Passport America Restrictions

[Carole S]

Originally Posted by TheArnolds

I have been reading posts on iRV2 about Passport America but was unable to post this question because the discussion was too old >255 days. At any rate I did see several comments regarding restrictions, "Good deal even with the restrictions".

I looked all over PA's WEB site and I did not see anything about restrictions and I am fearful that it will be in the fine print somewhere that PA will beat me over the head with down the road.

Has anyone found these restrictions to be a big issue

Hi there, we used PA ON A 2 month trip thru Michigan, across Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Maine, new Hampshire, and back to Pigeon Forge. It was well worth the money. Some had restrictions about what nights you could stay and get discount, but we rarely had a problem. Only found one that we didn't want to stay at. Just do your homework and plan your trip somewhat around restrictions, which are found in the PA directory under each campground. Nearly all of them required cash. You won't be sorry. Have a great trip.

[Fred1609]

I spent a few minutes last night looking at a couple of CG that are in PA's list and compared them on rvparkreview and found that more than a few had pretty low marks....5 out of 10 with some not so nice comments. I am curious to know if thats a pattern with PA CG's and as part of getting a deal you sort of give up the expectation that the CG will be 1rst rate.

[TheArnolds]

Originally Posted by Fred1609

I spent a few minutes last night looking at a couple of CG that are in PA's list and compared them on rvparkreview and found that more than a few had pretty low marks....5 out of 10 with some not so nice comments. I am curious to know if thats a pattern with PA CG's and as part of getting a deal you sort of give up the expectation that the CG will be 1rst rate.

Good question and I would be very interested in reading some impartial comments

[RickO]

Originally Posted by Fred1609

I spent a few minutes last night looking at a couple of CG that are in PA's list and compared them on rvparkreview and found that more than a few had pretty low marks....5 out of 10 with some not so nice comments. I am curious to know if thats a pattern with PA CG's and as part of getting a deal you sort of give up the expectation that the CG will be 1rst rate.

I think some PA parks might be on the older side but we've (almost) never found one where we didn't want to stay. If you're looking for only "1st rate" CGs, PA might not work out to your expectations so you might want to pass.

IMO, PA provides us with a good opportunity to save a few bucks on overnight stays and we've never had a problem making the membership pay for itself.

Rick

[jzick]

I am curious to know if thats a pattern with PA CG's and as part of getting a deal you sort of give up the expectation that the CG will be 1rst rate.

We use PA a lot for overnights. Some of the campgrounds are older and could hardly be called resorts, but we have never found one that we would not stay at if we did not get a PA discount. After all, why would a full all the time, prime location, first class resort need to offer a 50% discount?

We have stayed at some really fine resort type places that honor PA, but only during their off season. Again, a business trying to generate some cash flow and good will by taking advantage of their PA association.

[padre44]

We used it our first year - found too many restrictions and parks that were not up to what we wanted, so didn't renew.

[Waggin Wagon]

I using PA at a campground near Peoria, IL, where I'm staying until late October. No restrictions what so ever. $13 a night and every single site has full hookups. This is an older campground in a flood plain on the Illinois River. It's quiet, heavily wooded, 8 miles away from the casino, 10 miles away from a Super Walmart, great dining all around, excellent bird watching. If you get up early enough to walk the dogs the fox family will be out to greet you. Fox as in bushy tailed fox. I love it here and will be back again next summer to visit family and friends. You can't beat the price and the owners are wonderful. If you are looking for a "resort" this is not the place for you. No pool, no laundry facilities, no organized events, etc. Like I said, this is an older campground and a work in progress. Lot of improvements have been made over the past several years but they have been mindful of retaining the old time charm.

[mr300ce]

I used it at 4 stops on a 2 week trip, and saved $$. The CGs were ones I would have stayed in anyway. Decent. Couple were PA only during the off season (no snowbirds), and were really nice.

But hey, PA is good for the overnite, on the way, stops.

[oatmeal]

My experience is that most PA campgrounds would score around a 5 on campgroundreviews.com. Some have been pretty grubby and a lot are well off the beaten path, but if you just need an overnight and it's on your route, and especially if you travel in the off season, then it can be a good deal.

My main gripe is with some of the campgrounds that play pretty fast and loose with the "50% off." I always go to a campground's website to see what their true daily rate is--you can't just look at the "regular rate" listed on the PA page--to get an idea of whether they're on the up and up.

We had a most unpleasant experience at Overland Trail Campground in Fort Davis, Texas. The Passport America page for this place says the regular price is $30, and PA is $15. However the park's own website says the daily rate is $25, or $22.50 if you reserve on the web. Nowhere but the PA page is the daily rate ever listed as $30.

We drove up around mid-morning and knocked on the door and a guy stood behind the screen, forming a shadowy figure. Oh, and he was shaving. The entire encounter was through the screen, with the electric shaver going.

I don't remember the exact conversation, but he said the PA rate would be something like $17 or $19, which isn't half of anything. I noted the discrepancy and asked what the "Passport America half off" was based on. He didn't answer that, but said it included cable TV and I said I didn't need cable TV, and the conversation ended when he said if I can drive a big rig like that but am too cheap to pay this for an RV space, then I should stay somewhere else. So obviously, I did.

I later noticed that their site also says that if you buy the PA membership from them, your first night is free. It's pretty clear he's using PA just to draw people in and obviously has no intention of actually giving a 50% discount, and doesn't even honor his listed PA price, which in itself is bogus because the daily rate is never $30.

I don't like that sort of shenanigans, and it's always in the back of my mind when I'm dealing with PA parks. Nowadays, if I see that sort of discrepancy between the park's own website and what they say on their PA page, I know they're already up to something and don't even consider staying there because I don't want to reward that sort of thing. Plus it makes me less likely to encounter somebody like shaving man again.

For that reason, I don't automatically renew my PA membership when it expires, even though I'm a fulltimer. It's actually a little more freeing not to have "using" my PA membership in the back of my mind all the time. Instead, if I don't have a current membership, I stay aware of PA parks in the areas I'm going to be in, and if it makes sense to stay in one, I start my membership over when I get there. With this scheme, I've gone years between memberships, which saves me even more.

[boweavel]

we just returned from a month long trip from va to sd and used ppa as often as possible and had no complaints at all the only restriction we ran into was in ind were they did not allow the discount on a pull thru site. we would have stayed in any of the sites even if they gave no discount. imho its money well spent

[howdja]

Passport America is an RV park discount organization. As with any discount organization, you must research the offerings closely and make your own determination whether or not to use them. Each park has it's membership rates and rules published, so there should be no surprises if you read the published rules from each park. If you don't like the rules, just pass the park by, don't complain, after all it's their park and they have the right to set their rules.

True, some of the parks are not, in my estimation, places I would stay, But there are many parks which I consider high quality and I do use them to my advantage. Some do charge extra for 50 amp or extra persons or have date restrictions. In spite of all this, PA is definitely on my current subscription list and will remain so. I have taken advantage of it many times during our present trip, saving a considerable amount of money in the process. A very worthwhile investment for such a small sum of money.

[oatmeal]

Originally Posted by howdja

Each park has it's membership rates and rules published, so there should be no surprises if you read the published rules from each park.

That's not necessarily the case, as illustrated in my post above.

[Grimesy]

Although it may be a little distasteful to be a snitch a call to the home office whenever a CG doesnot live up to the advertisment is warranted. Both Good Sam and Woodalls have often times over rated the CG and I have no qualms about telling them.
When I pay for a product I expect it to be as stated.

Don

[howdja]

Originally Posted by oatmeal

That's not necessarily the case, as illustrated in my post above.

If I were to encounter a situation such as you did, I would inform PA of the encounter. If no one gives PA feedback on negative experiences, how are they to know that a park is not honoring it's published rates. I would like to believe that PA would take positive action to correct the situation. After all, their reputation is on the line.