Thousand Trails Membership, Is it worth it? Options

[Blackmutt]

I'm going to chime in because I went through the membership sales presentation with Colorado River Adventures (CRA) and they offered us the Coast to Coast plan, similar to TT. Absolutely do your research before considering buying any campground membership! The buy in can be a fortune---$6K to $10K for CRA plus you have the yearly "maintenance fee". The salesman gives you the big story about how great the campgrounds are and then they run through the numbers really fast. Some of the sales presentations can be a hard sell so if you lack will power don't even stay for the free weekend. By the time your done it seems like a really good deal. We were smart enough to decline. When I got home and ran the numbers again myself, I'd have to stay within their RV network 30 nights a year for almost 20 years just to break even!

All that being said, my research revealed if you RV full time then a membership does make sense. If you're still working and get out less than a month a year your probably wasting your money.

[Jurhee]

I had Coast to Coast for a few years--but only because I owned property that had a C2C park affiliated with it so I could get in for the $69/year or what ever the annual cost. I used it, but not a lot. If chosen wisely, some of these deals can be good especially for full-timers. But, you have to know where the parks are and if they fit with your traveling style.

Jurhee

I'm going to chime in because I went through the membership sales presentation with Colorado River Adventures (CRA) and they offered us the Coast to Coast plan, similar to TT. Absolutely do your research before considering buying any campground membership! The buy in can be a fortune---$6K to $10K for CRA plus you have the yearly "maintenance fee". The salesman gives you the big story about how great the campgrounds are and then they run through the numbers really fast. Some of the sales presentations can be a hard sell so if you lack will power don't even stay for the free weekend. By the time your done it seems like a really good deal. We were smart enough to decline. When I got home and ran the numbers again myself, I'd have to stay within their RV network 30 nights a year for almost 20 years just to break even!

All that being said, my research revealed if you RV full time then a membership does make sense. If you're still working and get out less than a month a year your probably wasting your money.

[RetardG]

Hello guys and gals.

I am new to RVing too. Hence the reason for a gas coach - it's not my final RV yet...

I am not new to the outdoors though. I have camped in tents in the Big Bear area a lot during the summer months to jetski. My favorite campground - Serrano.

I am going today to Wilderness Lake in Menifee, CA for the TT presentation and to do that 4-day free stay. I will not get the membership - I will just go there to validate my free lifetime 3-park membership through the dealer.

I have been to TT campgrounds and so far liked it. But since I really like watersports more than anything else, I would rather have that CRA membership.

I am not sure if this will work but my plan is to get that free lifetime 3-park membership and then turn around and get the RPI option. I do not know if it will work but I sure would pursue it. Anybody pulled something like this yet? Let me know...

I RV mostly to attend national running events that my kids are involved in (USATF and AAU). I mostly dry camp out in the sponsoring school's parking lot.

[EastPAcamper]

Well , thanks to all who left some input on here, good or bad. We actually went to 2 different companies for free weekends. One was a Coast2coast affiliate and the other Thousand trails, was very nice to listen to sales people bash the competion. Both parks seemes very nice, clean, and friendly. We had full use of all the anemities pools, lodges, etc. One good thing about both of them is niether place was "pushy" or "rude" in anyway when we declined.
The best thing is we got 2 weekends of great weather camping, 40 nights free camping from one park (only good M-Th..), and the other park , a $50 Walmart gift card.
These programs are probally best for people who go alot or are full-timers, but they do offer other things that some people would use alot more than we would.
Thanks agian to all who replied



Mike

[Campingdonna]

We bought a membership in April because we were told TT had bought
Outdoor world and we would be able to purchase an upgrade as soon as
it came on line. the upgrade would be very inexpensive, much like it
was when the other systems were offered. However, we had better buy
the membership right then, because the price to gain access to
Outdoor World would be substantially more if we waited. Imagine our
surprise and disgust when we were contacted and told to gain access
to Outdoor World, the cost would be #$3995 for us and $2,000 to new
members! I thought being a member was supposed to be a good thing! I
am disgusted and feel like I have been lied to and misled. I wrote to
the CEO on four occasions because "corporate" seemed to have a hard
time getting any answers. The answer in the end, was "no, you have to
pay the $3995."

We have so far visited 3 TT sites. Two have been horrible! Virginia
Landing had a dumpster right next to the bathrooms overflowing with
garbage and was swarming with greenhead flies! The smell was
overwhelming! We packed up and left after one night.

Chestnut Lake in New Jersey does not allow campfires at your site!!???
No activities for the children and their pool was freezing. The
manager said she asked TT for $ to buy at least a solar cover and
says she is turned down every time.

So, now I have to figure out how to dump this membership. If anyone
knows of any good websites to sell this thing on, I would appreciate
it as I have absolutely no interest in being a part of the "thousand
trails family".

Membership for Sale: Cheap! Contact donnahewitt2003@yahoo.net

[patandjohn]

Hey to everyone,

Got a call today from "Thousand trails" offering a free stay at one of thier sites. Was wondering if I could get some input from the more experienced people out there. Please all respond , good or bad.
I assume they hit you for a yearly member ship in exchange for a better chance for available sites???? Is it that costly? Or is it like those time shares and you sit through 30 hours of sales pitches and you by just so they shut up......


Thank you ,

Mike

We have a TT membership and use it constantly. We are full-timers and need to be somewhere all the time, so it makes sense for us. The parks are known as "preserves" and usually have lots of open space and often a lot of wildlife. They are also very child friendly and are very good places for us to take the Grandkids.

We feel we have a good return on our membership cost and get our $500 yearly membership fee back easily by the amount of time we spend in the system. Our membership is for two weeks in a park, and one week out. They have hundreds of different memberships over the years since they have incorporated other systems and taken on those members.

Most parks are gravel roads and parking pads and 30 amp power. They are campgrounds, not RV parks. Depending on where you would use these parks, we can tell you what we thought of specific parks. Some reviews are also posted on this site.

[Justcheckin]

[quote name='John Blue' date='Apr 15 2007, 10:02 PM' post='6814']
Mike,


One year later we received papers to tour one down on Peace River (south FL) and they would kick in three nights plus $100.00 in Wal-Mart cards. What a good deal. This place also was the pits. We were parked in a flood zone with mud and no gravel. Sites were on side of a hill and in river bottom. WiFi was good only in office if it was open. No place near campground to buy anything, food, or gas. The sales person told me he was from car sales and had no information about camping systems. This meeting ran around 30 mins with no sale. We picked up the free money plus nights and moved on.

John
I stayed at that place in 2004 when it was a KOA. It was trashed by Charlie. 1Ktrails picked it up and is trying to make something put of it. I interviewed there this year for a workamper job and was told we would have to do 14 hours a week and we would get a check for zero $ and a W2 at the end of the year. I have never paid taxes on my site for working. but then what can you expect from a money park.

Chuckm

[southwestjudy]

We recently joined and bought a used Platumin Plus membership which was much cheaper. Now we are full timers and found out the used membership cannot be sold again as it reverts back to the original very high priced membership, so we shall be at a loss if when we decide to sell it.....In being at a Thousand Trails here in Ca. our very first use of it we found our first park to be entirely in need of an up-date to most of the electric, (people had burnouts of TV) and only one pool is up and running also lots of potholes. Hope the next ones are in better shape.

[MS.K]

Well, we've been looking at the calender wondering when we are going to take advantage of our offer to get 3 nights free. I will be the one listening to their presentation as my husband would rather eat chalk than to go through that but, I am all for the "free" nights and I have absolutely no problem politely telling them this membership just isnt in our budget. We know several other people that have done these offers at different resorts here in California and they all say it really isnt that bad.

[QUEENBEECEO]

Hey to everyone,

Got a call today from "Thousand trails" offering a free stay at one of thier sites. Was wondering if I could get some input from the more experienced people out there. Please all respond , good or bad.
I assume they hit you for a yearly member ship in exchange for a better chance for available sites???? Is it that costly? Or is it like those time shares and you sit through 30 hours of sales pitches and you by just so they shut up......
Thank you ,

Mike

We were invited to the Forest Lake Preserve in NC. We followed directions on the brochure and got lost. Lost a half days travel. We called to TT for directions and after talking with 3 different staff members, not one of them could tell us how to get there. We were supposed to arrive "sometime Sunday" We still having problems by dark and decided to call and tell them that we would continue in the morning, only to find everyone there had called it a day. We found a Walmart and did the overnite thing. We finally arrived Monday morning at about 11ish
only to be told we "could not stay" "We missed the meeting" we did not know we had. We were told there was no staff to even show us around. We suffer a borage of personal questions on arrival and were truly treated like a piece of meat. It was as if they were sizing us up and found us unworthy. HAAA! after calling the corporate office and found no solution to out situation, we left to spend another nite in walmart lot. This was a 700 mile trip to shop at Walmart. Anyway we enjoyed to travel thru the forests while we were lost. Needless to say, I told them never to call me again. As they say "buyer beware"

[Lindsay Richards]

We were totally turned off by the high pressure sales tactics. We listened for about 10 minutes and then told the guy I knew he worked on commission and he was wasting his time with us. He relented (we had committed to 90 minutes) said we could go. My wife then asked for our $75 Wal-Mart Gift cards. He was not a happy camper. He started at $17,500 and soon got down to $2,750, if we bought it today. Always a turn off for me. We left after 2 days and didn't bother with the 3 rd day. I was not impressed and I would think that there are many people out there willing to sell you their membership at a steep discount. The campground West of Orlando near I-4 was a below average campground and was very stupidly laid out.

[bobbo789]

Hello all,

Well after a couple days and no response to this post , I checked into this a little more. So far I found that if you go to the web site, www.1000trails.com, they appear to be affiliated with , Leisure Time, NACO, Mid-Atlantic, ELS Park pass, and Outdoor World.
Is anyone members of these groups ? How does it work? What are the advantages, disadvantages? I am just looking for some input, they are offering free stays and was wondering if I should take advantage of this or is it something to avoid. Any response would be appreciated.

thanks,

Mike

[Wink]

We made a deal on a new RV yesterday and they really push TT for free but then start paying dues.They could not believe I would not sign my name to it.I finally ask what part of I don`t want it don`t you under stand.I live in Florida and any thing that is for life with out parole spells timeshare or a bill you have no control over how much it gos up.

[JENL8N]

We just bought a new RV and was offered tt for $500 for the year. We did our research of the campgrounds that we would use and they look great from the reviews, they are mostly outdoor world campgrounds. Campground prices seem to be rising so at this price it would be silly to refuse.

[just modernday gypsies]

There is no harm in taking the "free" night stays and talking with other memebers. We have had campground memberships since 1981 and even sold them for 6 years in the 80's. We now have Camp Coast to Coast, RPI and the one we use the most is Passport America that you can buy for about $45 a year and is not a membership with dues but 50 per cent off parks. We are full timers and try to do everything as cheaply as we can. When it comes to buying Thousand Trails you must realize there are hundreds of diiferent type of memberships (because of all the Companies they are affiliated with) so each one is different. True TT has some nice parks and we use them through our RP! program. So check carefully what you are buying if you decide too. But my advice is that there are many TT memberships for sale (I even know of one right now) that are sold by other parties. We went to a broker when we went full time and bought ours by resale, not TT though, their dues are very high and their programs are very complicated and what we have now works. What it comes down to is what is best for you, how are you going to use your RV and where. Most membership parks are destination parks so are not located along major routes, which is why we use the Passport America. I know this sounds confusing, it is, so check the programs out carefully before you put your money down