New member question........ :)

[dbandpj]

Hi!

New here (obviously) and new to full-time RV'ing. Just going into our 4th week (and LOVING IT so far!) .....

We are going to be in the Cottonwood, AZ area in a couple of months and today received a brochure from Thousand Trails and see there's a campground in Verde Valley, AZ.

To stay at a TT campground, are we required to be TT members??? I could call TT myself, but everything I'm reading on this forum about them talks about their high pressure sales' pitches, so I'm hesitant to go that route just yet.

THANK YOU FOR ANY ADVICE!!!

~pj

[mustang652]

Welcome to the forum. You're going to get both pros and cons on this issue. I'm personally not in favor of them as I feel that they are the RV version of a bad time share. I went through the high pressure sales pitch with one, compared it to some other local friends who had done others and decidedm NO Way! In all honesty, I've got a couple of old friends that have gone that way for years and they loved it.

[BigSkyBob]

When we are in that area, we always stay at Zane Grey RV park south of Camp Verde on hwy 260 about 5 miles. It's an older park but decent and quiet with great folks. We take the toad and go up 260 to Strawberry and Pine that are small towns in the timber. Lots to see in the Camp Verde area.

[GaryKD]

Hi dbandpj,
Welcome to iRV2. One does not need to be a member to stay at a TT property. Not all properties are the same. In addition, the time of year may limit or eliminate non member guests. The best advice I can give is to call the property you are interested in and ask.

[Doc Mark]

dbandpj - welcome to IRV2.com!

Run, DO NOT WALK away from TT. Six to eight thousand dollar buy-in. And for that you get older, run down parks with no reserved site. After you get there, you have the privilege of driving around and trying to find one you like. We have a coach that needs 50 amp service and many a night we had to stay in a 30 amp site because all the 50's were full. Finally figured out there aren't that many 50 amps in many of their parks.

You do not have access to all the parks listed on the TT website. Many are - "you have to pay an additional fee (thousands) to get access to these parks."

And then there is their "Not-Our-Fault' policy. We had a TT-employee driven mower run into our tailpipe/bumper in TT Orlando. Bent tailpipe (nearly crushed actually) and damaged paint on the coach. Called the site manager, and he came out and took photos, wrote up his notes and submitted it to 'corporate'.

Shortly thereafter we get a form letter from a corporate lawyer telling us that the fine print of the contract say that "TT is not responsible for any damage incured while you are on their property" so sad, so sorry, go fix it yourself.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY

[Fred1609]

This is our 2nd year RVing in a 38' fifith wheel. The first few time out we sort of stumbled around and stayed at some not so great parks and were tempted to have a look at the membership only places. Have a look at the secondary market for these memberships. Theres a ton of them out there. We now use rvparkreviews.com exclusively. Its honest reviews by campers and RVers and too date we haven't hit a bad park. My advice the first year is to look around. Ask lots of questions and check around the internet. You don't need to spend a ton of money.

[dbandpj]

Thank you EVERYONE for your great, great responses. I love each and every answer I received!!!

Obviously TT is a disaster but this RV website is FANTASTIC!

So pleased with everyone's replies and we will be checking out the Camp Verde area.

GREAT suggestions!

(Love the RUN don't WALK comment too!) hehehehe

[bsirby]

I agree with everyone. Membership CG are not worth the money you pay. We use the internet, Good Sams, Koa, and IRV2, to find out about what parks are good to stay at and which ones aren't.

We stayed a few days and Zane Grey in Camp Verde. Great place.