My family and I are 9 months into a year long RV trip. We're having an awesome time and I'm looking for some RV parks for the next couple of weeks of our journey (Denver/RMNP, Mesa Verde, Utah Parks).
I just found it interesting how my selection process has chnaged over the last 9 months and I thought it may be interesting to point out where we like to stay. When we're looking for a park in an area who gets my first call, who gets no call. I thought someone else might find it interesting.
Just a little info. We're a family of 5, the 3 kids are 12, 10, and 6. We homeschool (for the trip year anyway) and I work from home as a programmer. Most of our trip is spent going to national parks, cool cities and places, fairs, museums, and visiting friends around the country. To be honest, sometimes we're not "camping" but we're travelling and some parks we barely spend any time in. It's a place to sleep while we visit a great NP or a city. These times we're looking for a good price, easy in and out, and proximity to our destination. Other times we spend a week somewhere just to decompress and we look for a fun park with activities for the kids and decent looking amenities, it depends on where we're at.
So this is what it takes to win my business...
First, pay attention to RVParkReviews. If you have all 1-4's we don't even bother. I always assume it's safe to ignore the worst review or two and the best review or two. Some people are never happy and I'm convinced some parks write some of their own reviews. So if one guy hates your park but everyone else review well I assume he is just cranky or had some bad luck. If you get all poor reviews and one or two raves I assume it's someone who doesn't camp much or a friend of the owner. But these review carry a TON of weight with us. In addition, this is how I find parks. I use it more than Trailer Life or Woodalls or anything else, this is my first stop. I click the destination city and start reading reviews, visiting websites, and then clicking cities further out from my destination until I find our park.
The review is more important than the number. If someone is complaining about too many kids that's probably a plus for us. If someone is complaining about the wifi I pay particular attention. Reviews don't have to be all 10's but they need to be mostly positive and if they're raving that's often the first place I try. If everyone is complaining about really bad managers, crazy or scary seasonals, or how run down the park is then we keep looking. If everyone seems to be having a great time at your park, people mention how nice people are, how beautiful or clean it is, how good the wifi is then we move on to price and location and immediately add this place to the pool of possibilities.
Price is important. We're are on a year long trip so we have a budget. I will stay at a place and pay more money if it gets great reviews, has lots of amenities, and looks fun for the kids. But if both places look nice and seem similar, just like everything else, I go with who is cheaper. I don't make my decision just on price alone, we don't stay just because someplace is cheap. I'll pay for value but why pay more for the same thing two miles further away? We stay at the cheapest place that seems nice, so pay attention to the competitions prices. If someone is within 20-30 miles of you and they seem very similar to you and offer much of the same things, you can bet I'm checking their website and comparing.
Speaking of price, I have a serious pet peeve, actually it immediately turns me off. I don't know why I'm paying $5/night extra for my kids. I'm going to consume the same resources with maybe a slight increase in water for a couple showers and a bit more laundry. Certainly not $15 a day more in water or gas to heat it. We're using the same space, the same air/heat, and if anything we're going to spend more money in your store on sodas, snacks, activities, mini-golf, wifi, etc.. Paying extra for my kids screams nickle and dime and I always pick a non-extra charger over an extra-charge if I can. Just know when you add that fee you turn off a lot of families. Sadly this has become so ubiquitous it's hard to find a place that doesn't charge anymore, but know that I feel ripped off. If you offer a bunch of kids activities, crafts, family shows, or some value for my extra cash, then I don't mind, at least I feel like I'm getting something for my money. Usually this isn't the case. Don't think sneaking this into 8pt font at the bottom of your rate page is fooling anyone, I factor it into any price and if there is a tie between a couple places I'll go to the non charger just for the principle of it, especially if your a no activity, no pool, no fun campground.
You MUST have wifi. If you don't have it I don't bother even calling. I need wifi to work, my wife needs it to stay in touch with family and friends, my kids want it on their iPods and Kindles. If you don't have it we move on. When I read reviews I pay more attention to this than anything else. If your wifi is horrible I'll leave.
Sadly almost everyone's wifi sucks from 5pm and on. Netflix is killing wifi everywhere and I can't really blame you for that. If I owned a park I would block streaming sites for the good of everyone, but maybe the technology is prohibitive for most. But if I can't log on at 6am when I start working and nobody else is up streaming then I'm leaving. I don't mind paying for wifi if it works, it's a service and I understand that. But if I pay you $5 or $10 a day and it doesn't work, know that I'm coming to the office for a refund and then I'm moving on.
Those are the most important things. After that if it comes down to a couple of places our first choice is "who has a pool" or "who is closer to where we're going". After that maybe "who has a pull through".
That's about it, that's how we pick where we're staying. We spend from $800-$1500/mo on campsites and if you want some of that business this is what we're looking for. In return we'll respect your rules, take care of our site, and pass along the word when we run into other travelling families. Nothing I've written above trumps a really great recommendation from someone I trust, that is gold.
When traveling, we also rely on rvparkreviews.com. And I regularly post on there. I like the fact that they list nearby cities with campgrounds, great alternatives.
Hope y'all have a safe and happy trip around the USA!!
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Great post, very well written. We don't travel with kids so our wants/needs are different but the overall process we use to select a campground/rvpark is very similar to yours.
Dave & Kathy
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Before you give someone a piece of your mind, make sure you can get by with what will be left.
We don't have kids or pets, but we follow a very similar logic when looking for a park.
One thing not mentioned is charging for canceled reservations. We rarely (as in almost never) cancel after making a reservation, and I will select only as a last resort a park that punishes customers with a cancellation fee.
You MUST have wifi. If you don't have it I don't bother even calling. I need wifi to work, my wife needs it to stay in touch with family and friends, my kids want it on their iPods and Kindles. If you don't have it we move on. When I read reviews I pay more attention to this than anything else. If your wifi is horrible I'll leave.
I generally agree with everything you have said with the exception of your concern about wifi.
Like many full-time RVers internet connectivity is also important to us. But we couldn't survive if all we had was campground wifi. To use that as a major criterion for a park would rule out most federal and state facilities.
We use my 4G Verizon phone operating as a hotspot as our primary source of internet connectivity; I don't think there has been a single place we have been at which we haven't had at least a minimally usable signal. If a CG's wifi is decent we will use it, otherwise we are self-sufficient. BTW, a Verizon 4G signal is more than adequate for streaming Netflix, but it does use up a data allowance at a rate of ~1 GB/2 hrs.
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Great post, my wants and needs are a bit different as we have no kids but do travel with 3 dogs usually. I'm on exactly the same page as far as using the reviews importance of good wifi and charging for extras.
Park owners take note unless you have so much business you don't care.
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Obviously, different people have different requirements. I never check to see if a campground has WiFi. I got enough of that at work. Lack of cell service is a plus. If the place has swimming pools, putt-putt golf or similar kids amusements, I never go there because I have no kids and don' want to pay for something I won't use. I do check the RVparkreviews website but I look for different criteria than you. I look for shade, a wilderness like landscape and privacy.
I work full time from the road. I don't stream or download/upload large chunks of data at a time, but I work 40 hours a week. So unfortunately the mifi just doesn't meet my requirements because I will double the 5GB/mo cap or more from just constant daily usage. I can tether my phone and when I'm stuck I often do that, but i'll tear through my data cap if I didn't have another source of wifi.
I actually spend a lot of time at Starbucks, McDonals, and public libraries. I don't know if I could do this without those resources, they're usually my fallback. I feel like we miss out a bit because many state parks make it difficult for me with my connectivity needs, but if I can't connect we can't travel full time. I guess it's a compromise.
We usually camp outside the national parks and then we take our tent and head in for the weekends. We've done this in Sequoia, Kings, Yosemite, Glacier. Sometimes we'll stay in the bigger parks if they have a lodge/cafeteria with wifi because in the national parks there is often NO other option for wifi. Phones and mifis don't work. We spent a week in Grand Canyon and we have a week booked in Yellowstone coming up soon. I also did a half day at a lodge in Yosemite.
It just makes it a lot easier as a family if I can stay at the park and not go out for wifi. My wife and kids can have the car, I can watch kids at the pool while I work and my wife does laundry or takes a nap or whatever. Much more convenient for how we travel.
Your insight is reasonable but at the end of the day it fits only you. Everyone's needs are different. That is what the RV experience is all about. Different rigs, different campgrounds different scenery.
None of us have the same desires or expectations in a CG.
While you feel kids fees are excessive some understand and are willing to pay. Those with no kids prefer larger families pay more vs. everyone paying the same rate.
More people will always require more cost, more flushes, more showers,more usage, more liability etc etc. that cost needs to be accounted for somewhere.
CG can charge a flat rate or they can develop a ala carte system to charge by the head.
WI FI is important to you but many others prefer not to be connected and see camping as an escape from the rat race. While others who feel WI FI is important don't leave it up to the luck of the draw and connect via smartphones again everyone is different.
CG owners cater to the clientèle they desire, some like kids and families, some cater to older senior crowd. Some to the very upscale high dollar crowd. As consumers we falsely believe everyone wants are business. In many cases businesses do not want your money if you don't fit there demographic
Some CG are very natural and wooded. Some are very developed with lots of amenities. Some are destination CG some are over night stops
In the end I like things just the way are. Lots of choices and variety.
I hope CG's never cater solely to my wants and needs, but continue to be very different across the board.
Remember Variety is the spice of life.
My way can be mundane and boring at times. Luckily everyone doesn't see it my way all the time.
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