Thousand Trails availability 60 days out?

[GaryKowal1]

I am considering buying a TT membership. I drove by the park near San Diego today and they were rather unhelpful. Membership office closed and rangers really did not know. Here is what I want to know from real world people who use it. 1) Membership allows 60 day out reservations. Is it likely that at 50-60 days out I can regularly get a spot for 14 days? Especially interested in California, but other places would be of interest also. 2) Is there a limit on how many times you can visit the same park in a year? (I understand the 14 day in, week or two out of system policy) Thanks for your help! Gary

[rkf]

I don’t think that the yearly cost was worth it. You have to pay even when nit using it.
I gave mine up.

[carl.swoyer]

Don't waste your money.
Its oversold.

[Alpine36]

Some good friends bought a membership many many years ago.
Took them over five years to finally sell it...
They called it Thousand Regrets.
Do your homework and read the fine print.

[arcaguy]

It all depends on where you're going to be. If you are where they are it can be a good deal. If you're in the midwest it's probably not worth it. There's a couple of places that sell secondhand memberships. One of them is considerably better than the others from what I've heard. Here's one I found: https://www.campgroundmembershipoutl...ousand-trails/ but you might want to do more research. IF you can use it it can be a good deal. If you can't it will probably be a waste of money, and some of the higher membership levels get first crack at the parks, anywhere from 120 days out to 90 days out so make sure you know what you're getting. Good luck.

[ThomB]

If you’re serious about a membership you should just look at a camping pass. That has a longer booking window than 60 days. We originally started with a 90 day window and eventually upgraded that to a 180.

[rkresge]

Originally Posted by ThomB

If you’re serious about a membership you should just look at a camping pass. That has a longer booking window than 60 days. We originally started with a 90 day window and eventually upgraded that to a 180.

AFAIK the booking "window" for the Camping Pass is 60 days, no other option. Perhaps you're thinking of Elite, etc.?


Roger

[rkresge]

Originally Posted by GaryKowal1

I am considering buying a TT membership. I drove by the park near San Diego today and they were rather unhelpful. Membership office closed and rangers really did not know. Here is what I want to know from real world people who use it. 1) Membership allows 60 day out reservations. Is it likely that at 50-60 days out I can regularly get a spot for 14 days? Especially interested in California, but other places would be of interest also. 2) Is there a limit on how many times you can visit the same park in a year? (I understand the 14 day in, week or two out of system policy) Thanks for your help! Gary

FWIW, you do need to speak with a Membership Specialist - there's usually one in residence at each location. The rangers are busy running the park and don't deal with membership questions. (No, I don't work for Thousand Trails, it's just based on my experience.) You can also call their toll-free #.



As for the 60-day booking "window", my experience is that you can almost always get a reservation, except at their most popular locations. Holidays can be a challenge, however. The way to get a reservation is to book it the second your 60 day window opens; don't wait a day or two. We often camp at one of their high-demand locations on the east coast, and have no difficulty getting reservations at 60 days. Having said that, there is one location we have NEVER been able to get a reservation - Lake & Shore in NJ. A huge percentage of the sites there are sold to seasonals, so very few are available to TT members. And the full-time Elite members with their 120- and 180-day booking window eat up the available reservations before we can get to them.


No limit I know of on how many times/year you may stay in any given park. I've stayed in one TT park near me 4 times this year, for example.



I think TT is a huge value, *IF* the locations are reasonably convenient to you, and you put some effort into making reservations the minute your window opens. FWIW, I've got 4 TT locations less than an hour away, and something like 6 more within 3 hours. This year we will use nearly 60 days, paying $3/night for each night over 30. It's a bargain for us.


Roger

[ThomB]

Originally Posted by rkresge

AFAIK the booking "window" for the Camping Pass is 60 days, no other option. Perhaps you're thinking of Elite, etc.?


Roger

Ahhh, OK, I thought it was 90, my bad.

[pasdad1]

Get a “pre-owned” membership for about half price that allows for 120, or 180 day reservation window.....especially at high demand locations like California or Florida.

We want to winter in Florida so we got a rare membership used that allows for 210 day reservations in advance.....this gives us a big advantage in that we can reserve spots before 98% of the other people out there!

[GaryKowal1]

Originally Posted by rkresge

FWIW, you do need to speak with a Membership Specialist - there's usually one in residence at each location. The rangers are busy running the park and don't deal with membership questions. (No, I don't work for Thousand Trails, it's just based on my experience.) You can also call their toll-free #.



As for the 60-day booking "window", my experience is that you can almost always get a reservation, except at their most popular locations. Holidays can be a challenge, however. The way to get a reservation is to book it the second your 60 day window opens; don't wait a day or two. We often camp at one of their high-demand locations on the east coast, and have no difficulty getting reservations at 60 days. Having said that, there is one location we have NEVER been able to get a reservation - Lake & Shore in NJ. A huge percentage of the sites there are sold to seasonals, so very few are available to TT members. And the full-time Elite members with their 120- and 180-day booking window eat up the available reservations before we can get to them.


No limit I know of on how many times/year you may stay in any given park. I've stayed in one TT park near me 4 times this year, for example.



I think TT is a huge value, *IF* the locations are reasonably convenient to you, and you put some effort into making reservations the minute your window opens. FWIW, I've got 4 TT locations less than an hour away, and something like 6 more within 3 hours. This year we will use nearly 60 days, paying $3/night for each night over 30. It's a bargain for us.


Roger

Thank you for that info. Just what i was looking for. I think I may have misspoke when I said a membership. The only thing that I am buying would be a camping pass which has a 60-day at window and is very reasonably priced. You can go back to the same Campground multiple months in a row if you want. Is that correct?

[Alan_Hepburn]

Originally Posted by GaryKowal1

You can go back to the same Campground multiple months in a row if you want. Is that correct?

Correct - we know several people who move back and forth between 2 parks year-long. The only caveat is that with a Zone Pass you are limited in the total number of nights of use - after you hit your maximum you will pay a nightly fee. I'm not sure what that fee is, though.

[Fiesta48]

At almost a grand we didn't do it this year. Covid is messing us up. We do 2-4 winter month stays, you dont need TT Encore. We did a FL trip saved thousands 2 years ago using TT. But we spent 80+ man hours try to find spaces available for 2 weeks in Encore parks then for the off week between in non Encore parks. What a hassle.
Too many rules. Not enough spaces available for the 60 day reservations. We are just going to do extended stays from now on.

[rkresge]

Originally Posted by GaryKowal1

You can go back to the same Campground multiple months in a row if you want. Is that correct?

To the best of my knowledge that is absolutely correct. One note: You may not have current reservations for multiple holidays. For example, if you're reserved for Memorial Day, you will not be allowed to make a July 4 reservation at any TT park until your Memorial Day reservation is over. In order to deal with that we usually book a reservation for right *after* July 4. That way we can make our Labor Day reservation the minute our 60-day window opens.



Good luck, and good camping!


Roger