Community Forums

wanderwoman · 06-10-2016, 02:16 PM

Anyone ever notice that Passport America is not useful in the summer--at least not in any desirable locations? We haven't bought ours yet this year because we are getting a late start moving out of Branson where our 5er has been parked in a mobile home park for 18 months. (We've been back and forth in the truck to our Houston home.) Our end game is Oregon and should have been out there the end of May but we found we needed new tires all the way around on the trailer as well as replacing the aluminum rims this rig was furnished with back in 2006--some of them are leaking so I say replace them all, don't fool around with that. That was a bit of a hit in the wallet so we thought we'd wait for more income. Hardly mattered as far as PA discounts though because most places stop taking them by the end of May anyway. We are planning to boondock as much as possible I like to consider myself a free spirit but I wanted to feather my bed with a sure thing if the boondocking didn't go as desired. But now doesn't seem to make sense with very few parks are taking it anyway. What else is there?

TomandGloria · 06-10-2016, 02:27 PM

Same for Florida in the winter. It's hit and miss. Some give the discount during week and some don't give it at all.

nothermark · 06-10-2016, 02:28 PM

That's normal. The idea behind PA is to get discounts when times are slow for the campgrounds. That usually rules out summer and weekends. OTOH if you get a few nights the rest of the year you come out a winner. Most of us do at least some shoulder season travel so it works.

There is not much else. Peak season is when the parks make their money and we donate or stay home. The next best thing is 10% for Sam's, AAA, or whatever else they have.

PJStough · 06-10-2016, 02:31 PM

When our Passport America subscription expires, we dont renew it until we are going to stay in a park that accepts PA for at least part of the time we are there.

Waiter21 · 06-10-2016, 02:33 PM

Supply and Demand....

When we travel in the summer, I generally use Good Sams as my stopping overnight guide, However when we travel in the fall and winter, we use the Passport America guide to find stops.

vsheetz · 06-10-2016, 02:42 PM

I always ask if passport America will be accepted even if inside the CG's published restrictions. They will sometimes say yes, if they have room and want some money rather than no money.

Even though there are time restrictions, PA is still a good deal. One only has to use it a couple three nights a year to more than pay for itself.

twogypsies · 06-10-2016, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsheetz

I always ask if passport America will be accepted even if inside the CG's published restrictions. They will sometimes say yes, if they have room and want some money rather than no money.

Even though there are time restrictions, PA is still a good deal. One only has to use it a couple three nights a year to more than pay for itself.

I totally agree with the above statements. We had no problems with using it.

Most restrictions of for the three major holidays and some for weekends.

I just took a peek at those in Colorado and the five or so I looked at do allow summer stays and those were in prime areas.

Keep in mind that using it a couple times pays for the year's membership. It's especially good for retirees who are on a flexible schedule and full-timers.

We mainly used public parks and gorgeous boondocking spots but when we wanted a RV park for various reasons we used Passport America. We don't need 'resorts' or a lot of amenities and activities so it worked for us.

wanderwoman · 06-11-2016, 09:46 AM

Yeah we are looking for fancy either but all listed in Oregon right now aren't taking PA. It's just frustrating when trying to plan for ppl who are 1) still new at this, 2) like planning ahead.

wanderwoman · 06-11-2016, 09:48 AM

I'll try that. Yes it will pay for itself in just a couple of nights. One thing is we plan to stay in Oregon until winter so wouldn't be using it much all year. It's frustrating.

wanderwoman · 06-11-2016, 09:56 AM

[QUOTE=nothermark;3109425]That's normal. The idea behind PA is to get discounts when times are slow for the campgrounds. That usually rules out summer and weekends. OTOH if you get a few nights the rest of the year you come out a winner. Most of us do at least some shoulder season travel so it works.

I realize this but it still must have some advantage for us travelers. I mean, we have rolled up to hotels during off-peak seasons and bargained for a better deal than Expedia was offering for instance. I'll bet it's the same for an RV park, any of them will give a off-peak discount without PA rather than have an empty spot. Am I willing to bet on that, rolling in with a 37 foot 5er in tow? Not really.

Smitty77 · 06-11-2016, 01:47 PM

We find this to be a good value, and even if some parks in some region don't workout for us, we're still money ahead.

We're going to spend the a week in a park over the 4th of July Weekend, in the Black Hills region of South Dakota. No restrictions, and for that region, a real value.

I find that when I cross reference where we've traveled for the year, with where Thousand Trails or their affiliated parks are located, that usually it is only in the Western states that we'd have benefited. We've joined family members as guests in three TT's in the west now - and they were all really rundown and just warn out looking. (Though my friends told me that one of the parks have started to do a 'refresh', so maybe this will continue elsewhere.)

We've also found that though they're not prevalent, that Escapees related parks are also a good value.

Best to all,
Smitty

krivanj · 06-11-2016, 09:57 PM

We've been on the road since May 19 and have travelled from FL to NC to CO to WY and have used it at least half the time. I just figured out I've saved $150 so far with it this trip. Just did three out of four days in Loveland CO using it to save $25 per night.

Nana25K · 06-11-2016, 10:04 PM

Check out Harvest Host to. They were very useful in northern ÇA, and the PNW.
We also use our Escapee discount. Never met a restriction
Our PA fills in the other spots
Nothing is perfect. Always ask if the can honor it especially during the week

nothermark · 06-12-2016, 04:54 AM

[QUOTE=wanderwoman;3110524]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nothermark

That's normal. The idea behind PA is to get discounts when times are slow for the campgrounds. That usually rules out summer and weekends. OTOH if you get a few nights the rest of the year you come out a winner. Most of us do at least some shoulder season travel so it works.

I realize this but it still must have some advantage for us travelers. I mean, we have rolled up to hotels during off-peak seasons and bargained for a better deal than Expedia was offering for instance. I'll bet it's the same for an RV park, any of them will give a off-peak discount without PA rather than have an empty spot. Am I willing to bet on that, rolling in with a 37 foot 5er in tow? Not really.

Reality for us at a lot of places we used PA off season was that we had a hard time finding the owner to get to register so it would be interesting trying to bargain.

The real point of PA is that the bargaining is already done, the places that will do it are listed and the price is low enough that if we use it a couple of times a year we are a winner over cost. That is enough for most of us. If you want to do it all by yourself then go for it.