"Complimentary" Thousand Trails...

[Kdsgone2dogs]

We just purchased a new Class C at a dealership and with it came a year of free Thousand Trails camping. Well, nothings free...right?
Has anyone had experience with Thousand Trails? Do we need to sit thru sales presentations every time we want to camp? I haven't read the greatest reviews on some of the campgrounds in the zone we would chose, so not so sure its worth it anyway.
They have our email addresses, so we are getting something every other day or so. Before I unsubscribe, I want to get some reviews.......anybody??????
Thanks.

[Floridakamper]

We got a free Zone membership when we purchased our coach. For us the issue was getting a reservation when we wanted it. Some zones are harder to get a reservation than others and time of year is a factor. We never had to endure a sales presentation. Get registered for their online reservation system and check it out. Also try calling if the online system says nothing available.

[rkresge]

There are several semi-active threads here on this subject. There is no requirement to sit through sales pitches that I've ever seen. However, I have voluntarily sat through a couple, both to learn more about TT memberships, and to get a promised sales promo 'benefit'. Stay at a TT campground and you're likely to be visited by the campground host, personally inviting you to a sales presentation. My response is "Thanks for the invitation, we'll think about it." Hint: They usually do them on Saturday morning, and you'll at least get free coffee and donuts.


I've had the TT "Zone Pass" membership for 4 years now. We've visited about 10 TT locations, and overall we've been happy with them. Some of them are older and have challenges like small sites, tight turns, lack of 3-way hookups. Others are pretty darn good. We have 4 TT locations within an hour's drive. Each one is different.


Reservations can be a challenge, especially for holidays. With your membership, you probably have a 60-day reservation 'window'. If you want to use it, get on it and make your reservations just as early as you can. People with the more expensive memberships have a longer window, like 120 days or more.



You may consider adding their new Trails Collection to your membership. It adds about a hundred locations, including some Encore destinations.


But consider the price. I pay about $550 a year for my TT membership, which gets me 30 'free' nights. That's less than $20/night. Beyond that you pay $3/night. Can't beat that with a stick.


To me the most important consideration is having TT locations conveniently available to you. It's no good to you if you can't use it.


Good luck, and enjoy your camping!


Roger

[RRR]

We got the same "year free" also. No sales pitch. The only time we have been approached we asked for more information. We have several TT within 100 miles and have checked out some with the the tow for a little day trip from home. One you couldn't drag me into if I was dead, two marginal but would work. That being said we have re-uped twice.

[traveler of california]

Which parks were those?

[Fiesta48]

Read and get to know all their rules. I down loaded them because there are many many.

[ThomB]

We're TT members.



We use the campground as a place to stay not a place to visit.Yep, there are some camps we will never return to and others that are pretty nice. We've been full-timing since June 2017 and our membership has paid for itself 3x over in that time.


That said it's not for everyone so you really need to find out for yourself. At the cost of Free try going to a couple campgrounds and see if it's for you. If not no money lost.

[Cat320]

We had a TT membership, did not renew. Not worth it, all the good sites seem to be taken.

[egwilly]

Never used one, probably never will. They remind me of time shares.

Prefer to camp where and when I want.

[powerboatr]

we have had tt since 2010.
at first it was great, then they allowed non members to LEASE long term sites for a year at a time, these sites leased were the best ones, (level, 50amp, level, large, some shade)...so everyone else was left with the dirt gravel sites.


last winter was the last straw, we routinely went to medina tt campground and for years it has falling apart, and only had less than 20 sites with 50 amp that were not "LEASED" . mind you they have about 50 total with 50 amp. the 20 remaining were unusable, because of flooded sites, fallen trees or bags over the pedestal indicating no power.


we arrived with reservations and low and behold EVERY 50 amp site was leased to long term folks, which by the way had dogs out all night on leases or pens, 3 to 4 cars, trailers and even portable buildings..meanwhile if me as a member let one tire touch grass, i got a rude knock on the door or a nasty note if we were away.
as a member you can USE any site that is open, but we find almost every park that 30 amp rvs or TENTS are in the few 50 amp sites. you do have to pay 3 dollars a night on 50 amp sites as well as your annual dues.



lets not mention the horrible condition of sites, with food and trash left behind.

now the economy getting better and rvs selling like hot cakes, i am sure they are worse now


i get calls about every other month asking to renew, nope never.
they seriously need to change the reservations system to allow picking of site, and stop the long term lease programs, add tons of 50 amp sites.
I have only used texas parks as there are no tt parks in the other states i travel. i hear the California parks are excellent as are the northern states like vermont.

[hohenwald48]

We used them extensively from about 2002 thru 2008 then they started to slide down hill. We've visited a few since then, we sold our membership and gave up on them. Like everything else Camping World, they just aren't what they used to be.

[TomandGloria]

Yup, we are not renewing our zone pass. Quite a few of them have become trailer parks, with fences around their sites, buildings, carports, etc.

Not what I consider a campground, or preserve as they like to call a lot of their parks.

[Phil Perrin]

When we bought our first use popup in '06, we went to an RV show and the TT folks had a booth set up offering free camping!
We signed up and got a call quickly, asking when we wanted to come. They did tell us up front that there was a 90 minute sales pitch, but that we would get $150 worth of gift cards to Target and Lowe's , plus a few others that I forget now.
We set up the dates and rolled in with our popup.
Wow. Lot's of 5ers, class A's and several Airstreams. Very friendly folks, don't get me wrong. But we still felt kinda out of place.
Then comes the sales pitch.
We live in NC, and weren't planning on doing a bunch of long trips, mainly just long weekend stuff.
However, most of their sites were on the west coast! There were a few in Texas and on the gulf coast, but still further than we were willing or wanting to travel.
After 2 hours, the young sales lady said that she needed to get her manager. Ok. Still a not interested on our part, but whatever floats your boat.
He comes out and says "Of course you're not going to the west coast in a popup. Let me make you a deal."
For $500 down and a couple hundred a month, IIRC, we could take full advantage of the Texas and gulf coast CGs they offered.
We told them that we probably wouldn't spend $500 a year on camping, so no thanks. Can we have our gift cards now?
A bunch of paperwork, and 3+ hours, later, they told us that they didn't have all the gift cards we were promised.
What the?!?!?
Oh, we ran out, but will get them in the mail pronto!
A month later, we had to call and threaten lawyers to get our gift cards! Which came pretty promptly, BTW!
So, we never did camp again at the ONE Thousand Trails CG in the area.
Occasionally, my route takes me past the CG. It's still open, but I'm not sure if it's still affiliated with the Thousand trail program. If it isn't, I may go there again sometime. It's not far from some great barbecue!

[Phil Perrin]

Shucks, it's still affiliated.