KOA for real or scam?

[JMacy]

We stayed in many Walmart parking lots with as many as 25 other big rigs and there was one in New Mexico that even have a separate section for semi 's if you're into Boondocking it's not a bad way to go the other option is Home Depot who usually will let you stay there even if Walmart says no
We have stayed in too many KO A's where the sites were unlevel the water pressure low the circuit breakers tripping and for the space simply overpriced.
I think they pay too much attention to multiple streams of income rather than the campers basic amenities
They also have a registration program so that you can go from KOA to KOA seamlessly that's good for their income but not necessarily so good for the camper since 1 KOA to the next have completely different issues one maybe held together with bailing wire and bubblegum and the other on the side of a mountain so that all four corners of your rig are off the ground

[IMDSailor]

The KOA up in our neck of the woods is nice. Always received good service from them. Great play area for the kids. Perhaps not quite as opulent as some of the KOA's but better than some others from what I've read.
I would recommend it.

[schrederman]

Couple of years ago I stayed at a KOA in Holbrook, Az, because the RV park just across the road was full... big NO VACANCY sign lit up.... KOA had 4 RVs including mine.... It was February or I would have stayed in a Wally World parking lot or the like. I needed electricity. Seems like I paid about $45- for 1 night. KOAs are pricing themselves out of my market. The place across the road had a sign for $22- per night. That's reasonable, and explains why they were full in February.

[aauummm]

Originally Posted by GunnyClark

My wife and I travel from our home in West Virginia to Tonopah Ariz (we have a mining claim in the area we putter with) 4 times a year and stay at walmarts on the trip, we were at one walmart in Oklahoma that stated no semi parking, there were at least 12 semis intermixed with 4 RV's as we were coming out of the store we saw 2 local police going from semi to semi telling them to leave but not the RV'ers - another Walmart in if I remember was in Kentucky or Tenn had a special section marked of for RV's only that was in the far corner of the lot.

We do have the VKR membership and stay at KOA's once in a while but the last 2 did not impress me - in Ariz we stay at Saddle Mountain RV Park which gives a excellent good sam discount, has big lots and always has something going on

I had picked out Saddle Mountain RV Park as the place to stay last winter but family stuff kept us at home. I will make it there, maybe this winter! There's a bunch of jeep trails that I want to go on and the ghost town of Sundad (quite a story behind that place), etc.

[mel s]

Originally Posted by Just For Fun

I have NEVER liked KOA CGs nor the latitudes of the owners.

KOA, (aka: Keep On ADDING!).

[sledwest]

We avoid koa, pizza hut, Best Western, Starbucks ect. Try to spend our money with the little guy and not big America ! Lets hear it for the independent business owners !

[osok]

GD said take me camping so I got on web and found local KOA has a pay for Friday stay for free Saturday. Booked that deal! Not where I go due to normal price but if having a sale as this I will book it. I checked Jellystone first and they wanted $49 + $5 per person.

[GunnyClark]

Originally Posted by aauummm

I had picked out Saddle Mountain RV Park as the place to stay last winter but family stuff kept us at home. I will make it there, maybe this winter! There's a bunch of jeep trails that I want to go on and the ghost town of Sundad (quite a story behind that place), etc.

Saddle Mountain is a nice park - little shade but it is the desert and the people there are great - pot luck dinners, on Saturdays they have a little flea market with local artists and jewelers - there is a hot springs about 1/2 mile from the park (private but not expensive)

a excellent road is the back country byway which is about 20 mins away and easy to get to (our mine is off that so we travel it alot) I was born and raised in So Cal and spent my summers in sw Ariz - as a teen I would ride my 71 Honda SL350 to Wittman AZ where my mom lived, stop to say hi and rest then hit the desert trails

[whem2fish]

I live by jellystone but I fulltimed at DFW KOA clean nice don't know what to say $450 a month is do it again

[JohnBoyToo]

There's a KOA in Arlington !?!?! ON Cooper Street ?!?

Wow, been around here forever and never knew it !!!

[GunnyClark]

Originally Posted by JMacy

They also have a registration program so that you can go from KOA to KOA seamlessly that's good for their income but not necessarily so good for the camper since 1 KOA to the next have completely different issues one maybe held together with bailing wire and bubblegum and the other on the side of a mountain so that all four corners of your rig are off the ground

The reason we stay at walmarts so much is that we like to take secondary roads at times and it is hard to make reservations - when traveling through major areas (Memphis, DFW, OKC, etc.) I like to time so that I hit them before dawn to avoid the traffic - we stayed at a KOA last year that must have been built 50 years ago narrow gravel road to the spaces with sharp turns that made it hard to even reach our spot and then it was on a step grade as were most of the spots - it was better for a tent then a RV

[wa8yxm]

There are a couple of KOA's I might, some day, if conditions are good (not likely) return to but for the most part they, as someone up-thread said, KEEP ON ADDING.

A site that would be say 25 or 35 dollars in many parks, with water, sewer, 50 amps and electric.. 80 or more at the KOA and that is before they add in Wi-Fi, and oh, you have slide outs, and you have two A/Cs and .. . so on and so forth.

When I absolutly need a site and no other easy to find.... Perhaps.

But KOA is my last choice in most areas.

[JMacy]

Originally Posted by IMDSailor

The KOA up in our neck of the woods is nice. Always received good service from them. Great play area for the kids. Perhaps not quite as opulent as some of the KOA's but better than some others from what I've read.
I would recommend it.

I think kids is the ingredient KOAs look for. A young family on vacation can go to an end- destination KOA, entertain the kid, use the somewhat overpriced store, rent the bicycles or whatever and come away with a reasonable priced week's vacation.

[StevieG]

Our local KOA charges about $70 a night. With the VKR membership, I save 10% or about $7. I stayed there last weekend and when I looked at my bill, I saw I was charged a $5 resort fee. A resort fee? What the heck is that? I always thought the $70 was the resort fee...