Encore membership

[Queen of Eve]

We are full timing in a Tiffin Allegro and love it! Oct. '10 we joined RPI and have found little use for the expense involved. We are wondering if anyone belongs to Encore or Ten thousand trails and what is the benefit. We also belong to Good Sams and KOA. Your input is welcome! thanks

[JCM]

Stay away from Western Horizons as they continue to sell off their parks.

[Queen of Eve]

What do you find are the advantages of belonging to Encore/RPI/Thousand Trails/etc??

[GG1]

I sent you info on your question but its very lengthy and did not want to tie up the forum

[bdpreece]

The advantages really only kick in if you use the parks enough to cover the cost of the yearly dues. You also need to remember that you will only recover pennies on the dollar if you attempt to sell your membership at a later date. For full timers however if the parks are where you want to be and near enough to bounce between two or three you can conceivably camp forever for no extra costs if you have the membership that allows you to go from park to park like we do. I think in the last year we have stayed in TT parks well over 100 nights so our camping is running less than $5 a night. We spent about 6 weeks in Las Vegas this year off and on sometimes paying nothing; other times paying to upgrade to a 50 amp site at $3 in order to run both airs during the hot times. Before joining TT we were paying upwards to $40 a night. Of course the $40 a night parks were nicer and had larger sites but for the difference in price I can handle the TT park.

[Rick Long]

Do NOT let anyone sell you a Thousand Trails membership... You can buy a Zone membership that is only a yearly contract for the price most of us pay for our dues.. about $500 and it will get you all the parks in a region as in, SouthWest, NorthWest etc. There are four regions. RVontheGo Camping Card from Encore/Thousand Trails is also a good option. Don't let them talk you into an Elite membership... If you really want one you can buy one from a member for a lot less money and there are many members that want to sell theirs.

[LVJ58]

We're not full-timers, however in our travels when reaching our destination, we usually stay at one location for a couple of months.

It's my understanding, and I may have been misinformed, that those who belong to RPI, Thousand Trails, etc. are limited to stays less than a month and then must move to another membership park and so on.

Once set up, I'm not interested in having to disconnect and move to another location.

Additionally, I can't justify the initial high buy in cost and pay recurring annual fees for a membership with limited stay policies.

Perhaps it may be a good deal for some who are full timers who stay for the time allotted and move on to the next membership park.

[JCM]

Most memberships require that you move every 2 weeks, some are once per week and most require you to stay out of the "system" for 7 days before returning to another park in the system. They (memberships) usto be good for part timers but not now.
If you are full timing - ok.

[hamguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Queen of Eve We are full timing in a Tiffin Allegro and love it! Oct. '10 we joined RPI and have found little use for the expense involved. We are wondering if anyone belongs to Encore or Ten thousand trails and what is the benefit. We also belong to Good Sams and KOA. Your input is welcome! thanks

We belong to RPI, C2C and Passport America. We are currently in an RPI park in Wyoming enjoying the 55 deg. cool. In 8 years and 1304 nights in various parks (not all of the aforementioned) we believe they have paid for themselves.

For example, our average $/night is about $18. We plan our routes since many of the member parks are off the beaten path, which allows us to see some great scenery.

[Gary RVRoamer]

A membership is only worth the use you make out of it. We have 1000 Trails and RPI and have gotten our money's worth whenever we are able to travel enough to use them. But if you don't like the parks, or don't want to go where they are, it's just a needless expense. It's not for everybody - you have to decide if it fits your life and travel style. We would never have bought into 1000 Trailer 10+ years ago when we were more into travel and less into staying one place, but now it seems to suit us well enough.

Fulltimers need a place to stay every night of the year, so can nearly always make good use of membership parks. Occasional travelers probably cannot. We are in-betweens, spending about 5-7 months a year on the road.

Don't buy a new full membership - you can get resales for a lot less money and some of the older ones have perks not now available. You can find them on ebay or at brokers who specialize in campground resales. Or if you want to try out Encore parks and other such resort parks, get the Ready Camp Go card or other promotional deal so you don't have a long term commitment. See how you like it.