Campground memberships

[rarin2go]

As a soon to be new owner,and new to the camping world,I see alot of
clubs that can be joined to receive discounts for stays set up thru them.
need input on ones that are good deals,also how about joining one or more.
rarin2go

[evans27292]

try coast to coast.com and thousand trails.com

[Bill]

These clubs are a good deal for some people. But of course they are a good deal only if you want to stay in the campgrounds they handle, and the locations they handle. It sort of squashes your ability to just pick up and go, or to explore new areas. So before investing much money, think about what kind of camping you like to do.

Bill

[mtnguy]

We joined Good Sam's Club, but not for the campgrounds......we seldom camp in commercial RV parks. At $12 per year, we wanted to see what they offered. By far the best product they have is an online route intenerary. It will list mileages, times, state border crossings, avg gas prices, dump stations, mountain advisories, etc. You can plug in whether you want/don't want interstate travel, cities, shortest routes, etc. We feel that we got our $12 worth the 1st time we used that function. Their Hi-Ways monthly magizine is pretty good. Plus, if we do ever stay at 1 of their campgrounds, we have a coupon for the 1st nite free (worth up to $20........like they have any campgrounds that cheap....that part of the advertising was false.:confused:)

The down side of the membership is that you get a piece of junk mail from them about once a week with all sorts of insurances and stuff........but it can be used for kindling. ;)

Chap

[Mr. Adventure]

It's also a question of how much camping you're going to do vs. the cost of membership in something like Coast to Coast. I'm with Bill, in that one of the things we've always liked about camping is being able to just go without having a detailed itinerary most of the time. I'd suggest joining Good Sam and/or AAA, enjoying the campground directories awhile, and then deciding later if there's a benefit for you in one of the discount associations.

[Scott O]

I agree with the negatives. When we bought our first trailer, we also purchased a membership with Western Horizons. The ability to stay in a few parks very cheaply is outweighed by the initial cost and yearly dues, as well as the limited number of parks available. My advice would be to use your trailer for a year or so, see where you stay, and figure out if it would be economically wise to get a membership. Don't do anything until you get more familiar with the camping lifestyle. As for us, after 2 years we are going to cut our losses and dump the plan... We have determined that we want to decide our destinations, not have them decided for us by where a membership park happens to be.