I just wondered what is the opinion of paying up to 50.00 extra per month for cable tv in a park? Luckily not all the places are adding this cost into the price of camping, but give you the option. But, I am sure the very expensive places are adding it in.

Personally I do not want to pay 50.00 more a month for cable. And we do not stay at the more expensive parks that might be including these extras.

I just wonder how much it is really costing a park to have cable access. 50.00 a month seems excessive. Maybe it is time to cut the cable and offer a better camping rate, now that things are going up so high.

I noticed that a lot of people carry dishes, so I bet most people do not want cable. And for me I have cut the cable cord at my home and do not care about it in the campground. Even if there is no tv by antenna. I carry my books and make the best of it.

The reason this was so annoying to me this year is because the campground we wanted to go to raised their rates by 25.00 a month last year, (cable was 40.00 extra) and this year they raised the rate 30.00 a month, (cable was 50.00 extra) So an increase of 55.00 a month in regular fees and 10 in cable fees)

I did not ask about cable, they just told me when I called, and I told her no way am I interested in paying that much for cable. I know them so she is not annoyed that I said that. We have been camping at this place for many years and I don't have a problem saying that it is too much for me. At one time cable was included in the camping price.

I do think it is important to tell campground owners...in a nice way...that some things are just too pricey. I have heard this complaint from others at this campground when we talk.
But, even though we like this campground, we are going to another campground in the area because their price remained the same cost as last year. It is not as nice, but we are at the point that saving 30.00 is more important to us.

One of the campgrounds in this area used to be close to the others in pricing and this year they are 220. more than the other 2, and this is the campground that is the least desirable of the campgrounds. I was in shock when I saw that price. Then they stated on their website that they might offer a discount on montly rates, just ask. When I e-mailed about that, they said only on long term monthly rates. They could have said this on their website.

These campgrounds are the ones close to our relatives and we have decided that after this year we will no longer travel to this area in our RV, but will be going in a car and staying with our relatives. Not the solution we wanted, but we can't handle the out of control rate increases. If we had known the rates were going up this much we would not have come this year, but we are part of the way there so will finish it off then go home.

What really puzzles me the most is the difference between all these campground. It seems the ones with the least maintained campgrounds, charge more than the better maintained ones. We get the feeling that even the bad camgrounds think they can just charge what the others charge, regardless of ammenities.

Just venting as we are just at the breaking point too when it comes to all the price increases of everything. We don't have any way to pass cost increases on to anyone else, so just get hit with everything.

se

Good rant Moqui51
Hey, don't worry...most of us on this site have ranted at ONE time or another ! Welcome aboard!
We're one of those folks you see with a basic satelite dish... largely because it was the best at our stick homes for years of moving around So Cal. They made it pretty easy for us to move the box into the RV. Yes, the price to subscribe has gone up each year...sigh.
Campground cable HAS come in handy if one wants/needs LOCAL news. Directv Los Angeles based news did us no good when caught up in firestorms in San Diego... needing flood news in North Platt, Nebraska...or tornado warnings in Iowa. Guess we were lucky none of these places charged me for hooking up. I HAVE gotten better at finding local news on the web (verizon air-card), which circumvents the whole need to plug into campground cable.
Occasionally find a great campground with just too many beautiful trees to catch a signal...
I probably missed this in another of your posts; mind if I ask which RV park you are now facing $50/month for cable?

I talked to a park owner (6 parks in all) friend of mine and got the following feedback. Cable costs to campgrounds vary widely. If a local cable company provides the service, the costs are usually a bulk price in the $5.00 to $10.oo per month per site for basic cable range.. If they offer premium (HBO, Etc) the costs are much higher. This being said, he told me that there are some local cable providers that charge the standard home rate for each site being served, this is usually in smaller to mid sized communities and then the costs are around $25.00 per site per month. Finally, rural campgrounds usually don't have a cable option so they must build a Private satellite system. The costs for these are around $.50 per channel per site (more for premium stations and ESPN), however the cost for the system is in the $10,000 to $20,000 range. Another thing he told me is many cable companies will charge all year round and not allow seasonal campgrounds to only pay for the months they are open, so this kind of doubles the cost per month for a park only open half the year. He also tells me that no matter what rate plan he has offered, people complain. If wifi is free, the people who do not use wifi want a discount, if it is for a fee, the people who use it complain. The same is true for every service, be it electricity, sewer, water, showers etc. I guest that is one reason to check web sites and reviews and pick parks that meet individual needs.

Since I am new on here, I was not sure if I should mention any names...LOL The one that says 50.00 a month for cable is in Hendersonville, N. C. It is Jaymar Travel Park. We like the park as it is one of the better ones in the area.

It is no big deal to us on the cable as we do not use it. We spend a lot of time doing things while in the area and are not home enough to worry about cable.

Unfortunately this is a popular area and some campgrounds take advantage of that. One of them just said their monthly rate went up to 555.00 for 30 amp service, and I don't think that included wifi, not sure if it has cable. It is not a campground I would brag about, but it has one of the highest rates.

One does wonder though, if they want 50.00 a month for cable, and in the next year, no one wants cable aren't they going to lose a lot of money if it actually costs them that much for cable? Or, will they have to resort to just adding that 50.00 into the camping fee, then you pay it whether you want cable or not?

I guess I am just thinking of those of us trying to find some way to save some money in the face of everything going up, and if they includes all the extras whether you want them or not, some of us will pass them by.

I know of a park in Long Beach, WA that charges extra for cable, $2 a day. It's Driftwood RV park. That park is vey convenient to the beach, but "nickels and dimes" you for everything.

JJ

I'll throw my two cents worth in here and believe me it ain't even worth that.

First, I never understood the attraction to local channels. There's not much on worth watching and the 6 o'clock news is always bad. All the big diaster events are going to be on CNN or FOX and I prefer a radio for timely weather info. My satellite system is less than $40/mo and I have access to over 100 programs instead of the 5-6 on local.

I'm not going to take either side here, but $550/mo is a lot cheaper than a house payment, property taxes, and utilities. Even a middle of the road motel would be closed to $2000/mo. However, on the other hand I then wonder how come a trailer park charges about 1/2 that for a mobile home lot? Geography has a lot to do with monthly RV rates. I was in a mobile home/RV park paying $350/mo and had a friend in a camgground in the DC area. $950/mo!!!!!

As far as "popular" areas, I'd charge customers more too. Can't blame the campground owner, the hotel, the car rental company, the resturant, or the golf course. Demand made the cost higher, not the supply.

Perhaps there's a campground owner on the site to answer this one. Since no one can be pleased with a use it or not discount system, why not just charge individually for everything? Then I can pick and chose what I want to pay for and use.

I'm going to make an ssumption here. Unless one is full timing, then having an RV is a discressionary pleasure as would be a boat, vacation condo, horses, etc. Meaning that when the costs of having that pleasure goes up people naturally start complaining because it might get to the point that one would not be able to afford it.

And there's nothing wrong with that either.

Well I do not believe in paying for extras if I can help it. Would rather move down the road if possible than pay extras. I do have my internet and satellite tv as well as digital box for local stations with the wing antenna. I try to find small parks between the big cities because I find they charge a whole lot less. Most I have ever paid per night was 37, per week was 100, and per month 380. Hopefully I never have to pay much more than that.

That's where we are...the rv is our expensive pleasure. It used to be much more of a pleasure, but now it is getting to be a not so much enjoyable expense because of all the increases. So, we are starting to rethink owning an RV. We do have a house, and if I could give it up it would be easier, but in light of the cost of things increasing so much, I am afraid to give up a house that is paid for.

I am not sure how many more years my husband will want to be driving and then we would have to either park a motorhome for good...and face unending rent increases in some parks, or revert back to a house.

We do have some benefits of keeping the house we have as the taxes do not go up as much due to a homestead exemption. We have looked at smaller houses and found out we would face higher taxes so we decided to just stick it out for now.

I am no longer sure that we get enough enjoyment out of the motorhome to justify the cost. That meaning the payments, the insurance and the traveling costs. But, we will see how it goes this year and make up our mind. Guess the good times are over for us

Yes, fulltiming makes it a little easier on the wallet as you are not paying for the house and the motorhome.
Susie






Hi,
We are finding it hard to find anything for 100.00 a week, unless it is one of the military parks. Some of them are over that now. Luckily we have not gone over 380. per month. We are at 365. this month and for us that is enough.

I am so glad I found this site and we have seen some good reviews of parks that we might not have even thought about.

Susie

I know of a place that charges 175 a month, there are no bells and whistles for that price. Just a full hookup site and thats all. I am at one now that is 100 a week 295 a month. I know of a couple of places that charge prices like these. I the past year and a half I sat down and figured I had paid 2600 dollars for 12 months of rv parks. With the cheapest at 8 dollars a night and the most expensive 37. Most per month was 380 and the least was 175. I traveled thru 11 states in that time frame as well.

Could you post some of the names of the parks. I did not know any existed that were less then 350 a month. If we c ould save a little money on the camping then we might venture a little farther from home. It has sure been a little boring the last two years to just go to the same places each year. And, we kind of stay with the places we know are not so pricey.

Thanks,

The park I am at is Alpine RV Park, Marblemount, Wa. 295 a month, East Carbon RV Park, East Carbon, Utah 175 a month, Bar S RV Paark, Milan, NM. 250 a month, check into Hidden Valley resort, Tijeras, NM dont remember monthly daily is 20. Elk City RV park, Elk City, Ok, 15 a night dont remember weekly or monthly. Ole Towne Cotton Gin, Quanah, Tx 22.50 I think monthly was 300, Miss Ellies RV Park, Wascom, Tx 22 a night, 110 a week thats 15 a night. To name just a few. If you shop outside the big towns closer to the country in small towns you will find many that are these types of prices.
If you get ahold of the Trailer Life campgrouds and RV parks book you can find a bunch of those lower priced places. Good luck to you.

Hmm.... Full-timing at parks like Lee&Fran mentioned, without having wireless, but having your own Sprint or Verizon Air Card might be cheaper than full-timing at a park with all the bells and whistles.

JJ

I won't mention the name because I don't want to be accused of advertising, but there is a park in Concan, Texas that charges $350.00 a month for the first month and the rent decreases $30.00 a month each month you stay between Labor Day and Memorial Day weekend, including all hookups (no metered electricity). The longer you stay, the less you pay. Forgive me Webmaster.

I'm telling!!!!!




JJ

Depending upon the area you are in, not having wireless at the site isn't always too big a deal for us. There are a lot of places that have wireless and I find I can usually jump on once a week no matter where we are. I would go for the good rental prices over having all the bells and whistles. If we don't find better campground prices we might consider giving it up soon. But, we are not full timers, we still have a house, so we have a bit higher costs than fulltimers. And I just can't give up my house.

Oh...is it considered advertising to mention a park and it's prices?

[quote name='DXSMac' date='Jun 14 2008, 10:26 AM' post='11848']
Hmm.... Full-timing at parks like Lee&Fran mentioned, without having wireless, but having your own Sprint or Verizon Air Card might be cheaper than full-timing at a park with all the bells and whistles.

Well...I for one, don't mind a sharing of information from one RV'er to another.
Perhaps I've become too jaded: as long as a GIANT BANNER doesn't leap out at me, or corrupt my computer...I can handle someone recommending a nice place or two.
Thanks to Lee & Fran and Parkview.

For some reaon, I could not do a "quote reply" to moqui51, but I was able to do so on other posts. Hmmm.....

Anyway, to answer moqui51's question on "is it wrong to give prices..." or whatever it was.... (like I said, system wouldn't let me do a "quote reply"), um.... Parkview is a park owner, and has stated so on prior posts. Park owners are prohibited from posting reviews, but they are not prohibited from participating on the forum. But if they do post on the forum, they have to use good judgement and not appear to be..... well... you know....... Parkview was just trying to be helpful without putting it IN OUR FACE.

But if you're not a park owner it's ok to mention prices and stuff!

JJ

Thanks for explaining. I did not know that Parkview was a park owner. I was worried that I gave prices and shouldn't have. Whew...I am off the hook!

[quote]undefined[/quote]

Anyway, to answer moqui51's question on "is it wrong to give prices..." or whatever it was.... (like I said, system wouldn't let me do a "quote reply"), um.... Parkview is a park owner, and has stated so on prior posts. Park owners are prohibited from posting reviews, but they are not prohibited from participating on the forum. But if they do post on the forum, they have to use good judgement and not appear to be..... well... you know....... Parkview was just trying to be helpful without putting it IN OUR FACE.

But if you're not a park owner it's ok to mention prices and stuff!

JJ
[/quote]

Thanks DXSMAC for covering my ______.

Hi,
I am new to the site and thought I would add my opinion.
I think adding an additional charge for cable of $50.00 a month is quite high, I guess if you really like the campground you will do it.
I was reading some of the relies to your post and was surprised to see monthly campgrounds so cheap as I live in NJ and travel mostly on the east coast, and what they are paying monthly we would be paying weekly. When we traveled out west a couple of years we saw that camping fees were more like what we like to pay then back here in the east.

Well, I can't speak for anyone but us, but we can not afford the extra $50.00 a month. We like the other campground, but we have to start putting our foot down on the increases. They went up 30. in price, plus added the 50.00 cable charge. We also just spoke to the owners of the campground we are in and they say they are going to have to start adding a 23.00 a month charge for cable and they were doing a survey to see how many of us would pay it...or wanted it. Only 2 out of 6 of us in our row were on cable and we said we would not take if if we had to pay extra. She said they are thinking of dropping the cable.

This year our costs of traveling have gone up so much that we are now considering getting out of RVing. Luckily we have been traveling for about 20 years and have seen almost everything we had hoped to see. I know we will miss getting away for a few months, but it seems like the cost is just getting to be too much for us.