We just stayed at a GS 8/ 9 /9 rated campground - Hubbards Beach Campground @ 226 Shore Club Rd , In Nova Scotia. I am not sure how it got this rating but I believe the park deserves a lot less. The people who rate the parks must have there eyes closed as the wash rooms were lackink tolet paper two days the childrens play ground is situated where only seasonal campers have a view of it, the beach is nice but not a bad walk bbut far enogh,to get to and the transient sites are small and dirty. As a matter of fact when I sat on my picnic table I could rest my back aganist the next trailer.
If the people who rate these only drive in announced and check out the campground thaen an inservice is being done to all the subcribers. They should show up unannounced and camp for a minimum of two nights, rate the park and then let the owners/ operators know. Speak to other campers to get thier opinons.
Youngjoe
Our experience has been that the ratings found in Good Sam, Woodalls and Trailer Life are practically useless. In most cases they are not actual reviews but, rather, self check-off lists completed by the CG management. For example, if you have a pool, a laundry, a mini-golf, etc, you check the appropriate box and get points for the "amenities" regardless of what they are like.
The only source we use these days is RV Park Reviews. The reviews on this site are completely non-commercial. A person doing a review may not share my values 100% but, in general, I have never been "burned" by going to a CG that had received generally good reviews on this site. If you read the reviews and don't just look at the scores, you can get a good sense of what to expect. Our "rule of thumb" is that any place with 7's and above will be acceptable for at least a night.
Sandie & Joel
2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
2009 Chevy Malibu LTZ with ReadyBrute tow bar/braking system
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docj wrote: Our experience has been that the ratings found in Good Sam, Woodalls and Trailer Life are practically useless. In most cases they are not actual reviews but, rather, self check-off lists completed by the CG management. For example, if you have a pool, a laundry, a mini-golf, etc, you check the appropriate box and get points for the "amenities" regardless of what they are like.
The only source we use these days is RV Park Reviews. The reviews on this site are completely non-commercial. A person doing a review may not share my values 100% but, in general, I have never been "burned" by going to a CG that had received generally good reviews on this site. If you read the reviews and don't just look at the scores, you can get a good sense of what to expect. Our "rule of thumb" is that any place with 7's and above will be acceptable for at least a night.
X2!
Dave and Peggy
2012 Open Range 345RLS
2012 Ford F350 6.7L turbo
We were at a Campground a few years ago when a couple can in from TL and camped for the night. They walked around the grounds by themselves and with the managers. They walked threw all the buildings open to the public. We talked with them for awhile and they were traveling threw doing a list of parks and also doing some rechecks. They only recheck every so many years unless complains have been called in about the ratings.
RV Park Review here too. If most reviews for a park are good and one is not you can check out the reviewer other reviews, sometimes it seems that people aren't happy unless they can complain about something. You can see what people like or dislike about a park.
RV Park Review here too. If most reviews for a park are good and one is not you can check out the reviewer other reviews, sometimes it seems that people aren't happy unless they can complain about something. You can see what people like or dislike about a park.
docj wrote: Our experience has been that the ratings found in Good Sam, Woodalls and Trailer Life are practically useless. In most cases they are not actual reviews but, rather, self check-off lists completed by the CG management. For example, if you have a pool, a laundry, a mini-golf, etc, you check the appropriate box and get points for the "amenities" regardless of what they are like.
The only source we use these days is RV Park Reviews. The reviews on this site are completely non-commercial. A person doing a review may not share my values 100% but, in general, I have never been "burned" by going to a CG that had received generally good reviews on this site. If you read the reviews and don't just look at the scores, you can get a good sense of what to expect. Our "rule of thumb" is that any place with 7's and above will be acceptable for at least a night.
Absolutely NOT TRUE. The ratings at Not "self check list completed by the management"
The raters come to stay at the cg, inspect everything on their lists and examine all the facilites. They even spend some time talking to other campers.
And, no advertising in no way affects the rating.. The rating is done and presented before anyone discusses advertising.
As marketing director for two campgrounds, I have direct experience with this.
Alaska is next! Still trying to fit the pontoons to the RV so We can get to Hawaii!
docj wrote: Our experience has been that the ratings found in Good Sam, Woodalls and Trailer Life are practically useless. In most cases they are not actual reviews but, rather, self check-off lists completed by the CG management. For example, if you have a pool, a laundry, a mini-golf, etc, you check the appropriate box and get points for the "amenities" regardless of what they are like.
The only source we use these days is RV Park Reviews. The reviews on this site are completely non-commercial. A person doing a review may not share my values 100% but, in general, I have never been "burned" by going to a CG that had received generally good reviews on this site. If you read the reviews and don't just look at the scores, you can get a good sense of what to expect. Our "rule of thumb" is that any place with 7's and above will be acceptable for at least a night.
Absolutely NOT TRUE. The ratings at Not "self check list completed by the management"
The raters come to stay at the cg, inspect everything on their lists and examine all the facilites. They even spend some time talking to other campers.
And, no advertising in no way affects the rating.. The rating is done and presented before anyone discusses advertising.
As marketing director for two campgrounds, I have direct experience with this.
This is absolutely correct. The rating form the reviewers use is printed in the back of the Trailer Life Directory. If you rate the park you are in using that rating guide, you will get a very similar score. Just remember, they do not rate the quality of the amenities, only if they have them. A swingset at one park and a childs play area rivaling Disney at another gets the same points. If one park has a pool capable of hosting the Olympics and another a 10 x 20 wading pool, the score is the same. When I travel I sometimes pull out the sheet and do my own scoring and almost always come within a point or point and one half of what the ratings are and my scores are too high as often as they are too low.
As for preparing for reviews, it just doesn't happen. They arrive without advanced notice and most of the score revolves around things like amenities, site size, type of hookups, landscaping, road conditions etc. No one is going to put in a pool, pave the roads or expand sites for a review. If the place is trashy, the people that run it won't have the motivation to clean it up for a reviewer if they can't clean it for paying guests.
People will argue that the parks with the biggest ads have the best ratings, which is usually true. But that is because if you get a low sscore, who in their right mind is going to run an ad saying the park is great when anyone glancing at the ratings will see it is untrue.
Anyone can claim that the GS and other ratings are objective, but I've used RV Park Review.com for the past several years and found them quite accurate. Everyone doesn't have the same standards, but if you read through several reviews you can get a pretty good picture of what a specific park is like. I also like it that the RV Park Review site has the campgrounds web site right there, a map of the location, and the prices each review has paid.
westernrvparkowner wrote: Just remember, they do not rate the quality of the amenities, only if they have them. A swingset at one park and a childs play area rivaling Disney at another gets the same points. If one park has a pool capable of hosting the Olympics and another a 10 x 20 wading pool, the score is the same.
As far as I'm concerned if the quality of the amenities is not judged then the "review" might as well be a check-off list that management can complete. A tiny, unheated pool in one campground would have the same value as the heated, indoor pool that my grandchildren used at a CG last week.
I rest my case as to the uselessness of the ratings you are referring to. As a park owner, maybe your defensiveness about these ratings comes from how well (or poorly) your park is currently rated on RVParkReviews. Of course that is only speculation on my part.
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