Campground Website Photos, CG WEBSITES with outdated photos Options

[SASMITH]

We have only been rving for a short while and am having problems finding campgrounds suited to our liking. Since all rv'ers have different wants, likes, and needs the campground reviews are not always the best bet on finding a park to our liking. I generally read the review then go the CG website for more info, but what I usually find is that the website has outdated photos(photos of the park when NEW). I find it hard to understand why people would give bad reviews on a CG that looks as perfect as the pictures on their website. This concern was also brought up in the Topic on this forum "Pictures in review". I think adding a space for current and updated photo into the review would be a good idea. Just my 2 cents.

[jamarynn1]

How about when the park's website shows five pictures of the store, 6 six pictures of the owner's dog, two pictures of the fountain in front of the office and a generic picture of an RV that could be parked anywhere, including a Walmart parking lot? Or beautiful views of mountains or rivers that you cannot see anywhere from inside the park? I've taken to using Google Earth or Mapquest to see what's around the park.

[Lindsay Richards]

Many of these folks don't realize the purpose of a website and just "have one". If they don't do their own website or have the ability to change photos and things, they have to hire it done which can be expensive. Things get out of date a little at a time. It is kind of like getting a hair cut, your hair grows a little at a time and then you look and it really looks bad. Campgrounds get run down daily and people just walk by daily not noticing. When they originally take the photos, they take the best spots just like we do when taking photos of our kids. Going with a smart analysis of all of the reviews is the best way to determine to stay or not.

[joez]

So, you have a business - a campground. This business not only provides your income but puts food on the table for your family, pays your rent, buys clothing for the family, etc. There are some sites and areas in your campground that are not very photogenic. In the interest of honesty you will post those unflattering pictures on the internet and drive revenue away?We have to get real here. Web sites are advertising. Noone is going to publish the less than picturesque parts of the park. Couple this with the fact that flattering photos are extremely difficult to take (ask a real estate company) and you can maybe understand why photos would be a less than perfect representation.

I am opposite of most. I do not want the bandwidth requirements, storage space and misleading views of photos. I can read the campground descriptions and make a pretty good judgement of whether I want to stay at a particular place. In five years of more than 200 nights per year using only this website, we have not been surprised at a new to us place to park.

[vincee]

Timely topic. Just last week I was searching New York State Campground Owners website (CONY) looking for a last minute CG for Columbus Day weekend. Came across this one CG in the Finger Lakes region that boasted it was an "adult" CG. Perfect for retires, semi-retired and empty nesters. Great! Just what I was looking for. Clicked onto the picture page to get a sense of their surroundings. What pops up? A picture of a wagon full of KIDS on a hayride pulled by a tractor! Another picture of a bunch of kids around what appeared to be the CG store! Emailed the CG to ask about the contradiction, and their response was those young-ins where the grandchildren of the founder of the campground. Great, but they have no idea of the confusing message they wasting their website dollars on and the potential of lost business on top of it.

[kcmoedoe]

It is ADVERTISING!!! Of course they are going to show their best atributes. Disneyworld doesn't show the long lines for the rides on their website. Restaurants don't show the cockroaches in the kitchen. People with profiles on dating sites don't show pictures of their fat arses. RV parks shouldn't be expected to show the inside of the sewer pipes or the view out the back of the park that looks into the city dump. That is why review sites are valuable and why asking questions is valuable. Buy anything off of the advertising pictures and you are most likely going to be very disappointed.

[1775]

When I look at the photos on a campsite's webpage what I am looking to see is what the sites look like. At best there is a long shot of a Class A and generally it is impossible to really see what the site is like. I, too, am tired of seeing photos of the pie eating contest, kids in a wagon, and a photo of the gift shop. These may say the campground is family and kid friendly, but a few photos of that with a concentration on showing what the sites look like would make me make a reservation a whole lot faster. If the idea of advertising and a website is to encourage business, so many campgrounds go the wrong way about it.

[vincee]

kcmoedoe, you are right that it is Advertising! However, as I mentioned about the "kids" pictured on a website that promotes an empty nest CG or as 1775 points out not showing who you are, what amenities does your CG offer, they are only hurting themselves. Campground owners that resort to a distortion of who they are and what they offer will not be in business to long, especially in this internet age with sites such as this. What I believe creates some of the confusion amongst CGs is they have two distinctly different clients they are looking to attract. One is the seasonal camper who sets up their rig of choice parked for 6 months or so at one spot. The other is the transient travelers (I believe that would mean most of us) looking for someplace nice for a long weekend or perhaps a little more. I can't blame any CG that looks to lock up their revenue source with the security that seasonals bring. However, I just wish they would point out on their websites that they welcome the road warriors that we are and tell us a little more on what they have to offer in comparison to the next CG down the road. Convince me that they will really try hard to earn my hard earned money.

[BriBri]

There is one campground in Wentworth, New Hampshire that I've been to called Pine Haven Campground. It has pictures of most of their sites. So, when you look at the campground map and pick a prospective site based on a location that is desirable to you (i.e. close to the bathhouse, pool, lake/river, etc.), you can then click on a link that will show you a photo of that site. This makes it easy to determine if you rig will fit and how you might position it on the site.

It would be a blessing if more campgrounds would do this. However, as others have said, as an advertising medium those campground with less-than-desirable features would not want to show their bad side. They want you to arrive, drive to your assigned site, and hope that you settle for any drawbacks. It is a little more inconvenient to pack up and leave an undesirable campground than never having reserved the place to begin with.

But....That is why websites like RV Park Reviews is an excellent resource for campground searching.

[HappiestCamper]

That's why everybody should take a picture of their site (good or bad) and post it to Google maps and earth using panoramio.com. That way everybody can see for themselves.

[Wink]

That's why everybody should take a picture of their site (good or bad) and post it to Google maps and earth using panoramio.com. That way everybody can see for themselves.

As said camp grounds change.I just looked up Rainbow Springs in your pictures. Now the pool is broken and the grass is knee high in some of the park due to lack of money.Unless a picture is taken in the last month they are out of date.We were there about the same time that you took the picture and you were right at the time.We were there a month ago also.Just to make a point but it is still a nice park and the river has not changed.A very fun float from the park to the take out point.This is not the only park the economy is hurting.

Wink

[Kawartha]

We have only been rving for a short while and am having problems finding campgrounds suited to our liking. Since all rv'ers have different wants, likes, and needs the campground reviews are not always the best bet on finding a park to our liking. I generally read the review then go the CG website for more info, but what I usually find is that the website has outdated photos(photos of the park when NEW). I find it hard to understand why people would give bad reviews on a CG that looks as perfect as the pictures on their website. This concern was also brought up in the Topic on this forum "Pictures in review". I think adding a space for current and updated photo into the review would be a good idea. Just my 2 cents.

A lot depends on the computer and image capability of the campground owner/manager. Designing a web site or recognizing the importance of a well designed web site is not a skill/background that all owners/managers have.

[Lindsay Richards]

What I have see a few times and suspect that it will become more common as the technology evolves. The campground has a map showing the location of 5 or 6 webcams. You can rotate them yourself and get an idea of the campsites and amenities. They were located about 10 feet high and gave a great view of the area. You could work out the(e) various site numbers. I will never get tired of those pie eating contest though.

[kcmoedoe]

What I have see a few times and suspect that it will become more common as the technology evolves. The campground has a map showing the location of 5 or 6 webcams. You can rotate them yourself and get an idea of the campsites and amenities. They were located about 10 feet high and gave a great view of the area. You could work out the(e) various site numbers. I will never get tired of those pie eating contest though.

I sure hope that doesn't become the norm. While I am not much of a privacy freak, knowing that my every move in a campground is being watched and recorded by cameras wouldn't endear me to that park. I can't even imagine all the bad things that could happen with such cameras. Strict rule enforcement with penalties for even the most minor violation, all backed up by surveilence cameras. Every little mis-step you make posted on You Tube for everyone's enjoyment. A bunch of people gathered around the big screen using the webcam to see what is going on inside your rig. Family back home taking notes on what you REALLY do when on vacation. NO THANKS! Keep the cameras out of my site.

[jamarynn1]

What I have see a few times and suspect that it will become more common as the technology evolves. The campground has a map showing the location of 5 or 6 webcams. You can rotate them yourself and get an idea of the campsites and amenities. They were located about 10 feet high and gave a great view of the area. You could work out the(e) various site numbers. I will never get tired of those pie eating contest though.

Anyone last week with a webcam could have made an Academy-Award-winning short film starring us titled "The Two Stooges Try to Get A Large Fifth-Wheel Into and Out Of An Extremely Small Crooked Site". Would have rated four stars, at least.