Just needed to vent a bit as doing so with the owner was a dead tree talk.after driving 10 hours from Estes park,getting a little tired so punch in a near by campground and the grand island koa comes up so what the heck,call ahead and talk to manager tell him we are about 40 mins out so he says he will be waiting.Get in and all is great,the manager helps me,shows me the map where to go,buy some fire wood as in Colorado no fires,as we all know why,so I get in my truck to pull to my site and miss it by 1 row so i stop to get my bearings and hear comes a guy on a golf cart zooming thru sites shaking his arms and most definetly is mad at me,he does a police stop while I am sitting there and very mad tells me I went the wrong way,which I already know by now,now he sternly tells me I better follow him,now I can tell he is pissed that I missed my spot with his body language,now I am feeding off his body language and keeping my cool.When I finally get in my spot,he is still pissed by his looks at meand response,I finally ask him if I did something wrong and he shakes his head like you idiot,yea you didn't get the right spot and now I had to escort you to your spot.I in return shot back,asked him that I hope he isn't the owner of this campground and was very rudely told why yes he was so what,I asked him if there was ant other campgrounds near by,after checking my Gps which showed me 40 or so miles,because He was the rudest campground owner I have ever met he said so what,what you going to do,come or go?Has anyone ever come across this problem at a koa?Have you contacted koa and has anything been done about it?I had to go back to the office for some waters for my kids and did run into the manager and he was all so nice and helpful,wish he owned the place,I let him know that I was not happy with his boss and so happy with the way he treated me,then he let me know that it was not me it was him,he said he gets lots of complaints from people about this guy who owns grand island koa.just needed to vent after this.
If its Friday,see ya on monday.Have camper,will camp.
I am not impressed with most KOA's. However your story is such that I almost think the owner is not cut out to be a KOA campground owner and is expressing his frustration on others. I would forget it and go to other places in the future. Maybe the owner can't help himself and is not smart enough to let somebody else on his staff direct the campers into their spots. Not everybody is the perfect fit for the job they have.
'05 Dodge Cummins 4x4 dually 3500 white quadcab auto long bed.
'09 299bhs Tango.
For the most part I have always been comfortable with my stays at KOAs. Since the owner is usually on site, he or she has a vested interest in maintaining the facility and assuring a successful stay for the guests. My friends used to own a KOA in Arizona, and until they retired they lived and breathed the RV lifestyle. I know that on many occassions they went way above and beyond the call of duty to help guests and those just passing through.
I have seen poorly run KOAs leave the francise either because they did not want to improve their parks or because they did not maintain KOA standards. I am sure some changes were just business decisions regarding francise costs.
Since you had a less than wonderful experience with KOA I would suggest an e-mail and a letter to the parent company...KOA. Perhaps they will try to make amends, perhaps it will just help save other RVers from a poorly operated facility.
JMHO
did you stay or go? I know you went back and met the manager but did you get your money back and hit the road? 40 miles isn't that far. I would have left. It sounds like you stayed since you didn't mention a new campground
When displeased and treated like that, you count with your wallet. He would never have gotten my money. It wouldn't make a grand statement, but in the end it would make me feel wonderful.
Some people just stink. Going to happen in life. We will all meet this type.
If you're talking about Grand Island NE, you should have headed right back out the gate. The city of Grand Island has a very nice campground just north of the Interstate. I stayed there a few days while getting emergency repairs on my RV. Saw the KOA in my hard copy directory while looking for a campground. Glad I continued the search online at rvparkreviews.com
Joe and Dakota, the wacko cat
2006 Dodge 3500 QC CTD SRW Jacobs Exhaust brake
2006 Heartland Bighorn 3600RL, MorRyde suspension, TrailAir pinbox http://happykayakers.com/blogger/
That is not typical of KOA. It is a personality problem with that particular person. Just as likely to happen at any other rv park. However, a report to KOA and a review on rvparkreviews.com would certainly be justified. It does affect their ratings.
We have stayed at a number of KOAs and have never encountered that attitude.
Yes I had to stay,not knowing that there was a campground anywhere near,after hauling as long as I did I was to tired to go any farther,I will be letting koa corp know how he treated me,don't know if it will do any good but might make me feel a little better.I have stayed at the Newton koa many times and the owner and his wife are the opposite,they will go so far out of their way for you it's crazy.
We stayed at a KOA in PA last week and most things were very nice. However, when we were in the pool two boys went down the waterside together - one of whom ended up hitting his head and crying. A woman from the campground happened to be standing at the slide of the pool at the time. She immediately started berating my friend and me for letting the kids go down together. As they were not with us, we calmly informed her that we had no idea who they were. She then started yelling out, 'Are these your kids?'...'Are these your kids?'... until she found the parents. Once found, she spent the next 5 minutes yelling across eye pool at these parents for letting this happen (even though there were no rules posted on the slide whatsoever).
I don't know if she was an owner, but it was an extremely rude and uncomfortable situation. I was very disappointed to see it happen and did submit a report to KOA. I would encourage you to do the same.
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