Thousand Trails, Encore, Pass Port America etc.

[SteveW123]

Does anyone use of these memberships for RV discounts? We are considering joining, and would like any feedback from other users.

[kerryvan]

Not to be disrespectful, please use the search function and read through the few recent posts concerning your request. This topic comes up every few months. So often, that the number of responses may not represent all views.

[CampFire Junkies]

Passport America will pay for itself within a few multi day trips...

[vsheetz]

Originally Posted by CampFire Junkies

Passport America will pay for itself within a few multi day trips...

Agree.

[GaryMaryanne]

We just done using Passport America and it has already paid for its self. We also belong to Thousand Trails and two weeks at our next stop will pay for the yearly membership. The one club we think is a must have is Escapees inexpensive parks and lots of other benefits. Of course this is only my opinion and depending on where you are and how you like to travel your experiences my be different.

[bdpreece]

We have owned memberships in three campground systems and have noticed a pattern. These companies market their memberships heavily while neglecting upkeep of the parks then they start selling off parks. Then at some point they either close or sell out completely and another company takes over. At that time your membership is worthless and the new company forces you to upgrade etc.

The only one worth owning in my opinion is Passport America.

[SteveW123]

Thank You.

[MisterT]

budget minded travelers who don’t sit too long at each stop use Passport America, while others who might like more of a ‘destination’ stop may like others

while PA can have restrictions, it is a good return on your small upfront money, even if don’t use it that often - having it as a backup when you just need a quick overnight to recharge and/or dump is very beneficial

[wingnuts]

We use the yearly thousand trails zone pass membership, we usually buy when their discounts come out. ..they just had a $150 off sale so it was $425 for the year....4 weekends of camping and it's paid for itself

Can stay as long as you want up to 2 weeks at a time, then 7 days out of the system then you can come back up to 2 weeks. ..reservations up to 60 days in advance

[Old-Biscuit]

When we were FT we had a 'park membership' with Coast to Coast Affiliate membership.
Deluxe membership allowed us to stay up to 14 days for $10/$15 night FHUs at various affiliate cgs across the USA Plus we had 2 week free stay at our home park

We purchased the memebership via RESALE which was VERY CHEAP
$950 initial cost 1st year...included ownership transfer fees, 1st year Home Park dues and 1st year dues for C2C , RPI & AOR.
After 1st we dropped the RPI (duplicate coverage with C2C) & AOR (not as wide spread as C2C) so yearly memberships were $59/yr Home Park (frozen dues) and $139/yr for Deluxe C2C Affiliate Membership

We also purchased Passport America each year.

Being FT we had to stay 'somewhere' every night
C2C paid for itself within 1st year after that we were ahead of the game as CGs cost $35 Plus a night
We also boondocked, stayed in State/National Parks, COE Parks, Fairgrounds, City Parks, public CGs and private CGs.


Memberships CAN work ........one just needs to purchase CHEAP via RESALE
NEVER directly from the CG.

Thousand Trails Zone Pass sounds worthwhile provided there are enough CGs in that zone one would want to go to/stay at.
We stayed in a few TT CGs via our C2C Affiliate so Zone Pass wasn;t something we considered

Being FT we were able to get 'return on value' with our membership costs
RESALE!

[L0veless]

I have to second pass port America it pays for its self pretty quickly. something else to think about are the Elks Lodges annual dues are reasonable, most lodges will let you stay in their parking lot and a lot actually have RV parking and hookups. plus a great bunch of people.

[grindstone01]

We use Passport America which is great for a quick night stop and the FHU's for $15-20 beat boondocking after driving all day. Some CG's are second rate, but OK for 1 night.

[wa8yxm]

I am a member of Thousand Trails
Both Thousand Trails and their parent Encore operate RV parks

Now. if you use 'em GREAT, if not, NOT

Thousand trails parks I have been in are not all in the best of condition. but they have the greatest staff of any of the parks I have visited. Sites vary with the park, and power is often a bit..er.. anemic, at least on the 30 amp sites, as many of 'em were put in back when Aluminum was what they buried But for me that has not been a problem.

TT offers what I consider the greatest innovation in Membership camping
The ZONE PASS. for about 600 more or less you get access to about 1/5 of the Encore parks (TT and TT MID atlantic I know for sure) including a few (At least in the Mid Atlantic area) I can not use. (Myrtle Beach) But you do have to pick your zone (Generally the one you live in)

This 600 is what you pay them for 2 weeks in one week out for a year.
YES. you get basicaly up to 8 months of camping for 600 bucks.

I use it 2/3 of hte time in the winter (Spending the other 1/3 in government run parks for 100-150 a week) and 1/2 time in teh Summer (I have a 2nd mmbership here in Michigan with another CG where I happen to be just now)

Summer time I'm paying less than 100/month for parking.

One of the parks "Competes" with a pair of KOA's where I can spend that same "Less than 100 dollars" in a single NIGHT.

IF you are interested in Thousand Trails. please PM me. Thanks.

[OLYLEN]

The parks and clubs save $$$ if the park is where you want to be. PA is cheap and you can recover the fee very quickly. The membership parks are good if you don't need to be, for instance right on the beach, and willing to drive the towed to the attraction.

LEN