RV Park Prices

[kfp673]

Beating a dead horse I know, especially post covid, but.... Having towed our travel trailer from PA to FL multiple times over the past 10 year, the last time being about 3 years ago, I was looking to set up a trip in March to the Orlando area. We have 3 kids who love Disney and we much prefer having our camper over a hotel room. But... the campsite prices have gotten crazy. I just did a search, and without any issue I can get an Air BNB 3 bed 3 bath home with it's own pool for equal or less than a campsite at a private park. That's insane! With the cost of gas, it would cost us the same to fly down and have an entire house to ourselves as it would to rent an RV site. Does anyone think we will hit a breaking point where these costs will start to go back down? I am camping much less now that ever before for this exact reason. Last year we did FL keys. Was not in a rush so we wanted to bring the trailer down. Same thing, we scrapped it and got a full house on the water with a dock for the same price as a campsite. Of course state parks are still priced OK, and we prefer that type camping, but we are not year in advance planners so getting a state park site is nearly impossible. Really a shame!

[Paul_D]

We just came across the same conundrum. It cost more to stop at a campsite with hook-ups than a nearby hotel. Since we intend to visit family, for a portion of the trip, we ditched the idea of taking the RV and will drive the car. Less fuel cost, less housing cost, and unfortunately less support to the campground owners.

I believe the adoption of dynamic demand pricing can also skew the rates. The more people search for reservations, the more the price increases. Airline have this down to an art. They even quote different fares based on the device type (mobile or desktop) and browser/app.

We did discover that calling a campground directly can result in better pricing. Especially if its a short notice stay, and independently owned.

[Bigceasar]

Parks are going to charge what the market will bear. If you can find a waterfront home for less than an RV site in the same area consider yourself lucky. It isn’t the park that’s overcharging it’s the waterfront homeowner who has no clue as to what they should be charging.
It’s all about supply and demand. There is a lot of demand for RV sitters in popular locations. In those same areas supply has been restricted by government regulations and zoning, high land prices and the high costs of construction. For every RV park being built , several are sold and converted to higher usages, like condos, hotels and luxury home developments. If you refuse to pay the high site fees there are likely ten others waiting to reserve that site.

[SafariBen]

Originally Posted by Bigceasar

... If you refuse to pay the high site fees there are likely ten others waiting to reserve that site.

Are there? The VRBO is cheap because lots of hustlers got into short term rentals and now have a business model that won't support going back to long term tenants. What was the price comparison in 2021 or 2023? I don't know, haven't done VRBO or private campgrounds.

[RV_Lee]

Yup, most likely my last time doing Arizona. For less $$$ I can stay at an airbnb in Costa Rica for 2 months (which is enough to break up the winter) and actually have tropical weather and the ocean instead of near freezing temps, wind and dust in the desert. The RV parks charging top dollar just makes it an easier decision.

[hamm2018]

Originally Posted by kfp673

Beating a dead horse I know, especially post covid, but.... Having towed our travel trailer from PA to FL multiple times over the past 10 year, the last time being about 3 years ago, I was looking to set up a trip in March to the Orlando area. We have 3 kids who love Disney and we much prefer having our camper over a hotel room. But... the campsite prices have gotten crazy. I just did a search, and without any issue I can get an Air BNB 3 bed 3 bath home with it's own pool for equal or less than a campsite at a private park. That's insane! With the cost of gas, it would cost us the same to fly down and have an entire house to ourselves as it would to rent an RV site. Does anyone think we will hit a breaking point where these costs will start to go back down? I am camping much less now that ever before for this exact reason. Last year we did FL keys. Was not in a rush so we wanted to bring the trailer down. Same thing, we scrapped it and got a full house on the water with a dock for the same price as a campsite. Of course state parks are still priced OK, and we prefer that type camping, but we are not year in advance planners so getting a state park site is nearly impossible. Really a shame!

We are Thousand Trails members, when we go to Orlando, we stay at the TT Park. The overnight cost is $0.00. During the winter we can stay for 14 nights there. During the summertime it is for 3-weeks at a time.
When we go to the Keys, we can stay at an Encore Park for $20.00/night for 14 nights. Being a disabled vet we are allowed to use some military bases. We stay in Key West for about $1000/month, so for 3 months stay it is around $3000.

[MacDaddy1111]

Originally Posted by hamm2018

We are Thousand Trails members, when we go to Orlando, we stay at the TT Park. The overnight cost is $0.00. During the winter we can stay for 14 nights there. During the summertime it is for 3-weeks at a time.
When we go to the Keys, we can stay at an Encore Park for $20.00/night for 14 nights. Being a disabled vet we are allowed to use some military bases. We stay in Key West for about $1000/month, so for 3 months stay it is around $3000.

Some? Our president in his last term opened military bases to all vets with government ID to use recreational sites and exchange/ commissary! Why we have a bunch of my vet friends down here in sigsbee with us!

[kfp673]

Thanks for the replies and chance to gripe a bit LOL. We very much prefer to RV and have camped in anything from tents to our travel trailer, but it is really getting hard to Justify. I remember thinking how crazy it was for a campsite to be over $100 per night. Now it's not hard at all to find them over $200 and some over $300. In the Orlando area we really like the margarittaville resort (used to be Cabana club), but it now starts at $120 and goes to $250 depending on site type. Fort wilderness is what it is... There are a few others that are somewhat run down and are "only" $100. Meanwhile, $165 3 bed 3 bath with a pool Air BNB. I really think this is directly tied to the mass takeover of the corporations of these campgrounds. At least in the areas I have been up and down the east caost, as soon as a campground becomes somewhat popular, one of the 3 big chains buys them and the prices shoot up dramatically. Ever want a good laugh, take a look at some of the prices around Ocean City MD. As much as we love it, I see us downgrading from our 38' trailer to a much smaller and cheaper trailer just to use for music festivals and state park camping, and all of our big trips will become Air BNB

[Donskiman]

How many VRBOs would allow us to bring our dogs and parrot with us. Traveling with them for long distances in a car isn't very comfortable. You don't get to sleep in your own bed either.

We like to stay in nice RV parks, but we mix in state parks as well. We also have no interest in staying in one location for several weeks or months at a time.

We will use a VRBO when we travel to Hawaii though. It's not practical to transport our motorhome there!

[oatmeal]

Originally Posted by SafariBen

Are there? The VRBO is cheap because lots of hustlers got into short term rentals and now have a business model that won't support going back to long term tenants.

I wish people would take this into account more when they make their decisions.

[R.M.A]

A friend of mine and wife took their family to Hawaii VRBO, and found one of the beds had a crunchy spot and curly hair on the sheets, dirty hot tub among other issues. That is what you avoid in your own space.

[hohenwald48]

And if you're comparing a VRBO 10 miles from Disney to a campsite at Ft Wilderness you have to consider the added value and convenience of staying at a Disney property.

[twinboat]

Originally Posted by hamm2018

We are Thousand Trails members, when we go to Orlando, we stay at the TT Park. The overnight cost is $0.00. During the winter we can stay for 14 nights there. During the summertime it is for 3-weeks at a time.
When we go to the Keys, we can stay at an Encore Park for $20.00/night for 14 nights. Being a disabled vet we are allowed to use some military bases. We stay in Key West for about $1000/month, so for 3 months stay it is around $3000.

Have you calculated the membership fees and dues in your free Thousand Trails stays.

[OldBaldFat]

My Adventure membership was paid off years ago. I averaged out the cost in the years I paid for the membership.

My annual dues are $615 per year - frozen. My Trails Collection charge was $725 last year - not frozen. $1,340 per year.

I average 63 nights per year in TC campgrounds. About 20 nights in the parks with the $20 surcharge parks.

The additional $400 per year paid when reservations are made, which is for one RV park in the Florida Keys for 10 nights (reserved in October for January - 90 days in advance) and a 7 night stop on the California coast and 2 or 3 nights in Tucson.

My total outlay is $1,740 per year for approx 180 nights.

Yes, TT isn't "Free" but it is very cheap camping. Over a year long period, my daily costs of using approx 180 nights per year average works out under $10 per night, average.

The other 185 nights per year cost me close to $26 per night in 2024.

Still - spending about $6,600 TOTAL for campground costs in 2024 makes CG costs cheap for me. Total average under $20 per night.

Now honestly, I'd much rather spend $25 at a government COE or other cheap campsite than $150 per day to stay at a "resort".

Meet much better people in my opinion. And I don't want to sit around all day drinking and complaining about the costs of staying at a resort with all the 'amenities' that I almost never use.

Now, I do understand that costs are going up.
Insurance cost more every year.
Utilities costs more every year.
Taxes cost more every year.
Staff costs more every year.

When the wife and I started full-time, we paid $2,689.67 in 2014 for all camping costs. The 2021 costs of $7,958.88 was our most expensive year, because we bought Adventure that year, and included $2,500 of the $9K price for that upgrade in our yearly cost in the year we paid that much money.