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Camping Clubs and Discount Memberships
Camping Club and Discount Memberships can offer great savings and benefits, below are some considerations to think about before you spend your hard earned money.
Research the clubs and memberships so that you know exactly what they offer, where they are located, if they have sister camp grounds are they in areas you will travel to. If a club or membership only has campground facilities in the Southern states and you will never travel to these areas, well then that particular club or membership is not for you.
Be realistic, if you only RV a few weeks out of the year and can only travel a certain distance for your RVing pleasure, then memberships like to the KOA's, Good Sams, Passport America or Escapees would most likely benefit your situation, but it is not necessary to belong to all of them. Research each of them and find out what area's they have campgrounds in and if you will travel to that area, then that particular membership would possibly benefit you.
The cost for clubs and membership can vary drastically. A simple rule that we try to follow is, that if the amount of the discounts and the nights we've stayed at any particular clubs facilities more than compensates us for the actual cost of the membership, then we definitely renew that particular membership.
Find out about fees, are there additional fees, time line restrictions, just how many days per year can you use their various facilities. If you choose to sell a membership down the road for what ever reason, do they allow you to do this and is there an additional cost to you. Does your membership transfer to the new owners with all the same benefits you enjoyed.
For example, we have a membership to Passport America. We've had it just about a year and had never used it for various reasons. Either there was no availability, or sites were to small for our rig, it was too far away from where we wanted to stay, or we didn't feel quite comfortable in the park and its surrounding area so we choose not to stay. We were seriously thinking about not renewing our Passport America membership because it was just not working out for our travel needs; however, we then traveled to Southern Arizona, in peak season and came across a Passport America park that was also a Good Sams park (Tombstone Territories RV Park--a fabulous park www.ttrvpark.com), but because we had both memberships and the Passport America membership was a better discounted rate, we used the Passport America membership at this park and it more than paid for itself with this one stay. We definitely renewed our membership and will continue to seek out Passport America parks.
There are also many RV Parks that will honor other types of discounts as well. For instance if you are a Triple A member, many parks will honor the Tripe A discounts and give you a discount for your stay. Some of the other possibilities are Military, fraternal organizations, or if you hold another camp ground membership, or club card it never hurts to ask if they will honor that discount. Many privately owned RV Parks would much rather prefer to honor another clubs discount, than see you go across the road to another RV Park.
Another example -- if you belong to the Escapees and you are purchasing an annual Passport America membership, tell them you are a member of the Escapees and they will (in most cases) give you a discount on your Passport America membership. This is something that is not well known, but if you go to the Escapees web site or receive their magazines you will read this information. Remember, it never hurts to ask.
Most clubs and memberships offer a variety of benefits. Do your home work, if you need road side assistance, make sure your membership covers this. If they offer free email, or mail forwarding services and you want to take advantage of these, then choose a membership that will include these services. Most memberships have a basic benefits package and then for some of them you can add additional benefits for an additional fee. Don't let the benefits be your deciding factor, unless you will truly need and use the benefits and you are not already getting them through another source, then save your money and choose a different option.
There are camping memberships in Thousand Trails, RPI, Coast to Coast, Western Horizon and so many more. Please be careful, know exactly what you are buying, and do not buy until you have been on the road for at least a year. Before buying look into resale memberships from a membership outlet or advertised in an RV magazine. Know exactly what you are buying!
Manufacturer Clubs are available for most RV's, chassis, and even engines. I will speak to what I know, we were members of the Newmar Kounty Klub, mainly because they are suppose to assist in the event you have problems with your coach. I will say, in our case they were of no assistance, at all, so we are no longer members. Yes, they have many social functions, but why do I need to pay an annual fee, to get together with RVers? RVers are a friendly bunch of people. As you begin your travels or if you are already a full-timer or avid RVer, you know the RV family is a great group. You couldn't ask for better people and friends without spending a penny to belong to any club.
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