Guest Author - Dennise Ziaja
Many Rver’s wonder if buying a camping club membership is worth the cost. My reply…a resounding YES! Based on our experience and that of our Rving friends, a discount membership pays for itself after only a couple of uses. Consider the cost of a full hook up, for example let’s use the figure of $30 per night for a full hookup: water, sewer, electric and cable TV. If you are traveling from point A to point B, it may take four or five days to get to your destination. Four nights at our $30 figure is $120 for full hook up sites along the way. A discount card from a camping club allows you to stay with a full hook up site for HALF the cost…50% discount on the $30 price. So…a little quick math here…$15 times four nights is now $60…you have saved $60. What did the discount card and membership cost? Usually between $44 and $55. Going one way to your destination has now recouped the cost of the membership. Well, yes, you say, but what kind of RV parks offer 50% off and why would they do so? Well, let’s do some more math…a campground owner wants to fill his spots, right? In the off season, or during the week, many of his spots are empty. Weekends and holidays are usually full, but it’s the early week and mid-week campers the owner wants to tap. If the $30 site sits empty, the owner earns nothing. If on the other hand, someone staying for one or two nights will pay $15 for that same site, at least the owner is earning something off the campsite. Plus, he now has the opportunity for you to visit his place, see the amenities and impress you with his hospitality. You may decide to return in the future for a longer stay, or mention to you RV friends that you found a great campground on your last trip to wherever. A win-win situation for both you and the campground guy.
The most frequent complaints about discount clubs are really no brainers. If you find the campground in the club’s directory and you drive in and find it unsatisfactory…well, just keep on going. You would do that using the big commercial campground directory, right? Another complaint is that there are “blackout” days, usually weekends and holidays. Well, that’s true for many types of discounts, restrictions apply, and you need to be aware of them. If you are a weekend RVer and can only camp on holidays and weekends, well then, a camping club membership may not be your best investment. But, if you RV on your vacation, you may want to look at the benefits anyway. In the example above about our destination usage, there is a real benefit for everyone.
Read the information carefully for any type of membership plan. You may already belong to an organization such as Good Sam, AARP or AAA, and many campgrounds offer discounts of 10 to 15% to members. Let’s look at those numbers again. Say you get a 10% Good Sam discount. At the $30 example, that would be three bucks off the regular price. That still isn’t as good as the discount club!
Here are some clubs for you to check out or Google discount camping clubs:
Passport America
Happy Camper Club
Recreation USA
