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Old 02-08-2016, 05:11 AM   #1
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Do you save money with Thousand Trails memberships or similar?

Do Campground Memberships really save you a lot? I have a flyer sent to me from Thousand Trails. I know they have zones for you to identify but we do not know anyone who is actually a member of this or similar ones.

Do any of you have first hand knowledge of what to look for when considering something like this to save on you budget?
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Old 02-08-2016, 06:06 PM   #2
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We were given a single zone 1 year membership, included in the purchase of our MH. We have only stayed in 2 CGs, and won't bother renewing. We like to go to a variety of places, and just don't want to be restricted to a handful of places to stay. Just the DW and my feeling. I just didn't see anything special with their membership, but they certainly seem to have a large membership, guess it's all in what you want to do with your RV.


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Old 02-08-2016, 06:17 PM   #3
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I would not consider a campground membership, timeshare, investment or whatever you want to call it unless I was full timing. And even then, with all of the hidden fees and restrictions, I don't think it's worth it. You are basically paying up front for the next 10-20 years of camping. Who knows if I will even be around or interested in the RV thing at that time.
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Old 02-08-2016, 06:38 PM   #4
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The only "club" that might be worthwhile is the reserve America thing I joined to reserve Florida state park campgrounds. 10% discount and every 4th reservation free. Since we live there we probably do 6 or 7 reservations a year. I'll see if it's worth it
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Old 02-08-2016, 06:48 PM   #5
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I also received a free one year zone pass when I bought a new RV in 2013. I didn't use it until just before it expired. I went to one park, TT in Clermont, Fl. it wasn't bad, especially considering it was free. I had no intention of renewing at $500 something for another year.
They offered an additional year for $199 which I did accept. I went to Clermont 3 or 4 more times and once to their Peace River park, (which wasn't as nice, in my opinion) in that second year.
I would have renewed at the discounted rate if it was offered again, but it wasn't, so no more TT for me.
I believe they only have 86 parks in the whole country. Many states don't have any. There are only 3 in Fl., although you can get discounts at some other places, like Encore parks. It can be a pretty good deal, or not, depending on where you are and where you're heading.
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Old 02-08-2016, 06:53 PM   #6
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Do Campground Memberships really save you a lot? I have a flyer sent to me from Thousand Trails. I know they have zones for you to identify but we do not know anyone who is actually a member of this or similar ones.

Do any of you have first hand knowledge of what to look for when considering something like this to save on you budget?
Our Thousand Trails membership has been very good for us - we signed up at the end of Feb. last year and got a second zone free. The basic membership package gets you 30 nights of 'free' camping at Thousand Trails sites, PLUS $3 a night beyond that. Actually a pretty good buy if you're going to get anywhere near your 30 nights or more. No blackout dates. They have a decent online reservation system and other bennies. It made a lot of sense for us because there are 4 TT sites within 40 miles of us; we also used our TT membership for trips to the New Jersey shore, and the Williamsburg, VA area.

Their higher level memberships have some nice bennies if you want to pay the initial price tag, like access to Encore sites, not just Thousand Trails.

Once you're a member, everyone pays the same amount annually no matter what level you're at (that's if I remember correctly).

They usually offer some nice bonuses for new member signups around this time of year. For example, we got 2 zones for the price of one, which for us covers sites from Texas to Maine.

We absolutely will renew this year.

We also have Good Sam and Passport America, but there you run into things like blackout dates, and sites that don't take reservations. OTOH, they're cheap. I'm using both of them for a planned trip to Maine in June; we will save a lot more $$$ than the memberships cost us. Some of the membership features are helpful, like online reviews to help you plan and choose sites.

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Old 02-08-2016, 07:13 PM   #7
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We are TT members for a few years. If their CG are located where you will use them, and you do use them, it's a good deal.

Passport America is a discount program that is common to join. Use member CG just a couple three times a year and its paid for itself.
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Old 02-08-2016, 07:33 PM   #8
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You mentioned CG's. All the replies have been thousand trails.

We bought into a CG three years ago and we have calculated that
we have paid for it in the first year.
It all breaks down to how much you use it.
Passport America will normally pay for itself in three nights.
That is assuming you use PA cgs.

We bought into a boondocking club and found we could not use
it one night because nobody was home when we were in their area.

Lots of opinions relating to personal experiences.
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Old 02-08-2016, 08:13 PM   #9
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Do you save money with Thousand Trails memberships or similar?

To clarify my previous reply/post.

TT = Thousand Trails.
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Old 02-08-2016, 08:37 PM   #10
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I have good sam club and have saved on average $5-10 a night on good sam rv parks. But I also did not pay for it, I got it because I bought my rv at camping world.


I did pay for a passport America membership and will probably renew it. I gives you %50 off the regular rate, the catch is that you usually can only use the discount for 1-2 nights at the same park. The park I'm at currently will actually give you the discount for 5 days in a row. My cost for 2 days here was $38.
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Old 02-08-2016, 08:52 PM   #11
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We've looked in the Thousand Trails setup. Decided we wouldn't use it enough to pay the cost. We do use the discounts offered by GS and FMCA though.
Right now any club is a losing proposition for us as we have a grandson still in school so that limits us to just weekends and the DW is on the National Liver Transplant list and we have to stay within our home area. Plus there's her level of energy to watch. One day out eating one meal and getting a few groceries and in bed for two or three days afterward. Why go if she's going to be in bed the whole time?
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Old 02-08-2016, 10:17 PM   #12
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CG Memberships personal experience.......

We bought a membership via RESALE Market (the only place to purchase) for $950
Home park with frozen dues and a Coast to Coast Affiliate memberships that allowed us to stay up to 2 weeks at a time for $10/15 night all across the USA

We were Full Timing and used it when it was convenient for us. For $10/15 night Full Hookups we stayed in same private CG that members had paid thousands or CGs that others were paying $45/night for.
Did we save..........end of 1st year we had used the membership enough to cover purchase cost (RESALE).
(nightly cost difference of only $15 covers the initial $950 cost in 63 nightly stays)


Yearly dues to maintain cost us $200 a yr/total............easy to cover that cost when only paying $10/15 vs $25 or more ($200 cost covered in just 13 stays)
7 yrs we used it. Stayed in some places several times, some places only once.

So Yes membership can save you money provided:
You buy it cheap (never purchase directly thru resort-----RESALE!)
You use it frequently during the year
You buy it CHEAP and USE it

TT Zone could be worthwhile as it is just a one year contract, reasonably priced AND IF there are enough CGs in that Zone you would actually use.

Even IF I really, really like a CG I can't see going back to it over and over and over UNLESS it is close/handy/really really neat place.

Even before we were FT we went to various places/CGs but we had a lot of options.

Now we have limited CGs close by for short trips/quick get aways. So we boondock more
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Old 10-21-2016, 01:33 PM   #13
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The only "club" that might be worthwhile is the reserve America thing I joined to reserve Florida state park campgrounds. 10% discount and every 4th reservation free. Since we live there we probably do 6 or 7 reservations a year. I'll see if it's worth it
How did that work out for you?

The advantage.active.com website is hard to find out exactly what the benefits are and how much it costs.

It says it will auto bill you $69/year in the teeny tiny print by the 99c intro offer.

There is only one $80 reimbursement on the 4th reservation - not every 4th

I didn't see anything about 10% - and I'm hoping no reservation fees. It says reservation rebates up to $20, but I can't find anything about the details, even on the FAQ page. And when you click on the reservation rebates picture, it just sends you to the reservations website.

Help! I would love more info and how it worked for you!

Liz
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Old 10-21-2016, 01:38 PM   #14
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We are TT zone members for a few years. Southwest and northwest zones. It has worked for us. If the locations are such, located for you, and you use them - it's a good deal. We are retiring this year and will use even more in the future.

Passport America is a no brainer. Pays for itself in just a couple uses.
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