In preparation for my trip out west next summer, I have been looking at some campground membership offers. I am already a member of Passport America and it has saved me its membership fee easily. I have no interest in Thousand Trails. But I have seen some offers that will get you a homepark membership for around $500 with dues of $99 a year and then you can add C2C or RPI for yearly dues of $69 for RPI and $89 for C2C. Seems like it might be a good deal. I realize I may seldom use my home park, but if I travel some I should save some money. Anyone have any experience they would like to share? Anyone dealt with Campground Membership Outlet or Campresorts, Inc? Thanks for sharing

Bud,

We picked up a C2C book from RV friend years ago and check out parks in central FL and around Orlando. We did this in tow. I could not get over the poor places we found. I could see that most parks would be happy to get anyone to come in. Run down is an under statement. We returned his book and wrote that plan off. I can not say about other parts of USA but I read new reviews that say the same information all the time. Passport is good and bad. Some are OK for the night and others we have found were dumps. Good Sams on the other hand are OK most of the time. Passport card is low cost so you get your money back in couple nights.

Hello Bud My two-cents-worth. That $500 up-front fee will pay for quite a few summer RV park/resort sites without the limitations of a membership OR the 70-100 buck annual fees. Only been full-timing for 18 months, but have NEVER been shut out of an area we wanted to stay, because the only game in town was a Membership Park.
As you travel, you'll likely stay one-niters in some places, and weeks in others as a base-camp. With a membership you tend to limit yourself...because you've already paid, so-to-speak.
For example: No membership parks in Astoria, Oregon. An amazing place, packed with history (Lewis&Clark, Columbia River, WWII...). We would NOT have had the chance to stay and soak up the cool weather and all the museums...if we had to stay in a membership park in Portland or Seattle.
Now, we stopped 'camping' a long time ago. No longer take our larger/heavier RV off-road and tend to seek 50amp full hook-ups with a clear view of the southern sky (satelite TV). Just my humble opinion that numerous 'membership' parks have fallen below standard on amenities...
Why not check out several of the membership parks you're considering in your travels next summer. They SHOULD all accept you with open arms as a potential member. THEN make your decision.
Cheers!

I happen to agree that for most RVing the savings with a membership park would be negligible after you factor in the cost of the membership versus what you save with a standard discount card like Good Sam, KOA, Triple A, AARP etc. I like to rubberneck the one star and two star reviews on this website and the vast majority of parks that are described as "dumps" are PassportAmerica parks. I also almost never see a Passport America Park anywhere near a major attraction. With the cost of fuel, I am finding it more economical to stay very close to my destination and pay a higher camping fee and avoid paying $4.00+ per gallon commuting costs. About the only way I could justify a membership park was if I found one I really liked near a place I would visit often. Just a thought.

If you want to save money look for a weekly rate or monthly rate. Passport America does work but many of the parks limit whne and how long you can stay at that rate so that one might be ok. The rest of them I would run. If they have to sell it too you then beware.

Thanks for all the ideas. Many of them are what I have been thinking. I have Passport America and use it at Jetty Park in Port Canaveral and the stays there pay for the membership. In my research I have come across escapee travel club. Any one a member of that? Seems to have limited offerings.

I don't think that memberships other than Passport America (or it's clones) make sense for anybody other than full-timers.

We are full-timers, though, and we make good use of our RPI and C2C memberships. I paid $239 for our home park membership and $39/year for home park annual dues. Add in RPI and C2C dues, and we are paying less than $200/year for access to hundreds of $10/night parks, many of which are nice destinations.

For a detailed discussion of RPI and C2C, look in the Files section of the Campgroundmemberships forum on Yahoo: Campground memberships forum

The quality of membership parks, like Passport America parks, varies all over the place, but I found this web site that lets me see what others think of the park before I make a reservation: www.rvparkreviews.com.