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Then.... if we actually stayed at a park and the management was poopy, are you ok with it if we say that? I stayed at one park where management was really poopy! They slammed the door after I checked in! This was after making a BIG FUSS about being able to only take LOCAL credit cards, and then they said my VISA was ok...... They were nice when I made the reservation on the phone, but when I showed up in person, all I can say is...... I wonder if I did something to upset them or maybe they just didn't like the way I "looked."

But, I agree with you that one should actually STAY at a park to get the "feel" of it. But on the other hand, I'm a solo traveller, and there have been places where I drove up, and got a HORRIBLE "gut" feeling so I left and went elsewhere, only to find out later that the park where I got the HORRIBLE "gut" feeling was a haven for hookers and drug dealers! So, sometimes, trust your gut!

JJ

Gilda, I totally agree with you. There are some of use that expect unreasonable treatment. I have been living in RV parks for over 13 years now and can remember just one case were I thought I was treated unfairly or rudely. I try to treat folks the way I want them to treat me. I never talk down to them, no matter what their job.
On other forums I have read the same thing about truck stops. How they have all sorts of trouble. I always fuel at the truck lanes. I always wait my turn both at the pump and at the desk. I have never been refused.
There are a couple secret words that I use that helps me do this. They are "THANK YOU & PLEASE" That along with smile buys alot of service.

I've been a long time reader of this website, and I agree with gilda. In my opinion, you should actually stay at a park to get the total veiw of a place. I know sometimes it is confusing to get a feel for a campground based on the reviews. Some people go to a campground expecting a resort, when in fact they come across good basic campground. When it falls short of their high expectations, they post a negative review when the place is actually very adocate. If I read a few posts with the same negative comments showing a trend, then you can develop an opinion with some confidence.

Ah yes.

Everything old is new again.

First we see the anti-KOA Jihad rear its ugly head again and now this one.

I'm feeling you, Gilda.

Just because it rains, it ain't the park's fault.

Let's reminisce, shall we:
http://www.rvparkreviews.com/invboard/inde...?showtopic=1197

and

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/invboard/inde...?showtopic=1271

And this guy "rodeo1" who only has 2 posts had my favorite of all time:

"I'm so glad to see this thread. I have thought for years that some of these people have lost their minds when it comes to rating a park.

"lousy wi fi, give it a 2,

Sites too small for my 90 foot motor home towing my 25 foot enclosed tool shed with nine slide outs" give it a 2.

Damn folks, some of these parks are a lot older that your modular home you are driving down the road. some of you would complain that wal marts parking lot is too small.

A lot of these parks were built back when everyone towed an airstream with a pontiac. then you want them to charge $10..00 a night and be able to enlarge the parks spots on that. get real !

If you want all the whistles and bells, go pay $60.00 a night on the west coast at some r.v. resort. better yet, stay a night at lost hills in caly, then you will have something to complain about. or at morro strand r.v. in morro bay where they built a brand new park with spaces so small you can't hardly fit your trailer in the spot, then they want you to park next to it. what a riot!

Why compain over not enough t.v. stations, get you a dish. most really bad posts i see are written by people driving huge rigs, hardly ever by someone pulling a little pop up, or even a fiver. the bigger the rig, the bigger the bitcher. (look at me, i'm important ! get out of my way, i can afford a million dollar rig)

1- Everything old is new again.

2- Most really bad posts i see are written by people driving huge rigs, hardly ever by someone pulling a little pop up, or even a fiver. the bigger the rig, the bigger the bitcher.

3- I don't want to know if you got in a fight with the front desk. Your personality and their's just didn't jive and, oh well....the rest of us may have gotten along just fine. If you didn't stay there, then why bother to review ???

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1- Perhaps, but it was interesting to read the previous discussion and it appears that some have not. It was worthwhile to post the two links.

2- Ouch. Slapped on a national website forum with a very broad brush. I guess maybe I should downsize to a pop-up in order to be more popular and improve my reviewing skills.

3- There are some instances where posting a review, even if the individual did not stay there, can be helpful. One case would be where a CG had not been previously reviewed. General and objective information about the facilities is better than no information at all. And of course, that's not done with a quick drive-by or with a grudge in mind.

Venting about other people's bad reviews is perhaps not much better than the bad review itself.

In reading reviews, I have the ability to filter the good from the bad and the objective from the subjective. Whether or not it's a good or bad review, at least allow me the courtesy to figure it out by myself.

If they make note in their review that they didn't stay there and the reason why they didn't, I have no problem with them posting it. So long as they're making it clear they're basing their opinion on a certain thing that occurred and not basing opinion on the entire campground, I believe that could be beneficial. For example, they give the campground a 1...so long as they make it abundantly clear they're giving that 1 because of one certain thing that occurred like regarding a cancellation policy and the 1 is not indicative of their opinion on the entire campground, I, again, have no problem with that.

Personality of the campground staff is something that should be noted in a review and by all means should be considered when making a review...whether they were nice or not.

As for the cancellation policies, I also think that would prove beneficial as well...because I'd think twice about staying some place that wouldn't give you a cancellation 28 days beforehand even in high season...most campgrounds I know of once they're filled for a certain period, such as a holiday or summer weekend, they'll then start a waiting list, so as if someone does cancel, they do know exactly how many others are waiting and can fill that spot.

Don't take #2 personally RLM.

I found his quote interesting because I, too have seen my share of rigs that cost more than a hotel with the owner holding his breath and stamping his feet over a Good Sam discount.

A "Good Sam" discount no less.

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"IT rained, give it a 2!!!"

Someone made that tongue in cheek comment when we had this discussion on another thread. To this day, I roll over laughing when I think of that! I'm guessing it was most likely gwbischoff who said that on another thread because it sounds like his humor.......

Whenever I am grumpy, I just tell myself, "It rained, give it a 2...." and I am laughing!

JJ

If someone has not stayed, they should relate that in their review. That said, we all help eachother with our opinions of what we perceive. While staying at a park, we will sometimes visit nearby parks for " the grass is greener" effect. If I drive into a park that calls itself a resort, and see:
A. permanents in trashed rigs with trashy sites
B. broken pedestals
C. pools that look like swamps
D. sites that are so small you can touch the other rig with your hand out the window
Will I stay there?? No. Should I relate my observations? I think so. But I would say that in the review.

I have stayed in a park or two where you could open your window and ask your neighbor to "please pass the eggs....."

JJ

Ummm, it's kind of hard to post a review on the campground and its amentities if you don't get past the front desk, LOL!!!

If there's problems at the front desk that made this person leave, I believe that's something that should be mentioned or if the person had an experience over the phone with the campground staff that led to perhaps not wanting to stay there, that's also something that should be mentioned and could prove beneficial to others.

You are the one who has to make the decision if you believe what is posted is relevant or not.




LOL!!! I stayed next to an RV that you could hear the husband snoring and the wife hitting him over the head with a pillow telling him to "Shut Up!"...that's how close we were!

That's TOO CLOSE!

JJ

gwbischoff> The printed word is a horrible way to communicate with people so I always give the benefit of the doubt. I didn't take it personal, but thanks for the reassurance.

gilda> Here's a link to one of two of my reviews were I did not stay at the CG. Maybe it validates my feeling that occassionally there is a need for having some information where none was previously available.

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Iowa/...n.html#CGID7552

I really do respect your "pet peeve", but I will occassionally submit others until the webmaster makes a rule against it.

I said this before in another thread, but since everyone else is rehashing this subject I'll take another go at it.

If a place looks so bad that someone did not stay there, I would like to know. The reviewer should state that he/she did not stay and explain why. While this kind of review would not give us all the usual information about the place, it would certainly tell us something worth knowing. If the place is this trashed and/or dangerous looking it doesn't make any difference if the laundry looked nice or if the sites were level. I still wouldn't want to stay there. If the reviewer's first impressions are not accurate there will probably be other reviews to set the record straight. If we don't post a review unless we actually stay there how else are we going to get out the word about bad places? I'm certainly not going to stay at a dump even one night just so I can write a review even though I really think I should let others know about such a place.

BTW I read the review RLM wrote about the park he did not stay at. He obviously did a good job of inspecting the park. I doubt his review would have been much different even if he had spent the night--unless he had a noisy neighbor or it had rained. (Just joking RLM. I know you are more objective than that.)

Ok, but only if you took an OBJECTIVE look at the place. In my case, the park I had the "gut feeling" about looked ok, but I found out later it was a hooker and drug place. I don't think Webmaster would accept a review saying, "I decided not to stay here because I got the heebie jeebies."

JJ

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You're absolutely right, JJ. A review definitely needs to be based on some concrete evidence (trash, junky RV's, broken utility pedestals, green pool, tall weeds, etc.) not just a feeling. Also I would never write a review on a place that we just drove by and only saw from the street. If I hadn't actually gone up to it and at least seen it from the entrance/office or driven through it I would not try to write a review for it. I think that is just common sense. I know not all places look like an Outdoor Resort, but there should be some visual appeal if they expect to draw in customers. A first impression or a drive through might not show me everything that is usually included in a review (condition of showers and laundry room, cable TV, Wifi, etc.), but cleanliness and safety are high priorities for me. If I don't feel these things are reasonably apparent when I drive up, I probably won't stay, and I may or may not write a review. However, if I drove in and from what I could see the place looked really disgusting I would want to warn others, and I would hope they would warn me. Gilda, you're right, too. A dump is a dump. (Also I fully agree with you about giving a really nice place a low rating for ridiculous reasons, and I think we have all gotten really good at recognizing and ignoring those reviews.)

The good news is that because of all the good information on this site I have been able to pick really good places to stay. I have liked some better than others, and I have not always agreed with the past reviews, but because of those reviews we have also never felt the need to turn around and leave.

Gilda, you're not offending anyone with your opinions. But, it does seem you're talking about one thing one time and then talking about something else the next and it's kind of hard to figure out just what you're really talking about.

Now, with regards to those who stay at a campground and give it a low score and only seem to talk about one thing that seems to be the problem, for example, no WiFi...I totally agree with you, those reviews are not taking into consideration the entire campground as a whole and believe me, there are enough of those reviews here that I think most of us have already seen that examples really aren't necessary, LOL!

However, that's entirely a different issue than what I commented on your post about. My comments were geared toward you seeming to have a problem with people who posted a review without having stayed at the campground and only had contact with them via phone or perhaps just the front desk and left before staying at the campground and that they should not be able to post a review and I totally disagree with you on that. They should be able to, but they should also make it clear that they DID NOT stay at the campground and could not comment or review the campground and it's amentities, but was just basing their review on a particular incident, period. This being said in the first paragraph of a review would then give a person the opportunity to keep reading it or to ignore it.

By the way, the park that gave me the "heebie jeebies" and I decided not to stay was MAPLE TREE RV PARK on Sprague Ave in Spokane. After I was told it was a "hooker and druggie" place, I googled it, and yeppers, found some crime reports that occurred on the premises.

Currently, there isn't a review posted for Maple Tree. However, there is ONE review posted for Park Lane, which is about a mile away from Maple Tree on Sprague in Spokane. I have stayed at Park Lane a few times when I go to Spokane to visit relatives. It's not the greatest..... but I stay there because it's on a really convenient bus line, can ride the bus to visit the relatives or to go to where ever in Spokane.

JJ