Community Forums

Rachel01 · 05-13-2008, 12:15 PM

Hi "read & learn"

Thank you for your feedback regarding our services! I am glad that you have enjoyed your membership and don't forget to check our website for a list of new parks at http://www.passport-america.com/campgrounds/new.asp! It is updated weekly; however, calling ahead is helpful too and helps keep surprises down to a minimum. Also, make absolutely sure the park has availability and that they are still participating since this can change at any time (especially with the price of gas these days, you want to make sure the park has availability ahead of time, etc.). Participating park ownership and even management changes can result in major changes to their ad listing or affiliation status in just a short period of time. So, even though we update our site weekly, changes can still occur that we were not notified about first. That is a major reason why your feedback is very important to us. Members who notify us with a concern about a park's directory listing have been a huge help with keeping the information accurate and updated. Also, members who recommend additional services like rating systems help us to keep moving forward with improvements and additions to our services. This information has been sent to my manager and I greatly appreciate your suggestion

Please let me know if there are any other questions/concerns that I can help you with!

AuntSmurf · 05-13-2008, 03:34 PM

This thread is great! It is packed full of info. We joined PA in March because it was affiliated with a particular campground that we wanted to stay at in the Des Moines, IA area (Cutty's). And with just 2 nights stay we almost re-cooped the price of our membership. We belong to several campground clubs, and treasure each and every one of them. For those that "overlap", we just check and see which one offers the best deal and use that one.

Rachel01 · 05-15-2008, 10:56 AM

Hello "AuntSmurf"

I'm glad you're getting a lot out of this thread because that's what we're here for. I'm also very happy that you've been taking advantage of your PA membership! That's great news!

Please let me know if there's anything I can help you with or answer any questions about. Have a great one!

C&C R · 05-18-2008, 06:18 AM

We've been looking at campground in Florida for the up coming winter. Noticed a lot of Passport America campgrounds have weight limitations on dogs.
Some of us "older" folks who have just begun to travel for months at a time have "older" large dogs. If I see more and more campgrounds in the PA book with this restriction, I will NOT renew.
Pets are part of the family.

Lindsay Richards · 05-18-2008, 06:53 AM

I think you would be hard pressed to demonstrate any stricter restrictions on Passport America than on a cross section of other parks, which after all is what Passport America, Good Sam, and the others are. I find it very doubtful that any RV club would make a conspiracy to eliminate large dogs or anything else. If you still think so, you might start looking in area 51. RV parks have restrictions, some make sense, some don't, but in America, the owner gets to make them and if we don't like them, we can stay elsewhere.

C&C R · 05-18-2008, 07:20 AM

I didn't say that. Never said there was a "conspiracy". What I meant is that if PA parks have those kinds of restrictions, then it's not for us. Whether we go to Florida or somewhere else.
I was using PA to get names of campgrounds.
Until this year, we've had good luck with all that we have stayed at. Was wondering if anyone else noticed it.
Just something I noticed this year.

Lindsay Richards · 05-18-2008, 01:08 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">What I meant is that if PA parks have those kinds of restrictions, then it's not for us. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What I was saying was that there don't seem to be any more restrictions at a PA parks that anywhere else. (Except for dates you can receive the 1/2 price discount.) Lots of parks have these dog weight restrictions. I suspect that they have them to protect the people who don't have large dogs and they figure that having these restrictions makes them money. I think you will see about the same % at PA and at other parks. Your complaint and reason for not using PA are not relted in my opinion.

paz · 05-18-2008, 02:02 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by C&C R:
I didn't say that. Never said there was a "conspiracy". What I meant is that if PA parks have those kinds of restrictions, then it's not for us. Whether we go to Florida or somewhere else.
I was using PA to get names of campgrounds.
Until this year, we've had good luck with all that we have stayed at. Was wondering if anyone else noticed it.
Just something I noticed this year. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
In our experience, pet restrictions are more of a Florida thing than a Passport America thing. We stayed in Florida last winter and investigated numerous campgrounds for next year. We found more restrictions on pets in Florida than any other place, whether the campground is PA or not. If they allow pets at all, there is a restriction on number (usually no more than 2) and on size (usually 30 or 40 lbs, but many as low as 20 lbs) They tell us it has to do with insurance. Insurance rates in Florida are increasing and so are pet restrictions.

Digital Boy · 05-18-2008, 04:16 PM

If researched I think we would find that the insurance companies that provide campground liability coverage to RV parks in Florida (and many other states) place limitations on dog breed and size.

In order to obtain necessary liability coverage, campgrounds must adjust their restrictions. If an RVer came in with a large dog, say 65 lbs, and some sort of incident occured, the insurance company would deny any claims and possibly cancel coverage.

This condition is NOT unique to P.A. camprounds. I have seen this develop gradually over the past 5 years or so throughout Florida as well as other states.

DriVer · 05-18-2008, 04:37 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Digital Boy:. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey Lew!

Digital Boy · 05-18-2008, 04:57 PM

Hey Yourself!

I haven't been on the board lately. But, I sneak around when I can.

LindaH · 11-26-2008, 06:31 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jestme13:
Can anyone here explain the real differences between PA and C2C memberships ? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I don't see where anyone ever answered your question (or perhaps I missed it).

At any rate, the "main" difference between PA and C2C is that, with C2C, in order to use the campgrounds in the system, you must first purchase a membership in a "Home Park." This could cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars.

With PA, there is no "Home Park" buy in necessary...simply pay the annual membership fee and you're in. If you're not happy with the program, simply don't renew your membership the next year (it's not so easy to get out of your C2C "Home Park" membership).

Lindsay Richards · 11-27-2008, 06:07 AM

The other large camping club is Camping Club USA which has about 1000 parks as oposed to 1400 for Passport America. It cost $39 at Camping World and you also recevie a new Woodal's campgroung book worth about $25. We belong to both and I see no reason why a serious camper (30 plus nights a year) wouldn't belong to both clubs. We do and it saves us a bundle.

LindaH · 11-27-2008, 06:32 AM

There's also the Happy Camper Club which is another half-price club.

Personally, if I were going to belong to two such clubs Happy Camper would be the second one we'd belong to. Camping Club USA is a part of the Affinity Group (Camping World, Good Sam, Trailer Life, et.al.) and, depending on your point of view, that could be a good thing or a bad thing.