Have you ever wondered, “ Should I (we) join an RV park club???
We’re always looking for ways to save money. Aren’t most people???
Currently we belong to Good Sam, Passport America Camping Club and KOA. These 3 clubs are paid (annual) memberships that offer RV park discounts. It has been our experience that these 3 RV clubs cover the most territory for the cost of their membership.
We also belong to Premier RV Resorts. Their membership is free and is based on how often we stay at their parks. After 7 nights, our 8th night is free. They have 5 RV parks located in CA, OR, and WA.
There are more camping/RV park memberships out there. Some operate similar to a timeshares. They cost more upfront to join, plus they have annual fees. Some parks have age restrictions. Some are more like vacation resorts, some are like communities. The more the amenities, typically the more they cost. Some resorts offer low cost seasonal rates to bait you in, but once the discount expires, the rates can increase dramatically. Some parks include utilities, some don’t.
Plan Ahead & Make Reservations
After we decide on an RV trip destination(s), we start searching for RV parks within the stopping area we plan to drive to in one day. We typically don’t like to drive more than 400 miles a day; unless it’s our last day traveling or we need to push to get home early. We start RV park searching using Google Maps. Yes, each of our club memberships has their own website and app that we can use to search for parks, but we don’t like to limit our search to just one membership search.
When choosing an RV park, we consider:
- Location
- Amenities
- Park Maps & Photos on the RV park’s website.
- 3rd Party Customer Reviews (Not the park’s website reviews.)
- Price
- RV Club Affiliations
Typically we use all 3 of our RV clubs we belong to during one RV trip. Our experience is that most RV parks belong to Good Sam. The Good Sam membership entitles you to a discount at all Camping World stores. KOA parks are exclusively KOA, and offer their own reward program, plus a discount to paying members. KOAs tend to cater to families and typically have a swimming pool.
Don’t Rule Out Our National Parks
Extended road trip or extended weekend outing? Looking for peace and quite? Open spaces? Nature trails? Biking? Fishing? ATV? Depending on the type of RV trip, you might benefit by searching for RV Parks managed by state, county, and different federal government agencies, like BLM, Forest Services, National Park Service, etc.
Passport America Referral:
We’ve stayed at several Passport America Park. Passport America offers 50% off at RV parks within their network. Last year we stayed at Junction West RV Park located in Grand Junction, CO. We plan to revisit that area again in the future, and will return.
Our experience has been that if we use Passport America at least once during each RV outing, the discount will more than pay for the cost of membership ($44 a year as of the date of this post). We have noticed that some Passport America parks are pretty basic, offering minimal amenities. If you need a place to stay one night and plan to hit the road early the next day, 50% can be pretty appealing to the budget conscious traveler.
If you’re interested in checking out Passport America Camping Club, here’s our affiliate referral link.
Referral Notes:
- Not all RV parks are part of the Passport America network.
- Some parks restrict when and for how long you can use the Passport America discount per stay.
- Our experience is that RV parks do not allow more than one discount per night/stay. In other words, you can’t combine discounts.
