites....... a few years ago we were looking into a new RV park that we had heard about and tried to look up their website. When we entered _______ ________ RV Park, we were taken to an EXTREMELY graphic porn site (I'm talking about wanting to wash your eyes out with toilet cleaner.....) We were able to find their phone number and called them. When we mentioned the porn site, they said yeah, they knew about it. Unfortunately they had not secured their website before they incorporated and opened the park and a local person who made it his business to hijack websites registered under the park name first and was asking big money to give up the site. These were very religious people and they were humiliated about it. Luckily, they managed to get the site back but I never did find out how much money they had to pay or if they got it back some other way.
I don't think I have ever seen a website that didn't have an address. I use my GPS all the time, and never use coordinates and frankly I don't even know how to use that function, if my GPS even has it. Lake of coordinates is just not an issue to me. Though I gravitate to full service parks, I have stayed in a few small town campgrounds, and generally, if you can find the town, the campground isn't hard to find. Small towns are just that, small.
Not everyone is really into computers even in this day and age. The owners of the park we manage do not use computers that much and saw no need to have a website. My husband writes websites and decided to write one for our park and we keep the site up and pay any fees as our Christmas gift to them every year. After 4 years they are finally seeing that a website does bring in business. We do have our GPS coordinates listed there as well as our physical address. We do this because our physical address is not a recognized address and will take you about 30 miles in a totally different direction. Even though our physical address names the highway we are on people will follow the GPS, turn onto a totally different highway and then call and ask why they can't find us.
