RFT Federal Tax $8 at Holly, MI KOA

[Dunner]

Originally Posted by RickO

Thanks for the follow up. What a crock!

I'm guessing somewhere there's a law against a merchant telling customers that they are collecting tax money for the feds when they knew all along that wasn't true.

I think your assessment of the situation is right on.

Rick

I seem to remember something about "No taxation without representation". Where have I heard that before? Is that what we have here?

[NLOVNIT]

I also tested reservations on the Holly, MI KOA site & that $8 per nite fee is just listed as "RFT". No explaination. Maybe the person at the desk when the OP checked in said it was a federal tax in error. However, it still needs explained exactly what RFT stands for as far as that KOA is concerned.

Lori-

[Kdjay]

Originally Posted by CaptBill

Would you pay an $8 reservation fee for each night of your stay? e.g., you book for a week; are you OK with a $56 reservation fee?

You misunderstood me. The fee is $8.00 per reservation. We stayed multiple days at each campground and paid one fee for each reservation. Overall it amounted to $2.00 per night for our entire trip.

Do I like being charged? No. In fact, I would prefer not needing to make reservations at all...but the days of traveling without them are long over. If I want to guarantee a place to stay when I arrive (especially on a weekend) I make reservations.

[NLOVNIT]

This thread is about the $8 per nite fee the Holly, MI KOA charges. We're not debating Reserve World's $8 per reservation fee....that's a subject for a different thread.

Lori-

[CampDaven]

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT

Thanks for the persistence, focker. Well, now that any iRV2 member who reads this thread knows the Holly, MI KOA is passing a corp tax onto it's customers as a federal tax, there will be even FEWER of us staying at that KOA (& carefully scrutinizing/asking questions of any future bills for any KOA's elsewhere we happen to stay). Ahhhh, the power of internet forums! Lori- P.S. @TeJay - If you want, I would be happy to move this out of the Winnebago Forum & put it as a sticky at the top of the Camping Locations & Information Forum for greater exposure on this topic. This way more members, outside of Winnebago owners, will see it & beware.

Franchises work on a revenue sharing basis of some sort. $8 must be the KOA corporate piece of the pie.

http://ownakoa.com/whykoa/koafranchisebrochure.pdf

If one KOA has messed up, and iRV2 makes a big stink about KOA corporate....
Well, I think we should let things cool a bit before we bash KOA in general that one time a bit too hard.

I like KOA and get good value for my camping dollar. I have never had "add-ons".

[focker]

I don't see where anyone has made a big stink about KOA corporate, nor is anyone fired up and needs to cool down from what I can see, just finding out why a place is representing a fee as a Federal tax and having an understanding of the situation.

[TeJay]

Hi folks,
We've been on the road all day but I see the forums have been humming with this info.
Thanks focker for the follow up. I told the DW as we were traveling today that after we got home I was going to call Holly KOA to try and get more info and then call KOA corporate but focker has done that for me. Again Thanks.

My wife alerted me to this charge and could get little from the first lady. She just said it was a Federal Tax. When I spoke to a different lady she said that the tax had been around for a time but didn't know when and it was just on the July 4th weekend that they were told to break it our from the total charges and list it as an RFT. It is really a Federal Tax?? Well now we no it's not?
The DW just showed me the receipt and we will do whatever we need to so perhaps things like this won't happen again. Our base price for the sight was $37 plus the $8 made it $45 a night for a pull through with full hook-up. I do all the driving and the wife handles all this stuff but she said that it was not out of line. Well it was a bit deceptive.

Lori,
If you feel that it would better serve the RV community then YES make it a sticky so others can see what happened as well.
I can scan the receipt and send it to KOA corporate if it is necessary.
Well I say I can. Since I don't do it every day it may take me some time to figure how to do it.

Thanks,
TeJay

[focker]

TeJay when I get home I will PM you the name and email address to send KOA for an explanation. You can always take a picture of the receipt and crop it if you don't want to mess with a scanner, it works just the same .

[2Labs]

Originally Posted by CampDaven

Franchises work on a revenue sharing basis of some sort. $8 must be the KOA corporate piece of the pie.

http://ownakoa.com/whykoa/koafranchisebrochure.pdf

If one KOA has messed up, and iRV2 makes a big stink about KOA corporate....
Well, I think we should let things cool a bit before we bash KOA in general that one time a bit too hard.

I like KOA and get good value for my camping dollar. I have never had "add-ons".

The file linked here does provide *some* information on the fees that KOA franchisees pay, and while I am assuming that this informational brochuse is not all-inclusive of the fees, it does say that:

Ongoing franchise fees include an 8% royalty and a 2% advertising
fee used for marketing programs that add to the recognition and success of
KOA Kampgrounds. KOA franchise fees are based solely on site registration
revenue. No fees are paid on store sales, propane, food services, etc.

In reading that, it seems that 10% of the each reserved site, each day it's in use is paid to KOA as an ongoing fee. In the case of the OP that should equate to $3.70 per night.

The mystery continues ....

[TeJay]

Hi again,
I have sent KOA a copy of the receipt and a letter explaining everything that we were told and several concerns regarding the obvious misinformation that we were given. We were told it was a Federal tax. When folker called he was told the same until he pressed the issue then was told it was a corporate fee. That fee was $8 for each of the three nights.

KOA may continue to get some of our business or NOT get any. We will wait until we hear from corporate KOA before we have our final say in the matter.

This should prove to be interesting. I will post the results.

Thanks,
TeJay

[jerichorick]

K-O-A=Kill Our Adventure. I avoid them as much as possible. This is just one more reason.

[dunkonu23]

We've stayed at that KOA and it's not all that nice, either. The water was outright horrid. The site we had was not even close to level (pull through full hookup). We went back there to dump once and was charged $15.00. Their dump station is not level, so I had to level and re-tilt before dumping. I paid that charge, too. Granted, it was only $16.00 for the two nights we stayed but to pass off a charge like that as a "tax" has to be fraudulent.

Scott

[TeJay]

Hi,
I received an e-mail from the Holly campground owner and have given him my phone contact information. In his e-mail he indicated that the $8 charge was not an extra fee but simply broken out from the regular bill as part of their accounting. We NEVER questioned this as an EXTRA or an increase in their normal rates. The problem arose when we questioned the fee and were told by two different ladies in the office that it was a Federal Tax. My wife told me what she learned so later I talked to a different person and was told the same story.

I have not heard from the owner yet. I will keep everybody posted when I get more information.

TeJay

[NLOVNIT]

Thanks for the update, Tim. They may or may not just roll this charge into the site fees to keep people from questioning it in the future. I'll bet the employees called it a Federal Tax in error, thinking you'd just accept it. However, the power of internet forums may make them rethink their terminology & maybe even KOA Corp is monitoring this thread- who knows (if not, they should be). However it works out, this thread has brought to light we need to review the charges on our bills.

I questioned a policy at a campground once. Posted it on iRV2 for discussion. The policy was changed, after the campground owner read the posts. We can & do have an impact sometimes.

Lori-